Mobile App revenues driven by…
It has always been interesting to note the stance that mobile operators have taken on data usage over their networks. Given issues in the past about customers getting high bills for unexpected data usage, they’ve taken some great steps forward to mitigate this risk. Some carriers offer ‘overage insurance’ others cap the total dollar amount if a user goes over.
Many mobile applications will let a user know how much data is being used, and some phones will report this as well, independent of any apps. All of this lays the groundwork for a more comfortable view of mobile data usage for the operator. Right now, with many billing plans – more usage equates to more revenue. Despite this being the case for some time now, there has always been a fear that too much usage would create customer revolt. It did to a certain extent, but we are moving past that and getting to a point where people understand their devices, and the costs associated with using them.
So… let the apps roll out.
Juniper Research points out in their latest mobile revenue prediction ($25B by 2014) that
“Data revenue growth is dependent upon operators embracing policies which enable open access – a policy which also involves facilitating app stores which compete with their on-portal offerings.”
… according to report author Dr Windsor Holden.
This is great for the operators, because they don’t have to do much other than keep up their network capacity – and keep their Mobile App policies ‘open’.
This is also great for developers, publishers and consumers who will all benefit from the industry maturing, providing good business models for the developers, and good user experiences for the users.
