Opera Blames Weather

By | November 18, 2010 | 63 Comments

Opera Software Q3 2010 Financial Results

Just when you think you’ve seen it all.

According to the latest Opera Software financial report, company saw a modest desktop users drop over the period of last two quarters.

What could be the reason for this?

Well, one of the Opera employees explained it like this:

There have been fluctuations in desktop user numbers due to seasonal variations, but the number of desktop users is now back above 50 million.

Basically, it tells us that users prefer to use Opera in spring, while ditching it in other seasons.

While this may sound like a good explanation for the toy companies (as their sales tend to increase before Christmas), in this case, it makes little to no sense at all.

P.S. Similar explanation may be found in the official report as well.


About (Author Profile)


Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

    Just a thought: shouldn’t Opera user numbers increase in the summer time?

    Many people tend to use a laptop while on vacation and what’s the best way to save bandwidth costs? Opera Turbo.

    • http://operaner.net Andylee

      people don’t think rational

    • Crackerflack

      Why would Opera usage increase if people in general use computers less?

      The expected pattern would be for computers to be used less, and mobile phones more. Exactly what Opera is reporting.

      And yet you manage to come up with this pathetic drivel.

      You should be ashamed of yourself!

      • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

        Because if your user base is healthy and continues to grow, new users will compensate the ones that “do not use” browser at this moment.

        • nvm

          That’s a fallacy, Vygantas. You aren’t even addressing his points.

          • nobody

            crackershit doesnt have any points

            “Why would Opera usage increase if people in general use computers less?”

            and who said that they are using them less? data? sources? and opera userbase (in absolute users) is lower now than it was in december 2009

            seasonal dip my ass

          • nvm

            So people going away on vacation during summer will use their computers as much as they do when they are at home? Interesting claim.

            Opera’s user base in Q3 2010 was higher than in Q4 2009. You’ll have to wait for the numbers for Q4 2010 to get a more valid comparison.

          • nobody

            you are truly a dumb-ass

            seasonal variations? what EXACT seasonal variation is there, with DETAILS, not some snide shit you spew around

            show me documents/papers/hard scientific data that these phenomena exist and have the effect you IMPLY they have. because without these you are just pulling shit out of your ass

            funny fact: not everywhere winter = december+january or summer/holiday time: july+august. see how people spend their time in Asia or in souther hemisphere, and youll see that these ‘seasonal variations’ are just pure bullshit to cover inevitable, that people are not only not joining opera, but leaving it as well.

            a hint: summer holidays in china.. o’rlly? been there to enjoy that weather? or how about stop talking about kids (vacations) and see that normally employeed man has 2 WEEKS of holidays a year. HARDLY enough to make this seasonal variations more than a desperate bullshit on opera side.

            and given, that you are paid by them, well..

          • nvm

            It takes one to know one, nobbie.

            Maybe you should look at the time some of Opera’s biggest markets have their summer holidays (hint, one of them starts with “R” and ends with “ussia”).

            It’s clear that you have once again been caught with your pants down. You react equally violent and irrational every single time. It’s quite amusing, LOL.

          • nobody

            you describe yourself?

            as for the Russia, heatwave and forest fires that struck it in the summer made millions stay at home, increasing the internet usage..

          • nvm

            Actually, people apparently lost their internet connections, and it was all a mess. Also, Russia is huge.

          • nobody

            fires burned the internet? OH ZE LOLLOS..

            people, electromagnetic waves are combustible! energy crisis is OVER!

          • nvm

            Yes, because all internet infrastructure is magic. No physical items whatsoever. You heard it here first, straight from nobbie the noob, LOL!

  • lutze

    You do realize that less people use computer internet in summer? And it was like this since… well, since ever (this is why it’s called seasonal variations).

    • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

      It shows user drop in Q2 and Q3. Not just summer.

      • lutze

        They lost in Q2 compared to Q1 because version 10.5 and Ballot Screen were launched in Q1 which caused some “curious people” traffic that not necessary want to use Opera in long term. And there was still more users in Q2 2010 than in Q4 2009 (and they usually have biggest gain in Q4).

      • Crackerflack

        Q3 is July through September. July and August definitely are summer months.

