We all know that mobile data usage in the U.S. is skyrocketing, but the recent figures from analyst Chetan Sharma are staggering. Mobile data in the U.S. brought in $14 billion in service revenue in Q3 2010 alone and the data market grew 25% year over year. Smartphones lead the way but connected devices like tablets and wireless eReaders are also on the upswing. Connected devices grew 12% from Q2 to Q3 2010 and, within five years, revenue from connected devices is expected to exceed that of the entire prepaid market.
The report paints a rosy future for wireless carriers as the smartphone adoption rate is increasing and data revenue from these wireless devices is growing at an astonishing rate. Here are some other interesting figures from the report:
- Mobile data revenues for the US are likely to reach $55B by the end of 2010, usage is expected to exceed 1 exabyte (one billion gigabytes)
- Verizon and AT&T are the leaders in mobile data. Combined both carriers accounted for:
- 85% of the increase in data revenues in Q3 2010
- 70% of the market data services revenues
- 62% of the subscription base.
- While still the #4 wireless carrier, T-Mobile’s data growth is starting to match with its peers.
- Data traffic is significantly greater than voice usage. By the end of 2010, US consumers will use 325MB per month, up 112% year over year.
- US is #2 in the world for per capita mobile data usage and trails only Sweden in this category.
- 47% of the devices sold in the US in Q3 2010 were smartphones
Interestingly enough, Chetan Sharma also predicts that Windows Phone 7 will push RIM aside and take third place behind the iPhone and Android.
[Via GigaOm and Chetan Sharma]