Making data make sense

Wireless data adoption in the U.S. continues to grow as slowly yet as surely as a bad haircut. According to the Yankee Group's recent Mobile User Survey, data revenues reached $1 billion during the second quarter of 2004, a 160% increase over the $367 million data services generated during the second quarter of 2003. The report projected overall 2004 wireless data revenues of $4 billion, adding that while about one-quarter of mobile subscribers were shelling out for data services during Q2, that percentage looked set to rise to one-third of subscribers by year's end. But wireless data still accounts for just 4% of total carrier revenue, although Yankee says that figure could triple to 12% by 2008 if only operators begin doing a better job of promoting the “value proposition” of using data services. Yet nearly 75% of all respondents told Yankee that if they had another $5 to $10 of disposable income to spend on wireless data, they would gladly fork that extra cash over to their carrier. Try as they might, there's little operators can do to sell their customers services they can't afford in the midst of continued economic malaise, so in the short-term, carriers should instead focus on fine-tuning the user experience and making data services easy to access and employ. If there's a hot-button issue demanding immediate attention in 2005, it's user interfaces: A recent Wacom Components survey found that 85% of consumers claim they are “too dumb” to use data services, complaining that wireless handsets are just too complex to navigate. Customers say they want to adopt data services. It's up to carriers and handset-makers to guarantee those services are user-friendly when subscribers finally put their money where their mouths are.