        You should be ashamed of yourself.

        • Golden Boy

          And Q2 is not

          Go and reconfigure your fanboy vision chip

          • nvm

            Q2 is not what? Did anyone say that?

      • nvm

        It shows user drop in Q2 and Q3. Not just summer.

        So there is no summer in Q2 and Q3? Guess you should look up that calendar again, Vygantas…

        Or you can get help from Wikipedia:

        According to meteorologists, summer extends for the whole months of June, July and August in the northern hemisphere

        So let’s see… Q2 is April through June. Q3 is July through September. Wow, Vygantas, it actually looks like both Q2 and Q3 are part summer! In fact, the variation in users seems to match this perfectly!

        In other words, you could not have been more wrong. Q2 and Q3 are exactly when summer is in the northern hemisphere. You know, the hemisphere where Opera has some of its biggest markets.

  • http://shufflingstripes.blogspot.com Danilo Roberto Shiga

    I don’t thing seasonal variations has anything to do with weather

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_variation

    • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

      Well, they are 4 primary weather patterns.

      • Crackerflack

        You should be ashamed of yourself. You have shown your amazing ignorance in the past, but this really is a new low, even for you.

      • johnnysaucepn

        Weather isn’t the only thing that changes between the seasons.
        People don’t buy more toys in December just because it’s snowing.

  • Crackerflack

    This is a new low from Vygantas the troll.

    No one from Opera said anything about the weather. They pointed out the well known fact that people’s usage of technology and other things will change depending on the time of year (which involves more than just weather).

    This is why quarterly results are compared to the same quarter last year rather than the immediately preceeding quarter.

    This is pathetic, Trollgantas.

    You should be ashamed of yourself.

    Get a clue already.

    • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

      Okay, we got this from your previous 4 messages :-)

      No need to repeat that.

      • http://www.pallab.net Pallab

        Why do you even allow comments like these? Be more strict on the obvious trolls and flame baits.

    • LOL

      Nice to know, Opera’s biggest troll PURDI.

    • Ichann

      Tsk Tsk Tsk.

      I am away from this site for 2 days and this is what I am greeted to?

      I would like to see your browser site Crack Head. Ohh was that too harsh

      2 year old kids don’t do what you do. Adding prefixes to names.

      Would love to see what you come up with the userbase of this site.

      Have fun

      • Golden Boy

        LOL

        Trollchan sounds about right?

        • Ichann

          Go back to “Your Queen” and drink from her fountain.

          Then ask for repentance.

  • pjn123

    I think it means that people use the internet more certain times of the year. Yes the total internet population keeps growing all the time but most of these new users use what is in front of them, ie iE.

    But if your product is used globally equally it shouldn’t make an impact ;)

    But I wonder how they gather their info on users and how accurate it is…

    • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

      Agreed,

      If your product is widely used and continues to increase the market share, then this is not an issue. At least, it should average monthly users.

      However, if your user base is shrinking/stays the same, then such things can impact monthly users stats.

      • nvm

        You don’t understand seasonal variations, and you are making the wrong comparisons. Because of seasonal variations, the valid way to compare numbers is to compare the same period each year.

        User numbers can fluctuate through the year. It can go up and down every now and then. What matters is whether they are growing over time, which they do.

        Don’t be so defensive, Vygantas. You messed up big time. Own up to it.

        • nobody

          “What matters is whether they are growing over time, which they do.”

          buuuahaahahahaha

          opera user base is now LOWER than it was in dec 2009

          and what precise ‘seasonal’ phenomena is opera talking about? you know it? or maybe you are working form them? or maybe – as usual – youll pull stuff out of your ass

          • nvm

            The columns clearly show that Opera’s user base was higher in Q3 2010 than it was in Q4 2009. But this is not really a relevant comparison due to seasonal variations. Someone mentioned that Q4 is traditionally a major growth quarter for Opera.

            So the right thing is to compare Q3 2010 to Q3 2010. Otherwise, you get a flawed comparison due to seasonal variation.

            You don’t think people behave differently during summer compared to winter time? You don’t think people traveling around on vacation are less likely to use their PCs? I see.

