Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications
Posted: 07/09/10 by Jonathan Spalter
Consumer confidence remains low in today’s tough economy, but the Pew Internet and American Life Project’s new Mobile Access in 2010 report illustrates a contrarian streak among U.S. consumers when it comes to the mobile marketplace. Across ages and demographics, Americans are showing a remarkable bullishness when it comes to the value and innovation they see in their wireless purchases. In fact, usage of connected devices and applications continues to grow at an unabated and staggering pace.
Over the past year, the number of Americans connecting wirelessly to the Internet is up 8 percentage points, with six out of 10 Americans now using their smartphone or laptop to access the Internet. In fact, more Americans now use their mobile device to connect to the Internet (38%) than play a game on their device (34%). And, it’s not just young millennials gravitating to the nexus of wireless and the Internet. Their parents—folks in the 30 to 49 year old age bracket—are now leading the growth.
African Americans and Latinos also continue to lead in mobile connectivity. Two-thirds of both communities are wireless Internet users. And, African Americans and Latinos continue to outpace whites when it comes to cell phone ownership (87% versus 80%).
These insights illuminate the wireless debate at a pivotal moment, coming on the heels of President Obama’s Executive Order announcing his Administration’s intention to increase the amount of spectrum available to meet consumers’ fast-growing mobile needs. Pew’s methodical documentation of a steep adoption and usage growth trajectory—cutting broadly across the U.S. population—powerfully illustrates the profound importance of these spectrum allocation efforts and the equally essential need to safeguard policies that encourage the billions of dollars in investment needed to get this spectrum into use across the country. This process can take six to 10 years to complete, from the announcement of auctions to the deployment of actual networks, so we need to get started now.
Unfortunately as temperatures rise in Washington (both literally and metaphorically), it seems no debate is safe from the partisan pull of election-year politics. Even U.S. wireless policy, which has enjoyed bipartisan support for a light-tough regulatory framework through both Republican and Democratic administrations, is getting dragged into the pro-regulation and heated rhetorical fray.
It’s hard to justify given the frenetic pace of competition across the mobile landscape. Verizon and Google recently have gone public with their ambitions to challenge the AT&T/Apple iPad alliance. HP, Dell and others also are in hot pursuit. Cox is becoming the first U.S. cable company to directly offer wireless services. Regional players like Leap Wireless and MetroPCS are thriving. And, the Palm Pre was recently offered to consumers for the jaw-dropping price of a single cent. Consumer choices of service providers, plans, devices and applications abound.
All of this, of course, only further fuels the leaps and bounds we’re now seeing in mobile Internet adoption and usage. The arrival of dispassionate, data-driven reports like this Pew contribution are essential to constructive policy conversation that benefit consumers and innovators alike.
The data also clearly illustrates just how deeply mobile connectivity is working its way into our lives, and just how enthusiastically consumers are responding to the profound innovation it is making possible.
As the Federal Communications Commission takes a closer look at wireless, it’s important that it consider how consumers are actually embracing mobile connectivity in their diverse lives. And, it is imperative that the FCC acknowledge that all of this progress we celebrate now has taken place in—and been made possible in no small part by—the current light-touch regulatory framework.
The proof is in the numbers. As the mercury rises in the nation’s capital, it’s important that cooler heads prevail when it comes to the flexibility and dynamism that have truly connected the nation to the opportunities and innovation made possible by the mobile Internet.
This article was orginially published on Huffington Post.
Posted: 06/03/10 by Mobile Future Team
As a general rule, summer spells long days and warm temperatures, providing increased opportunities for sunning, socializing, and of course: summer love. Catering to the seemingly insatiable demands of consumers year-round, players across the wireless industry continue to launch an impressive slew of new and/ or improved smart phones and feature phones that consumers are sure to adore just in time for the season of love. A majority of the new devices are profiled here, with a link to an informative slideshow with pictures and descriptions of the new technologies.
Go ahead and fall in love all over again.
Posted: 05/20/10 by Jonathan Spalter
This Thursday in its monthly public meeting, the FCC will consider — as it does each year — the state of competition in the wireless marketplace. It is an important assessment and one that merits a cold, hard look — as the new FCC is wont to do — at the underlying facts and data.
Here are some of the key facts about the American wireless marketplace:
Our nation currently is home to the world's lowest per-minute voice prices, largest 3G customer base and most innovative and voluminous applications and device markets. More than nine out of 10 Americans have mobile devices. One in four of us favor them so much that we left our landline telephone service in the last century. Two-thirds of us have a choice of five or more wireless providers and a range of plans from family discounts to pre-paid, no contract options to "all in" voice, data and texting for as little as $50 a month.
