"They (Microsoft) have their own product lineup. However, we expect those phones to be available globally by early next year," Sunil Kamath, vice president (south Asia), Opera Software, told mediapersons here on Wednesday.
Opera Software, an Oslo (Norway)-listed web browser development company, is coveted for its advanced mobile phone software technology. Opera Mini, its mobile browser, works on nearly any phone and compresses data by almost 90 per cent. Stating that Opera Mini has over 250 million users globally and counting, Kamath said India was home to the largest population of Opera Mini users in the world.
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"Going by the August 2014 statistics, the Opera Mini user base in India increased by 25 per cent over the past year, while the smartphone user base surged by 120 per cent. Smartphone users now account for 47 per cent of all Opera Mini users," he said.
According to Kamath, leading the pack of smartphone users was Android user base, which grew 160 per cent. Android users now form 44 per cent of the Opera Mini user base, from last year's 21 per cent.
Celkon's Campus Nova A352E
Celkon, a Hyderabad-based mobile phone manufacturer, today announced Campus Nova A352E with pre-installed Opera Mini browser, which it claims to be the world' most affordable 'true' smartphone.
Campus A352E, which works on Android Jelly Bean operating system, comes with a 3.5-inch touch display, 1 Ghz processor, 2-MP camera with expandable memory of up to 32 GB. The handset is priced at Rs 2,000.
"We have tied up with Snapdeal to exclusively sell Campus Nova A352E. The phone will be available online from Dussera and at offline stores pan-India from Diwali. Our initial target is to sell 100, 000 units," said Murali Retineni, executive director of Celkon.
Celkon is the 17th Indian OEM brand, and 22nd in Asia that Opera has partnered.