            You keep talking about pulling stuff out of one’s behind. Takes one to know one, is all I have to say about that.

          • nobody

            you are truly a dumb-ass

            seasonal variations? what EXACT seasonal variation is there, with DETAILS, not some snide shit you spew around

            show me documents/papers/hard scientific data that these phenomena exist and have the effect you IMPLY they have. because without these you are just pulling shit out of your ass

            funny fact: not everywhere winter = december+january or summer/holiday time: july+august. see how people spend their time in Asia or in souther hemisphere, and youll see that these ‘seasonal variations’ are just pure bullshit to cover inevitable, that people are not only not joining opera, but leaving it as well.

            a hint: summer holidays in china.. o’rlly? been there to enjoy that weather? or how about stop talking about kids (vacations) and see that normally employeed man has 2 WEEKS of holidays a year. HARDLY enough to make this seasonal variations more than a desperate bullshit on opera side.

            and given, that you are paid by them, well.. you have to defend it

          • nvm

            Nobbie is repeating himself again, so I’ll just repeat myself too:

            It takes one to know one, nobbie.

            Maybe you should look at the time some of Opera’s biggest markets have their summer holidays (hint, one of them starts with “R” and ends with “ussia”).

            It’s clear that you have once again been caught with your pants down. You react equally violent and irrational every single time. It’s quite amusing, LOL.

  • http://www.chantcd.com Matthew

    Wow…some people take browser apologetics WAY too seriously.

    Opera is an OK browser — it is standards compliant (more than can be said for IE) and it excels and is innovative in many ways — but as a religion it’s horribly lousy!

  • nobody

    seasonal dip?

    this is the biggest piece of horse-crap ever

    opera is loosing users since December last year! that are almost 3 quarters of downward trend. how seasonal is that?

    and at the same time more and more people are using internet and browsers in general. so this decline in marketshare is quite big.

    wonder why? what worth is a browser that cant handle google instant (opera issues, not blocking), facebook/gmail chat, gmail in general, yahoo mail, new hotmail, live services, almost all google docs modules etc? browser that displays new twitter interface like in 2000 (who cares whos fault the twitter case is?)

    but it is fast, yeah right.

    people accept opera mini, because they have low expectations on mobiles, on desktop they expect everything to work. and opera does not deliver (recent gmail issue in opera is opera core bug! not ‘gmail bad bad’)

    • nvm

      Looks like we have someone else who doesn’t know about the concept of seasonal variations.

      The graphs clearly show a higher user base in the 2nd and 3rd quarter of this year than the last quarter of 2009. The user base is definitely bigger than the same quarter last year, which is the proper comparison.

      Claiming that Opera is losing users since December shows an appalling lack of knowledge of how these things are measured. Seasonal variations do not reflect long-term trends.

      I also wonder why neither you nor Vygantas bothered to mention that the desktop user numbers are back above 50 million again now.

      Nobbie and Vyggie don’t seem to care much about facts.

      It’s also quite amusing how nobbie suddenly starts taking Opera’s numbers as gospel after rejecting them as pure lies at all other times. Selective arguments, anyone?

      • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

        I did, read the quoted text :-)

        Also, that was just a claim by one of the Opera employees (and he had no data to support it).

        Therefore, I would disregard it unless proven otherwise.

        • nvm

          The fact that the numbers are back above 50 million in Q4 confirms that it was a matter of seasonal variations.

          And if you claim that there is no data to support anything, why are you making your own claims? You have no data to support your claims either, but that didn’t stop you from making them!

        • nvm

          You make the false claim that seasonal variations make little to no sense at all in Opera’s case without explaining why.

          As you can see, other people have explained how seasonal variations are indeed relevant, since people are more likely to be out traveling without access to their PCs (but more likely to use their mobile phones).

          It shouldn’t really be necessary to provide further data to prove the concept of seasonal variation since it’s such a well known concept, but you even have a perfectly valid and reasonable explanation which you chose to ignore, namely the case of people being out and about without bringing their PCs.

          • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas Lipskas

            EDIT: Nevermind, if you can’t see it, can’t help you. No point to argue :-)

            Got better things to do.

