Data download growing quickly stateside

May 9, 2005 - source: BWCS

The US market for mobile data downloads is heating up, according to new research from IDC. The company found that in the final quarter of 2004 the total revenues for paid download services came to US$250 million on a volume of 100 million units.

In terms of the largest number of downloads, Verizon customers paid for more and also demanded more than nearest rival Cingular in the last three months of 2004. According to IDC this indicates that Verizon's BREW platform and the content aggregators, developers and providers associated with it, are currently outperforming other carriers' content platforms.

However, the researchers pointed out that in terms of average spend per customer, Sprint PCS was the winner, with fellow US mobile operator Nextel coming in a very strong second. In terms of the overall market, download revenues from ring tones and games led the way, with graphics, consumer and business applications making up the rest.

The research company claims that its findings indicate that US mobile companies should continue to focus on key strategies that allow them to achieve and sustain growth involving data services and applications. This should include fine-tuning their marketing strategies for the American youth market, and looking for new customers - possibly by the MVNO route or via pre-paid offerings.