The iPhone is a data hog. Just ask AT&T (NYSE: T) and their strained 3G data network. Data-hungry iPhone users seemingly aren’t able to satisfy their thirst for online information. They’re so ravenous for the all things internet that, according to AdMob, the iPhone accounts for 50% of all smartphone web traffic around the globe. Here, in the US, the iPhone pulls down 55% of all smartphone traffic, mostly through AT&T’s 3G network. That’s a lot of data!

It’s not just the iPhone, either. The smartphone boom has raised Android awareness high enough to boost traffic from Android smartphones to 11% worldwide. In the US, the effect is even more pronounced – Android handsets are responsible for 20% of all smartphone traffic in America. Compelling new Android offerings like the Sprint HTC Hero and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) myTouch 3G (as well as their European variants) have helped drive up Android market share. Android is fast closing the gap between itself and the iPhone platform.

But, it’s not all roses and rainbows in the smartphone sector. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has long led the mobile phone market in terms of market share, but has recently been losing share to the likes of iPhone and Android smartphones. The Finns (Nokia) are responsible for 24% of worldwide traffic, with the Symbian platform sending out 25% of all worldwide smartphone web requests. The BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) OS dropped to just 7% of global smartphone requests. Windows Mobile fared even worse, claiming just 3% of global requests. Palm (NSDQ: PALM)’s webOS, despite a European launch of the Palm Pre, dropped down to 2% of the world’s smartphone traffic.

The moral to this story? Smartphones are on the rise. But, it’s not enough to just run a smartphone operating system – consumers are flocking to intuitive touchscreen platforms with desktop-class web browsers. The iPhone and Android platforms obviously meet these criteria. Nokia, BlackBerry, Palm and Microsoft should be asking themselves why their offerings don’t.

[Via: AdMob] (PDF link)

Telstra, an operator from down under, created a new user interface in house called the “TelstraOne Experience” and have discovered that by making mobile fones easier to use, they can successfully increase usage of their data services. While many of you are rolling your eyes right now, saying “no fucking shit”, this new evidence may make handset makers rethink their feature fone OS user experience instead of pumping resources into yet another failed project that attempts to compete with the iPhone. Most devices in the sub 200 EUR price range are currently optimized for calls and SMS, or what used to be the bread and butter of operators. With the mobile web becoming ridiculously popular, little Johny does want to tell all his Facebook friends about how shit faced he was last night after all, it is the devices that make getting on the internet easier that more and more operators will want to offer their customers.

We all focus on the crazy high end, 500+ EUR smartphone market, but what about innovation in mid and low end devices? Ross Fielding, Executive Director Telstra Product Management, had this to say about TelstraOne: “We looked at figures aggregated by handset type over the three months to September 30. We found that customers with the TelstraOne UI were 60 per cent more likely to use their phone on a weekly basis to access the mobile web compared to Telstra’s regular 3G mobile customers” and later added “data and content revenue on TelstraOne Experience handsets is more than 11 per cent higher than on the identical handset model we compared”.

How fast is data usage increasing on Telstra’s network? It’s doubling every 8 months. Pay attention handset makers. Time to start making devices that are easy to use not because you want to create some sort of unique value proposition in an attempt to increase brand recognition, but because your largest customers, the operators of the world, will love you if you can increase their revenues.

[Via: Cellular News]

Droid Does. That’s the slogan that Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s ad campaigns for the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid have been hammering into our heads for the past several weeks. With $100 million reportedly invested into the marketing push to turn struggling Motorola’s Droid the de facto alternative to the iPhone 3GS, Verizon and Motorola are betting big on the new Android phone. Turns out, the Motorola Droid did damn well in its first week of sales. A new report estimates Droid sales hitting 250,000 during its launch week!

The analytics gurus at Flurry track over 10,000 iPhone and Android apps, which Flurry says gives it an eye into usage patterns for two out of every three iPhones on the planet. They used that data to estimate that a quarter million Droid handsets made their way into customer pockets this past week. Thanks to the power of a $100 million advertising campaign, Verizon’s 90 million-strong subscriber network and a far-reaching 3G network, Flurry says the Droid is the “fastest-selling Android phone to date.”

Droid nay-sayers will be quick to point out that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) pushed out 1.6 million iPhone 3GS units in the first week of sales, but it would be good to remember that Apple launched the iPhone 3GS in eight countries around the world. There were also 27 million installed iPhone users around the world pushing the iPhone 3GS on their friends. The Droid obviously can’t live up to the iPhone’s numbers, but 250,000 handsets sold in the first week is still an impressive number.

It’s not going to stop there either. The Droid may be the most visible Android handset of late, but there are some incredible Android offerings coming down the pipeline in the near future.

[Via: Flurry]

There’s no denying the almost magical draw of the iPhone and the world of good it’s done for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s bottom line. A new report from Gartner today backs up that notion with data that has the Apple iPhone accounting for 17.1% of global smartphone sales in Q3 2009. That figure puts Apple in the No. 3 spot, behind Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Research In Motion (BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)), as far as global smartphone market share.

Apple shipped some 7 million iPhones in the third quarter of 2009. The continued success of smartphones like the iPhone is fueled by a disproportionate growth in the mobile phone market that has the smartphone segment growing 12.8% year-on-year while the overall mobile phone segment languished with just 0.1% year-over-year growth.

It’s clear that smartphones are here to stay and will soon become the “norm” in the mobile space. Can Apple sustain its third-place position in the face of hot new smartphones running the Android operating system? It’s going to be a tough battle, and we can’t wait to watch it all unfold.