          • nvm

            Yes, nevermind. You can’t argue without arguments, Vygantas. I understand that too :-)

            You should have done the right thing and retracted this nonsense. I really don’t understand why you post crap like this from time to time. Is it just to troll and get more readers?

            It certainly doesn’t make you look very professional, and especially when it’s all based on your own lack of understanding of the market.

            Maybe you should stick to reporting news instead of trying to editorialize and make stuff up?

          • nobody

            and maybe you should stop barking?

            your understanding of the market is on the other hand truly great, out of 15+ posts here you managed to include ZERO facts, data, sources or verifiable data..

          • nvm

            You didn’t even know about seasonal variations, nobbie. I wouldn’t talk too loudly about lack of knowledge if I were you, considering all the times you’ve been busted making provably false claims, LOL.

      • nobody

        you are truly a dumb-ass

        seasonal variations? what EXACT seasonal variation is there, with DETAILS, not some snide shit you spew around

        show me documents/papers/hard scientific data that these phenomena exist and have the effect you IMPLY they have. because without these you are just pulling shit out of your ass

        funny fact: not everywhere winter = december+january or summer/holiday time: july+august. see how people spend their time in Asia or in souther hemisphere, and youll see that these ‘seasonal variations’ are just pure bullshit to cover inevitable, that people are not only not joining opera, but leaving it as well.

        a hint: summer holidays in china.. o’rlly? been there to enjoy that weather? or how about stop talking about kids (vacations) and see that normally employeed man has 2 WEEKS of holidays a year. HARDLY enough to make this seasonal variations more than a desperate bullshit on opera side.

        and given, that you are paid by them

        • nvm

          Nobbie is really repeating himself to day! I’ll just repeat myself too (just to annoy nobbie).

          It takes one to know one, nobbie.

          Maybe you should look at the time some of Opera’s biggest markets have their summer holidays (hint, one of them starts with “R” and ends with “ussia”).

          It’s clear that you have once again been caught with your pants down. You react equally violent and irrational every single time. It’s quite amusing, LOL.

          • nobody

            so you really cannot provide any DETAILS, DATA and FACTS?

            you never could, i wonder how much opera pays you per post, and if it is enough to complement your opera salary

          • nvm

            You have already gotten details, data and facts. It isn’t my fault that you are blind to these things, LOL.

          • nobody

            where is SCIENTIFIC, PROVEN and ROBUST explanation, that people are indeed using their PC’s less FOR HALF YEAR?!

            and how is that other browsers did not present such dip?

            only opera users have half year vacation? lol

          • nvm

            You wouldn’t know science if it was sitting on your shoulder, shouting in your ear, nobbie. LOL.

            Other browsers do experience seasonal variations. Mozilla has even made a series of blog posts about it.

          • nobody

            link

          • Golden Boy

            By series you mean one back in 2008?

            http://blog.mozilla.com/metrics/2008/05/13/fluctuations-in-international-internet-usage/

            While it may seem hard to understand how a single holiday can have such a macro level effect, consider this: all else constant, if overall internet usage drops by 30% within just a single day, that month will show a 1% decline in average daily users.

            In 2007, for example, the number of average daily users (ADU) declined by about 2% from April to May.

            1%, 2%, you see? Compare that to Opera drop and numbers do not add up.

          • nvm

            Yes, it most certainly adds up. And not, there was not just one Mozilla blog post about it. They went into specifics about Firefox.

            You might also want to educate yourself about where Opera has a lot of users.

            Time to do your homework!

        • mikah

          nobody you are pathetic, never heard of seasonal variations thats probably because your head is up your …. where the sun don’t shine.

          blog.mozilla.com/metrics/2008/05/13/fluctuations-in-international-internet-usage/

    • daddylo

      I think it is due to there memory related issues. ….. most time Opera go over 500,000 MB for me :(.

      • nvm

        Memory-guzzling didn’t prevent Firefox from growing. But then again, Mozilla had Google promoting Firefox everywhere…

  • nvm

    Opera blames weather for year to year growth in user base? Interesting perspective, Vygantas. But why would they blame anything for their year to year growth?

    • Ichann

      Cause no amount of growth is going to be enough for Opera.

  • daddylo

    Not to mention the replies for this subject.

«
»