T-Mobile USA is one of the more aggressive U.S. carriers when it comes to embracing open platforms — it was the first to roll out a phone based on Google’s Android operating system, and it created a fairly progressive developer program that mirrors what Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is doing on the iPhone. In an interview with mocoNews, the fourth-largest carrier provided updates on both fronts — it provided new statistics for the T-Mobile G1, including the fact that each customer has downloaded 40 applications from the Market, and also told us that it is tweaking its developer program after receiving feedback from developers on what needs improving.
T-Mobile G1 Usage Trends:
— G1 Android Market: T-Mobile G1 customers have each downloaded more than 40 applications from the Android Market. If estimates are close to being correct — and about 1 million G1’s have been sold to date — that could translate into about 40 million downloads total. That’s a fraction of the 500 million downloads achieved on the iPhone, however, the iPhone has more users and has been offering downloads for a longer period of time. In addition, four out of five G1 customers, commonly download applications at least once a week.
— On Browsing: Among the T-Mobile customers who have purchased the G1, about half have traded up from a basic handset, and use data services 50 times more than the average voice-centric phone user; and 80 percent of T-Mobile G1 customers browse the web on a daily basis.
Updates on the T-Mobile Partner Network:
— Web2go and The T-Mobile Partner Network: Four months ago, the company launched its web2go portal, which replaced T-Zones. The portal not only integrated Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) search, but was the consumer-facing side of its developer program, which allows application developers to fill out an online form to be included in the company’s storefront, rather than spending months working out a business agreement with T-Mobile. The program standardized revenues share agreements, etc.
— Lessons learned: Ian McKerlich, T-Mobile
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