Wireless Data Plans

[Brief] Increased data usage on smartphones, over the past year,
met by decreased costs per MB

Monthly Data Usage Among US Teens Grew 256%
in Q3 2011 From Q3 2010

US Smartphone Data Usage Increases at AT&T, Verizon and Sprint

[Editor's Pick] How Do Youth Mobile Users Worldwide Use
& Pay For Their Mobile Phones?

Flows offer a more in depth understanding of specific mobile knowledge areas by grouping together related research.

Overview
With the increasing functionality of mobile devices, user appetite worldwide for bigger data buckets is quite apparent. Major jumps in data usage have occurred due to the launch of the iPhone as well as the adoption of the Android operating system. Currently the data usage growth leaders are teens.

Flow Highlights

Data usage by smartphone owners is growing at a rapid pace, especially in the US. 40%+ of mobile users in the US are smartphone owners, and the biggest jump in data usage was observed from Q1’2010 to Q2’2011, and 89% increase in data usage (435 MB).
When looking at what smartphone platforms are driving the data usage growth in the US, iPhone at 492 MB/month and Android at 582 MB/month.
When looking at data from a demographic perspective, male data usage is at 382 MB/month, while female data usage is at 266 MB/month, based on data from Q3’2011.
This jump in data usage is having impacts on other services, specifically voice usage on mobile phone’s has dropped, Q3’2010 685 minutes/month to 572 minutes/month in Q3 2011.
From a Worldwide perspective, users (15-24 years old) in China, US, Russia and the UK lead in data usage.
In Europe the UK leads in the most mobile Internet youth users at 46%, followed by Italy at 24%.