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Opera launches chat service ‘Hype’ in Kenya

Opera launches chat service ‘Hype’ in Kenya

by | Feb 24, 2021 | Africa, General, Other News

Hype Kenya Africa Opera

Opera is launching a new product called ‘Hype’ with the pilot progam rolling out in Kenya. Hype is an integrated chat service built into Opera’s mobile web browser, Opera Mini. The chat service is launching first in Africa.

Opera notes Opera mini web users in Kenya can set up an account and start using the service immediately. The company is also partnering with local communication companies Safaricom and Airtel to boost the adoption of Hype by offering free daily browsing.

Chat service, Hype, the company notes, offers secure end-to-end encryption. It will also be the world’s first mobile web browser with an integrated chat service.

Product Lead for Hype, Charles Hamel, says Hype is developed with African consumers in mind.

“Today, 40% of the Kenyan population has access to smartphones, with younger generations becoming early adopters of technology. With such demographics, there is massive potential for the growth of Hype in Kenya.

On top of that, we are also partnering with Safaricom and Airtel, the leading carriers in the country, offering free daily browsing to all Opera Mini users. We believe the combination of these factors will lead to the rapid adoption of Hype in the country.”

Charles Hamel, Product Lead for Hype

The chat service also comes with stickers desgined by Kenyan artists Brian Omolo and Lulu Kitololo.

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Opera records 150 million monthly active users in Africa

Opera records 150 million monthly active users in Africa

by | Dec 10, 2020 | Africa, General, Other News

Opera Africa News Mini App

Global web innovator Opera announces its African user base has reached a record 150 million monthly active users.

The company notes this feat was recorded in Q3 of 2020 and shows an eighteen per cent year on year growth across all their products.

Jørgen Arnesen, Opera EVP of Mobile Browsers believes two things contributed to Opera’s continued growth across Africa in 2020. These are optimizing apps to solve everyday challenges and developing better apps with great features and personalized content.

In Q3-2020, the Opera user base in Africa showed a strong 18% growth of YOY across all our products. Reaching a combined user base of 150 million monthly active users. We see significant growth in our apps like Opera Mini and News, and we’re confident that our growth will continue next year.

Jørgen Arnesen

Some of the things opera did to grow it user base in Africa include; adding a localised news channel dedicated to COVID-19 on Opera Mini and News.

The company also boasts that its News Hub has become the leading publisher of local African content with about 10,000 self-published articles every day.

Jørgen also shares what the company is doing to keep its users and promises more exciting announcements soon.

“We are continuing to optimize our products to offer our loyal users more reasons to use Opera. Users across many African countries can download and stream music in our Free Music channel. 
We’ve made it easier for users to monitor their data usage via the Data Savings module on the home page.”

Jørgen Arnesen
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