Cornered!
Cornered! is a blog devoted, most of the time anyway, to telecommunications: local and global issues, technology, people and trends from the perspective of someone who's been reporting, analysing and commenting on the industry since the dark ages (BC - before competition). Sometimes serious, sometimes flippant, sometimes frivolous. Controversial, analytical, informative, amusing, but never boring; a vehicle for examinations of important issues and observations on my encounters and experiences in an industry where polarised views and hyperbole are the norm.

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Technology news and Jobs arrow Cornered! arrow iPhone and unlimited data: a winning combination
iPhone and unlimited data: a winning combination E-mail
by Stuart Corner   
Friday, 04 January 2008
Here's an interesting statistic from the UK. Matthew Key, CEO-in-waiting of mobile operator O2, has been reported in The Financial Times saying that 60 percent of the operator's UK iPhone customers are sending or receiving more than 25MB of data per month on their phones whereas less than two percent of O2 UK's other contract customers use more than 25MB a month. This has significant implications for the expected launch of a 3G iPhone in Australia.
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O2 is the exclusive source for the iPhone in the UK and, according to Market research firm Ovum, all iPhones are sold in conjunction with a flat-rate tariff which includes 'unlimited' data network usage.

Commenting on Key's figures, Ovum said: "It's long been our view that there is indeed demand for Internet services on mobile phones. Realisation of that demand has been held back by many factors. But we believe that, above all others, two obstacles have combined to stop the show so far. The first is the high and unpredictable cost of using mobile data networks. The second is the difficulty of using Internet services via the phone's user interface (UI)...The iPhone's UI is clearly a breakthrough in ease of use, and the figures cited by O2 show that by removing the frustration factor, as well as price anxiety, service providers can unleash some of the pent-up demand for the Internet on mobile phones."

3 in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, also offers very generous data packages with 'unlimited' access to specific services under its X-Series brand and in Australia rivals Vodafone and Optus have been progressively cutting data charges. Telstra's Next G data service meanwhile remains the most expensive by a long chalk. As I have commented before, mobile data prices in Australia bear an inverse relationship to coverage - 3's high speed HSDPA service being limited to metro areas where it has its own spectrum.

With its market dominant position Telstra appears the logical choice to be the exclusive Australian partner for the 3G iPhone   when it appears, which it inevitably will. Telstra has a number of options for the iPhone. It could maintain its high data rates for some time and the iPhone might therefore fail to realise its full potential in Australia; or Telstra could, like O2, bundle the iPhone with an exclusive and attractive data deal.

 
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Cornered! is a blog on all things tele-communication from the perspective of one who has observed, analysed commented and reported on the industry since the dark ages (BC - before competition).
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