Opera Launches Hype, An In-Browser Chat Platform In South Africa, Zambia And Ghana

Opera is a leading global web innovator with an engaged and growing base of hundreds of millions of monthly active users. Building on over 25 years of innovation that started with browser products, Opera is increasingly leveraging its brand as well as its massive and highly active user base in order to expand its offerings and business. Opera offers users around the world a range of products and services that include PC and mobile browsers, the AI-powered newsreader Opera News, and recently launched fintech and classifieds apps. Opera is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (www.opera.com.)

Today, Opera a well-known and recognized mobile web browser platform announces the launch of its dedicated chat service Hype, built into the Opera Mini mobile web browser. It launched in South Africa, Zambia and Ghana. Hype is an in-built dedicated chat service for people looking to connect and meet new friends. Hype was born out of the sole reason for young users of Opera to socially connect without leaving the App. With the introduction of Hype, Opera is redefining the concept of mobile browsers, providing users with a personalized, engaging browsing experience that enables seamless chatting, surfing and sharing – without compromising speed or driving increased data consumption.

In 2021, the pilot market for Hype was first launched in Kenya, and the acceptance has been quite impressive with about 400,000 activations and over 10,000 friend request daily. This launch is one of Opera decision to invest in the digital ecosystem while bringing people closer. With the integration of this chat service on her browser, Opera Mini becomes the first major browser in the world to integrate a social component that keeps users connected to the ones that matter the most. This unique and innovative blend is something that no other mobile browser in the Google Play Store offers.

Hype allows you browse, chat with friends, share memes, gif and other content easily with other Hype users. Everyone can start chatting with the secure end-to-end encryption right after account set up is completed. To help familiarize people with the concept of an easy-to-use chatting service built into a browser and as a response to the high cost of data in Sub-Saharan Africa, Opera has partnered with the leading carriers in South Africa, Zambia and Ghana. Users of Opera Mini and CELL C in South Africa, MTN in Zambia and Vodafone or MTN in Ghana can activate the free data anytime by opening the Feedback Bot in Hype, sending “Unlock my free data” in chat, then clicking the link in the reply message. The free mobile data will be activated when the page is loaded.

Hype Interactive Features

With Opera Mini plans to continue working to improve the features of Hype, but some of the key features Hype users can use include link previews, GIF support, and the unique in-built meme creator to make chatting with fellow Hype users more personal and ultimately fun.

Link Previews

Users can find out what’s is behind a link that was received or received within the community. The link preview features gives you a web header, a preview screen shot and a description of what’s behind the link, all automatically displays in the chat.

GIF Support

Another feature you would find on Hype is the GIF search capabilities and scrollable GIF grid. Users can make their choice of GIF using the preview or full screen view options.

Meme Creator

Meme has become an interactive way of communicating and an essential part of internet culture. Daily people search for old memes as well as want to create and share theirs. With the introduction of Hype, Opera sits as the first to build a meme creator directly in browser. Users can choose memes in Hype chat, then edit them by changing the text and experimenting with fonts, colours and placement – more easily than ever. This comes in handy as users no longer need to copy links from websites and switch between apps to share the memes they want. (African News 2021)

Share Online Content in a Snap

Today, new generations are relying on formats like memes and stickers to express themselves. To make this easier, Hype includes WebSnap, a feature already known from the Opera desktop browser, allowing users to take snapshots from the web. Once a websnap is captured, users can edit it by adding colours, text and emojis, making it fun and entertaining before sharing with others. WebSnap also allows users to smoothly share the link of the original website from which they took their snaps, so users no longer need to switch between apps to share the content they want.