Are mobile operators missing opportunities that the iPhone brings?
Ralf Haller
February 14th, 2009
Today I replaced my iPhone with an iPod Touch. I realized that I only really use my iPhone with Wifi Internet access, and otherwise only use the applications offline. I also have a Samsung phone that lasts a few days without having to recharge it and it is so slim that I can slide it into my shirt or pant pockets and hardly feel it any more.
When travelling and using my iPhone I used to accumulate lots of roaming charges as I was tempted to use my iPhone more often. Even a cheaper international plan did not cut it for me. Also, the iPod Touch is lighter and slimmer than the iPhone and I expect the battery to last longer too.
Now I just saw this statistic from admob, who serve ads to more than 6,000 mobile websites, and their mobile data usage statistics are interesting, showing that the iPod Touch is indeed becoming the number one choice for using the Internet on the road. What that of course also means is that right now the incumbent mobile operators are losing out on this trend big time. 3G networks simply cannot offer the speed needed, and 4G is still far off, it seems. To make things clear: I have now the iPod Touch which has only a Wifi chip built in. And my other phone I just use for calls, so don’t really care if it is 2G or 3G or whatever. More and more people are getting used to this right now. All of us could have become loyal wireless data customers using 3G or 4G networks if they delivered what was promised: fast wireless internet access. Now we’re spending our money elsewhere and getting used to it.
Tags: 3G, 4G, iPod Touch, mobile operators