Opera Software is acquiring Bemobi, a leading subscription-based mobile-app-discovery service in Latin America, allowing Opera to offer the innovative app-discovery and monetization service across the globe.
Brazil-based Bemobi offers "Netflix-style” subscription service for premium Android apps. Working with mobile operators, Bemobi’s proprietary app-wrapping technology allows smartphone owners to have access to an unlimited use of premium mobile apps for a small weekly fee. Users pay for this service through their mobile operator billing systems, making the service highly suitable in emerging markets, where credit-card and debit-card penetration is low.
In addition, the acquisition of Bemobi also establishes Opera as a market leader in Latin America and brings a whole range of services from Opera’s portfolio of products to the region.
With this acquisition, Opera software said that it can now bring scaled value to all players in the mobile ecosystem - end users, mobile-app developers, mobile operators and handset manufacturers. For Opera’s premium app-developer partners, Bemobi’s reach, with over 6 million active subscribers, provides an effective channel through which they can get their apps discovered and monetized across Latin America, added Opera Software.
Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software
Opera has expanded rapidly in the mobile-app ecosystem, and our goal is to innovate within this space in a manner that benefits everyone. Bemobi is a natural fit for Opera in this direction. This acquisition brings an added dimension to our app-discovery services, with a new monetization model that has proven to work well in our core markets.
Pedro Ripper, CEO, Bemobi
Bemobi plans to expand globally, leveraging Opera’s strategic assets by building on the early success of its subscription-based, app-discovery service in Latin America.
