Opera off to nice iPhone start; Will it have staying power?

Opera’s mobile browser, the Mini, was downloaded more than 1 million times in the first day of availability on the iPhone.

Memo to Opera: It’s a marathon not a sprint.

Now don’t get me wrong, the Opera Mini is more than welcome on the iPhone. And the fact it’s free is going to encourage people to download. Meanwhile, 1 million downloads is nothing to sneeze at. The big question is whether Opera will have staying power on Apple’s App Store.

It’s one thing to try out the Mini. It’s another to make it your default browser and replace mobile Safari.

Also: Opera Mini on the iPhone - Now THAT’S a browser!

The staying power question is an interesting one on a few fronts. For instance, I have Opera for the BlackBerry Storm and use it once in a while. BlackBerry’s included browser—on the Storm at least—works fine in most cases. Opera is good, just not good enough to change my behavior.

That scenario with the iPhone is magnified since the browsing experience is better than other smartphones. Opera has to exceed the performance on included browsers. On many devices, feature phones, keyboard BlackBerries and other small screen devices, Opera delivers a real service. Opera’s browser is better than what’s included.

But here’s the big question: What happens to Opera when all the included mobile browsers—Webkit based and otherwise—improve?