Which Came First: Smartphone Sales Or Mobile Data Usage?

A new analyst report says that the adoption of mobile data services is growing in developed markets, fuelling a rise in the sales of smartphones that can support them. This sounds like a chicken-and-egg argument: are the smartphone sales driving data adoption, or data adoption driving smartphone sales? It seems more likely that the increase in smartphones is driving the increase in data sales, given that many of the new services cited -- music downloads and mobile TV, for instance -- can't be accessed from older phones or non-smartphones. Getting new handsets that can support new services into people's hands is fundamental to their success. Most often, this means increasing the subsidy operators put on new handsets, which carriers have said for some time they want to reduce. The subsidies look like they're key to driving sales of handsets, and in turn uptake of new services. But does the added subsidy expenditure get offset by new service revenues? That remains doubtful.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.