Mobile operators will be among the biggest beneficiaries of the Apple iPad’s success, thanks to the iPad’s use of mobile data services to access applications and digital content, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (http://www.pyr.com), the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network (http://www.lightreading.com).
Pyramid believes the iPad has created a new mass market for tablet devices. “Early adoption of the iPad has been promising, and device competitors will release products to fit different price points and feature requirements,” says Jan ten Sythoff, analyst-at-large and author of the report. “Content is already widely available in a number of forms, including e-books and iPhone applications (both iPhone-specific and iPad-specific), while development of new content categories shows much promise.”
These factors will drive demand for data access, and the iPad along with similar devices provide a compelling new opportunity for mobile operators to increase data subscriptions and hence revenues adds Sythoff. Mobile operators are already lining up to sell mobile data packages for the iPad.
“The first will be AT&T, which will enjoy device exclusivity in the U.S. market, as it has with the iPhone, while Hutchison 3G Austria announced it will subsidize the device on a two-year contract, charging EURO 29.90 for 5GB per month; it will include a 3G/WiFi modem to allow iPads with only WiFi built in to connect to the mobile network,” says ten Sythoff.
