Apparently, mobile phone users in the U.S. aren’t that eager to browse the Web from their mobile phones. According to Rethink Research, mobile web accounts for 12% of ARPU in 2007, far bellow the expected 50 percent. On the the other hand, Yankee Group argues only 13% of mobile phone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web, quoting bad phones, network speeds and crappy WAP browsers as reasons.
But carriers aren’t crying. Instead of pushing mobile web, they make their cut by selling 3G cards alongside the mobile data plans. Starting from 2005 to first three quarters of 2007, mobile operators saw their mobile data revenues jumping from $8.6 billion to $17.7 billion.
Of course, following the introduction of Apple iPhone things have changed a bit. The idea of having the full web browser in a pocket seems to appeal to Americans, hence we may see more such devices introduced during the next year. Can’t wait…
[Via: GigaOm]