That 48 Percent Obviously Doesn’t Include iPhone Users
Nearly half–48 percent–of Americans would drop their mobile data service completely if they were driven to it by the souring economy.
That’s the conclusion of a new study by Strategy Analytics, which found that consumers are not so taken with mobile connectivity that they’ve completely lost site of household budgetary constraints. Especially if they’ve got broadband at home; just 10 percent of the 1,100 households surveyed would be willing to cut wired broadband service to save money.
Said Strategy Analytics VP David Mercer, “These results suggest that, while American consumers consider home broadband service to be a vital utility, they see mobile data service as simply a ‘nice to have.’”
That might be the case now, but I wonder for how long. Wireline broadband is far more mature than mobile broadband, so it makes sense that it’s viewed more as necessity than luxury. But as devices like the Apple (AAPL) iPhone and Palm (PALM) Pre become more ubiquitous, it seems inevitable that “nice to have: will become “must have.”
[Image credit: Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships]