With the launch of the iPad earlier this year and the imminent launch of the iPhone 4, we continue to see that consumers just can’t get enough of the capabilities these smart phones and “Internet-ready” devices provide. Rich content over mobile networks is not only here to stay but its growing at astounding rates.  Research released last week from Morgan Stanley projected an inflection point of 2012 when the number of global units of smart phones shipped will surpass desktop PCs and Notebooks. (http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/MS_Internet_Trends_060710.pdf) 2012…..not that far off.

So let’s talk about data or more specifically unlimited data and the growing number of service providers who are rolling out plans that better reflect user behavior. Its probably worth noting here that there were never really any completely unlimited plans, they all had some fair-use limit. The sea-change is in the overage charge model. O2 announced last week that they will end unlimited data plans for their smart phone customers later this month as did AT&T early in June (Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/02/atandt-makes-sweeping-changes-to-data-plans-iphone-tethering-comi/). The million dollar question is “will users suffer”. And happily for Better Broadband the answer looks to be no.  “Based on current usage patterns, 97% of O2 smart phone customers would not need to buy additional data allowances. And according to the network the lowest limit of 500MB is 2.5 times the amount used by average customers on a monthly basis.” (source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/broadband-and-phones/article.html?in_article_id=506082&in_page_id=182&ito=1565)

If service providers can continue to offer fair packages that cover users needs (and then some) consumers can, and no doubt will, continue to embrace the variety of new and exciting things they can do with the mobile Internet.

How much data are you using? This really puts into digestible terms what you can do with a 500MB plan.

*Source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/broadband-and-phones/article.html?in_article_id=506082&in_page_id=182&ito=1565