If mobile providers are feeling the threat from any other area of the communications industry, its from wi-fi networks. As voice call usage drops, data usage is climbing at a significant rate, and analysts are predicting that the success of devices such as the iPhone could begin to cost their licence holders a lot of money.
Most licence holders, such as AT&T and O2, are providing the iPhone on a flat rate contract (something Apple is very keen on, given the connected nature of its device), but the Wall Street Journal is suggesting that revenues from data and web browsing are unlikely to be profitable as users eat up more and more bandwidth.
As movies and games become more prevalent (with some applications, such as the iPhone port of Myst, weighing in at as much as 700MB), unlimited data plans could soon become too costly for providers to maintain.
But the value of an exclusivity contract makes for a difficult decision for providers. AT&T is apparently considering a contract price cut of $10 per month to keep Apple on side and get the iPhone into more hands, but given the rapidly increasing cost of data usage this could be a move it lives to regret.
Top Stories
News
16 minutes ago
Apple joins generative AI revolution with Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT support
News
5 hours, 14 minutes ago
Royal Match takes a sweet lead over Candy Crush as Honkai: Star Rail zooms by Genshin Impact
News
7 hours, 16 minutes ago
Devsisters’ Chris O’Kelly talks upselling IP to fans across multiple games without cannibalization
News
10 hours, 1 minute ago
Google hit by £13.6 billion lawsuit over alleged "self-preferencing" and anticompetitive behaviour
News
10 hours, 46 minutes ago
Star Wars: Hunters ranked No. 1 for App Store game downloads in the US, UK and Canada on launch day
News
7 hours, 16 minutes ago
Devsisters’ Chris O’Kelly talks upselling IP to fans across multiple games without cannibalization
Feature
Jun 10th, 2024
Hot Five: Squad Busters’ supercharged launch, Pokémon’s record revenue, and Star Wars: Hunters finally hits the target
Events
Tribeca Games Festival 2024 | North America | Jun 5th |
Steam Next Fest: June 2024 Edition | Jun 10th | |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
GamesForum Hamburg 2024 | Europe | Jun 11th |
ESI London 2024 | Europe | Jun 13th |
Game Con Canada (GCC) 2024 | North America | Jun 14th |
Indie Dev Play 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |