A study of soaring smartphone use by software maker Arieso suggests that as consumers become increasingly hungry for data, their choice of device helps determine how much demand they place on wireless networks.
The study found that users of phones powered by Google’s Android operating system, available from numerous manufacturers and carriers, are consuming the most data. Using its location-aware and customer-centric network management solution, ariesoGEO, the company collected data from one 24-hour weekday in an urban Tier-1 network, in which more than 440,000 subscribers made more than 22 million voice and data calls.
iPhone Set Standard
Arieso analyzed the activity of devices used by at least 1,000 subscribers, such as the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the Google Nexus One, the HTC Desire, the Sony Ericsson Xperia, and the Apple iPhone 4. The iPhone 3G was used as a benchmark for high data usage.
The iPhone 3G was chosen as the reference point because of its significance as a game changer in the smartphone market, under the rationale that those who demand more data than iPhone 3G users set a new bar that network operators must anticipate.
“Smartphone subscriptions are rising and so, too, is subscriber appetite for mobile data,” said Michael Flanagan, author of Arieso’s white paper, titled Emerging Smartphone Trends: The Next Wave in the Digital Tsunami. “Since the launch of the iPhone 3G, we’ve seen a multitude of popular new smartphones arrive on the market, successfully driving app and service usage. It’s a trend that’s set to continue. Operators must now be able to quantify the impact of the devices they support, how subscribers use them, and prepare their networks accordingly.”
Comparing all the other phones against the iPhone 3G, Arieso found a 250 percent increase in total data call time, a 130 percent increase in data calls, a 130 percent increase in…