[Via: MacRumors]

ABI Research’s latest report says that by the end of this year, the world’s mobile handset accessories market will have chalked up a value of nearly $55 billion, representing a small decrease from the 2008 figure.

The problem seems in the memory card segment market, which has been oversupplied, with selling prices being barely above production costs — something that could unfortunately change in the future. The good thing, however, is that handset makers are more often than not bundling higher capacity memory cards with their products, and now we have few handset models shipping with 8GB cards.

Of course, memory card makers don’t want to disturb consumers, hence they’re experimenting with new ways of increasing the card’s value (and justifying the higher price), such as pre-loading them with some mobile content or even apps and games.

As for the future, the accessory market will remain somewhat sluggish in 2010 and not until 2011 will the 2008 figure be surpassed… Additional details about ABI’s report titled “Mobile Accessories Market Data” is available from their website.

Streaming music services like Spotify seem like n0-brainer winners. You get unlimited access to a virtually unlimited catalog of music for a nominal monthly fee. How could streaming music not be a runaway success? By not catching on with the all-important youth/student demographic, that’s how.

A new survey of 10,000 university students, conducted by the University of Reading, finds that 75% of students would rather pay for songs and download music to their hard drive or music player. The survey indicates that the streaming music model, while attractive, just doesn’t give students the kind of semi-tangible goods that music downloads provide.

With more and more music stores eschewing DRM, digital-rights management, protection, it’s getting easier to take music libraries from the desktop to mobile. And, with on-board smartphone/music player memory stores hitting 32GB, storage space is fast becoming a non-issue. Is it any wonder college students prefer to own their music rather than rent it from a streaming music store? Take Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Comes With Music, for example, that has yet to sign up 200,000 customers. Best Buy’s decision to put their Napster iPhone app on ice is starting to make more sense now.

What say you? Is streaming music something you’d pay for? Or would you rather stick to the pay-per-song model and own your music?

[Via: PRNewswire]

The boffins at Juniper Research have predicted that by 2014, 1 in 6 mobile phone subscribers will be using an NFC device. Whether or not they’ll be using NFC for something other than transmitting naughty pictures and business cards is another story all together. Juniper Research also thinks that in 2014, NFC enabled monetary transactions will exceed $110 billion. If we assume that there are 4 billion mobile subscribers now, and that number will hit 5 billion by 2014, then that would be roughly 833 million people (1 in 6) spending an average of $132 during a 12 month period. That’s roughly the population of the USA and the EU combined, buying a $5 meal at McDonald’s every other week.

Do you think they’re being a tad too optimistic? I am, but then again I tend to stay away from predicting what will happen more than 3 years into the future. At the rate the world is moving, 2014 may as well be a millennium away.

[Via: Business Wire]

In its new report titled “Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014,” Juniper Research forecasts that consumer usage of mobile coupons will generate close to $6 billion globally in retail redemption value by 2014.

However, the research company warns about stumbling blocks the industry faces: apathy amongst the wider public, and the lack of willingness to learn a new method of making financial transactions. Juniper goes on suggesting that smart posters with embedded NFC tags will bring to life static billboards, enabling interaction between potential customers and their prospective purchases.

Further findings from the report include:

• ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions;
• The vast majority of mobile coupon redemption value will be generated by the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America in 2014.

As usual, more information about the report is available from Juniper’s website.

The economy, which is experiencing either a recession, or depression depending on who you ask, is starting to look better, but make no mistake, a lot of people are still hurting and will continue to hurt for a few more years. It’s surprising then that in the midst of all this belt tightening and frugal spending that in Q3 2009 smartphone sales broke a record. IDC says that 43.3 million smartphones shipped last quarter, while Canalys says 41.4 million, either way, they both conclude that this has been the best quarter, ever, for converged devices. Here are the numbers:

Manufacturer – (IDC) – (Canalys):

• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) – (16.4 million) – (16.4 million)
• RIM – (8.2 million) – (8.5 million)
• Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) – (7.4 million) – (7.36 million)
• HTC – (2.4 million) – (2.18 million)
• Others (8.8 million) – (6.9 million)

In terms of growth as a percentage, IDC says RIM shot up 35.7% year on year, while Canalys reports 40.8%. Apple and Nokia are growing at roughly the same rate year on year, IDC says Nokia grew 6.6% while Apple achieved 7.1% growth, and Canalys is saying Nokia grew 6%, while Apple did marginally better at 6.7%. In terms of market share, Nokia is still number one: IDC is saying 37.9% and Canalys saying is 39.7%, both are higher than the 35% Nokia quoted themselves as having during their Q3 2009 financial conference call.

Mind share is another story all together, but to quote Steve Ballmer: “At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what the critics say, it matters what the customers say.”

We dig the idea of falling smartphone prices. ABI Research has been following the market and they say that in 2007 only 18% of these devices were priced under $200 retail. This year, however, that percentage went up to 27%, and by 2014 the research company predicts 45% of them [smartphones] will be priced below $200.

According to ABI, these numbers show changing consumers’ attitudes toward smartphones, and a corresponding shift in vendors’ and mobile operators’ sales and marketing strategies which ultimately lead to the current situation where we have more and more smartphones and conventional (feature) phones being priced in similar ranges.

ABI also points out that some smartphones are never subsidized (i.e. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) in the U.S.), but increasingly manufacturers want to see their higher end models reach high volumes of sales.

ABI’s mobile devices practice director Kevin Burden said: “Prices will hold at a certain point. We may never see a $30 smartphone. But over time, smartphones will take a substantial part of the mainstream handset market.”

More information about ABI Research’s new “Smartphone and OS Markets” report is available from their website.