We’ve heard it before: So-and-so year will be the year of the mobile payments. A group of mobile industry experts, however, believes 2013 will be the real deal. Google and the carriers had their chance. Now it’s the banks’ turn. Read more »
According to a new report from Chetan Sharma Consulting, the US has reached 50 percent smartphone penetration. The big operators may be leading the charge toward more sophisticated OS-driven devices, but smaller operators and the growing prepaid market is making a contribution as well. Read more »
Mobile operator profits have more than doubled in the last 10 years. But operators can’t rest on their laurels. As voice, texting, and data revenues fall over time, operators must step up to take up the role of becoming an over the top provider. Read more »
Philipp Humm is out at T-Mobile, and we don’t know why. Whatever the reason, the move is sudden, and T-Mobile finds itself looking for a new chief executive. We have some unsolicited advice for whomever that replacement will be: Don’t mess with Humm’s work. Read more »
The humble text message turned 20 years old this weekend, and other than an excuse for cake, the birthday is a great chance to look at how carriers innovate and why they are getting crushed by over the top services now that times have changed. Read more »
What does a mobile network hosting 41.2 million smartphones look like? It’s a network where growth in data traffic far exceeds data revenue growth. AT&T is selling a lot of smartphones, but even millions of new iPhones don’t fully account for its huge spikes in traffic. Read more »
UBS believes the new iPad will be the catalyst that drives consumers to connect their tablets to mobile broadband networks. UBS predicted there would be a near 50/50 split between Wi-Fi-only and 4G iPads sold, driven by the demand for fast LTE connectivity in the U.S. Read more »
The vast majority of traffic on mobile operators’ networks is now pure data, but the lion’s share of operators’ revenue comes from voice. Meanwhile even the big data-subscription fees operators are collecting aren’t making up for the decline in voice revenues. Read more »
Approximately 90 percent of all tablets in the U.S. relied on Wi-Fi over 3G mobile broadband last year, according to industry analyst Chetan Sharma. The data suggests that carriers aren’t a needed distribution chain for slates for several reasons: long-term contracts and redundant data plans. Read more »
Sending a bit over a wireless network is 200 times more expensive than sending a bit over wireline, which explains some of the high costs and limits of wireless data plans. How can operators drive down these prices so wireless doesn’t lose its luster? Read more »
Mobile handsets have a bad habit of oversharing with the networks they operate on, with some handsets being chattier than others. This signaling data, as it’s known in the industry, makes managing networks even more challenging, and Traffix wants to help operators handle it. Read more »
Tablets and e-readers and connected electric meters … oh my! As device makers embed broadband into more gadgets, and consumer demand for ubiquitous broadband skyrockets, operators are realizing they aren’t in Kansas anymore and traditional financial metrics and ways of running their businesses won’t cut it. Read more »
Battles in the mobile ecosystem used to be fought for developers, but now that clear leaders have emerged with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating system, with Windows Phone 7 showing promise for no. 3, the battle has switched to patents. So who has them? Read more »
Analyst Chetan Sharma, in a new white paper, said the impact of mobile, which has been on focused mostly on higher self needs, is now shifting to more basic issues like health care. It’s in these more utilitarian areas where opportunities exist. Read more »
Connected devices were the top source of revenue growth for mobile operators last year, but without new pricing plans, that growth could stall, according to data released today by Chetan Sharma. And so far AT&T is on a tear when it comes to M2M growth. Read more »