By any measure — from the number of facilities-based competitors to the market share of individual companies — U.S. consumers enjoy the most competitive wireless marketplace on earth. Turn on your radio, your TV or open your newspaper and you plainly see compelling evidence of vibrant competition and consumer choice.
A recent memo from the FCC's general counsel, which lays out Chairman Julius Genachowski's "third way" proposal for net neutrality regulation, even cites industry claims that "one of the greatest successes in this industry in the last twenty years (is) the growth of wireless services."
A quick glimpse at the frenetic pace of this growth more than proves the point. Verizon and Google have gone public with their ambitions to challenge the AT&T/Apple iPad alliance. HP, Dell and others are also in hot pursuit. Cox is becoming the first U.S. cable company to offer wireless services directly to consumers and businesses. Regional players like Leap Wireless and MetroPCS are thriving. T-Mobile has vowed to deliver the fastest available speeds across its 3G footprint by year's end. Sprint is prepping the launch of its Evo 4G device, the first to run on its much-heralded 4G network. And, the FCC's recent approval of the Harbinger-Skyterra merger promises the emergence of a fifth national wireless player.
With so many choices, Americans can afford to be among the most communicative in the world, spending more than six billion minutes each day on their mobile phones and sending five billion daily text messages.
Importantly, the competition and consumer choice extends well beyond service providers. America is home to more than 240,000 mobile applications and at least seven competing applications stores. At the Apple App Store alone, more than three billion applications have been downloaded since its launch less than two years ago.
The U.S. is the envy of the mobile innovation world for the robust nature of our networks and the diverse array of consumer choices in devices, applications and service options.
While the FCC urges substantial reforms on multiple fronts, it would be judicious for the Commission to point out where the marketplace is working. Audiences from consumers to policymakers to Wall Street are actively speculating as to how broad or restrained the FCC's new regulatory push ultimately will be — and the potential impact for better or for worse from jobs and economic recovery to innovation and investment. Drawing a bright white line by affirming that competition is clearly working in wireless would offer a reassuring distinction amid a potential tangle of new red tape.
If the Commission aims to make good on its promise to advance a competitive, innovative and consumer-powered marketplace, now is the time and this week's mobile competition report is the place to make clear the upper limits of its regulatory ambitions.
This article was originally published on Huffington Post on May 19, 2010.
Posted: 03/26/10 by Mobile Future Team
Nothing is more relevant to our “Mobile Future” than the advent of new wireless technologies, which is why the CTIA Show in Las Vegas has been the hot topic of this week’s blog posts. Culminating yesterday, the show provided a convergent platform for network providers, application developers, manufacturers, and wireless data and internet companies to engage in constructive industry dialogue, unveil their newest creations and lay the groundwork for concepts that will drive the wireless industry forward. Today, we’ll focus on a few of the network initiatives that made headlines:
AT&T announced Wednesday it would be offering consumers lacking wireless service at home a quick-fix as early as April. For $150—with certain options for mail-in rebates—AT&T subscribers can purchase a femtocell that picks up cell phone signals and relays them through the home’s Internet connection. AT&T’s 3G MicroCell is similar to models released by Verizon and Sprint; however, AT&T’s goes a step further by relaying both calls and broadband data.
Sprint is rolling out its first-ever 4G phone this summer, CEO Dan Hesse announced Tuesday at CTIA. The Evo 4G is the first phone with capabilities to use the new Clear network. Boasting comparable speeds to that of home broadband, the 4G device promises to be more conducive to streaming online video and video calling.
Verizon will launch its own app store this Monday, March 29th. Consumers who purchase apps through the store will be able to pay for them with their cell phone bill, which differs from the separate purchasing accounts necessary with other providers. Additionally, Verizon announced Skype would be available on nine phone models starting yesterday, allowing subscribers to swap calls with other Skype users at no extra cost.
As USA Today reported, T-Mobile unveiled a new broadband service—known as the High Speed Package Access Plus—which promises consumers access to the fastest network in the industry.
Posted: 03/24/10 by Mobile Future Team
The wireless device ecosystem is constantly evolving, and this year’s CTIA show in Las Vegas delivers in reflecting the dynamic nature of the industry’s landscape. This year’s schedule devotes an increasing amount of attention to application developers and startup companies, and with good reason.
As Reuters reported yesterday, with nearly 90% of Americans already subscribing to cell phone services, the window for attracting new customers to the industry is rapidly closing. More so than ever, it is imperative that companies one-up not only their competitors but themselves with exciting new device applications aimed to increase revenues.
This year, the presence of exhibits like AppsWorld, educational sessions entitled “Applications – Consumer Entertainment and Social Trends,” and seminars such as “The Dating Game for Developers” highlight the shift in focus to allow attendees—including large operators like Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T—to fully immerse themselves in the industry’s newest technological advancements.
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