IT Facts

Philippine small and medium-sized enterprises have reached a good degree of enterprise mobility and WLAN adoption, either throughout or in specific areas in their organizations, according to IDC. 49% of organization confirmed that at least 50% of their workforce have access to enterprise mobility devices, while 46% have access to WLAN infrastructure. Based on the survey, the most popular basic applications were group calls, personal information manager, SMS and SMS applications and mobile email services. These services are being used by 44% to 49% of organizations interviewed. Among advanced mobile applications, the most commonly adopted are services such as mobile access to corporate VPN and enterprise applications with 40% and 44% adoption rate respectively.

The worldwide wireless LAN (WLAN) semiconductor market is expected to pass the 4 bln USD mark by 2012 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.8%. While PCs will remain the largest application segment for WLAN semiconductors, mobile phone applications will grow at a CAGR of 49.3% and become the second-largest category for WLAN semiconductor revenue by 2012. IDC expects the MIMO-enhanced 802.11n technology to be the next growth driver for this market as the higher throughput and range provide a great opportunity for new applications and usage models, according to IDC.

In Q2 2008, US mobile subscribers sent and received on average 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month, according to Nielsen. In the first quarter of 2006, Americans sent and received 65 text messages per month. The number of messages sent and received today has increased 450%. In June 2008, American cell phone subscribers sent about 75 bln SMS text messages, averaging about 2.5 bln messages per day. This represents an increase of 160% over the 28.8 bln messages reported in June 2007.

25% of all adults (or 34% of internet users) have gotten online away from home or work using a laptop and a WiFi wireless connection. However, the practice of using WiFi connections away from home or work for online access is mainly the province of home broadband users. Some 40% of home broadband users have done this compared with 12% of those who use dial-up to go online from home. Put differently, 95% of those who say they have used a WiFi connection to go online are home broadband users, according to the Pew Internet Project.

CTIA announced that wireless data service revenues for the first half of 2008 rose to $14.8 bln. This represents a 40% increase over the first half of 2007, when data revenues totaled $10.5 bln. Wireless data revenues now amount to 20% of all wireless service revenues, and represent money that consumers spend on non-voice services. Text messaging again set new records, with 75 bln messages reported in the month of June 2008 alone – about 2.5 bln messages a day. This represents an increase of 160% over the 28.8 bln messages reported in June 2007. Wireless subscribers continue to capture and send more pictures and other multi-media messages, more than 5.6 bln MMS messages in the first half of 2008 – almost as many as were sent in all of 2007.

As of June 2008, the industry survey recorded more than 262 mln wireless users. This represents a year-over-year increase of nearly 20 mln subscribers. The industry’s 12-month record for subscriber growth was reached in 2005, when 25.7 mln new users came online. Other highlights of the survey include: wireless customers using more than 1.12 trln minutes in the first half of 2008, up 10.9% over the first half of 2007, and generating more than $72 bln in total wireless revenues in six months.

By 2013, nearly 2.4 bln units of Bluetooth-enabled equipment will ship worldwide, with more than half that number representing cell phones, and when headsets are added, it brings the phones and headsets to more than 75% of the Bluetooth market, said ABI Research. Worldwide, by 2013, nearly 30% of all new cars will include hands-free features. Bluetooth aftermarket - independent makers of add-on vehicle products - is thriving. In 2007, it was around 25 mln units, a 54% increase from 2006.

The smartphone market is expected to grow 52% in 2008 compared to 2007, to 190 mln units. That’s 15%, or $65 bln-worth, of the total 1.28 bln handsets expected to be sold 2008. In 2012, Gartner expects smartphone unit sales to reach over 700 mln of the total 1.8 bln handset market; that’s 65%, or $200 bln-worth, of the total $312 bln mobile phone market at that time.

Wireless phone customers who call their provider when experiencing a problem are waiting on hold longer than in the past to speak with a service representative, according to the JD Power and Associates. The average amount of time wireless customers spend on hold before speaking with a customer service representative in 2008 is 4.4 minutes—up 34% from the average hold time in 2003 (3.3 minutes). 49% of wireless customers have contacted the customer care service center for assistance within the past year—an increase from 47% reported six months ago. Among customers who contacted the service department, 34% did so due to service/equipment issues. Verizon Wireless ranks highest in wireless customer care performance with an index score of 103, followed by Alltel (102), T-Mobile (100) and AT&T (97).

Among customers who contact their provider, 75% do so by telephone while 24% do so by visiting their provider’s retail store. E-mail/Internet interactions account for only 1% of customer contacts. The average number of reported phone contacts needed to resolve a customer inquiry is 1.76, down from 1.91 contacts in the last reporting period. Customers who visit the provider’s retail store for service inquiries report waiting an average of 7 minutes before speaking with a representative.

Wireless subscriber growth is slowing due to market saturation, with US carriers adding only 26 mln new subscribers in the next five years to reach 266 mln in 2013. Adoption by teens and young adults will become nearly ubiquitous as the majority of the demographic already have cell phones, and 31% of parents with children ages 10 to 12 reported that their children also have cell phones, JupiterResearch says.

Location-based mobile social networking revenues will reach $3.3 bln by 2013, but successful business models may differ from what many observers expect, ABI Research says.

Roughly 40% of all Internet users worldwide currently have mobile Internet access. The number of mobile Internet users will reach 546 mln in 2008, nearly twice as many as in 2006, and is forecast to surpass 1.5 bln worldwide in 2012, according to IDC.

Worldwide smart-phone sales were 32.2 mln for Q1 2008, up 29% from Q1 2007, but half of that increase was due to the surge in North America, Gartner says. Smart-phone sales in North America were 7.3 mln units, up 106% from Q1 2007. RIM, with a US market share of 42%, was the main beneficiary. Apple sold 1.73 mln iPhones in Q1 2008, taking a 5.3% share of the worldwide smart-phone market.

189 bln mobile messages have been sent by US mobile-phone subscribers in 2007. Gartner forecasts 301 bln mobile messages sent in 2008. Those figures would still account for only a small fraction of the 2.3 trillion messages to be sent across major markets worldwide in 2008 (a 19.6% increase from the 2007 total of 1.9 trillion messages).

US consumers said they spent 12.1% of their iPhone usage time accessing the Internet, a stark contrast with 2.4% for all mobile phones on average, according to iSuppli. Furthermore, iPhone owners spent 11.9% of their usage time listening to music or other audio, compared to just 2.5% for all mobile handset users. iPhone users also spent more time e-mailing than all users on average, with owners spending 10.4% of their time on this task, as opposed to 2.8% for all mobile-phone subscribers. In spite of having only limited corporate IT support so far, the speed (via Wi-Fi) and superior ergonomics of the iPhone are compelling users to access their personal email more frequently.

80% of mobile operators agreed that becoming a mobile data connectivity provider is either quite likely or highly likely, according to 3-ple Media. Average revenue per user (ARPU) from traditional services has been in steady decline, but 52% of operators said they are current revenue leaders in the field. 26% operators rated themselves as likely to be the revenue leader by 2010, but 28% said they would be second to content (media) providers. Operators ranked advertisers (24%) and web 2.0 companies (15%) the next likely to be revenue leaders.