By
Tim Young
It's a big, wide world out there. Communications were once limited to earshot and sight-range. Then they were allowed to travel as far as a cable could stretch. Eventually, they entered the air and became both invisible and pervasive in a way few could have dreamed of before.
The growth of the wireless market is, of course, fueled by two seemingly disparate facets of the communications space. The first facet is composed of the markets in which legacy networks were never rolled out (or were rolled out, but later dug up and sold for scrap), in which wireless has emerged as easier and less expensive to extend, bill for, and even defend than traditional wireline networks. The other facet is at the opposite end of the spectrum, in which users have access to legacy systems, as well as cutting edge video and data, and want to match that user experience on the go. While the first group is a major market in terms of sheer quantity, the ARPU of the latter camp is truly attractive.
Changing Devices
Oh, how the device world has shifted. When the iPhone was introduced, few handsets had committed so fully to touchscreen functionality. Screens were often unwieldy and inaccurate, and it generally just made more sense to go with keypads. Post-iPhone, it seems like every device has a touchscreen. The Blackberry Storm has an entire ad campaign structured around their touchscreen! (And buttons that click! Click, I say!)
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The Blackberry Storm has an entire ad campaign structured around their touchscreen! (And buttons that click! Click, I say!) |
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average of six times the data as the average mobile browsing session. In addition, the average page views of the iPhone users were higher than not only other mobile users, but desktop users as well. Visit durations, in addition, were higher on iPhones than on mobiles or desktops.
The study was done over two weeks in August 2008, sampling over 5 million mobile browsing sessions. The study concedes that much of the additional use was likely due to
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However, user interface isn't the only thing that's changing with new devices. User behavior, too, is changing. iPhone users, for example, demonstrate behavior that is fundamentally different from that of the users of traditional handsets when it comes to data consumption. According to a study done by Australian mobile analytics firm Amethon, an average iPhone browsing session consumes an
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users showing their new gadgets to friends and family members, and the increase in data rate was likely due to streaming video. I'll add that iPhone users (especially early adopters) may include techie types with a natural proclivity for mobile data consumption, only enhanced by their new toy.
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