Big 4 US Carrier Metrics Compared Q3 2010

The top four US mobile operators currently represent about 92% of the 293mil US wireless subscriber connections.

I've highlighted the top performer in each category. Note Sprint's Data ARPU is in italics because they haven't provided an update to that number since Q1 2010... guess they have nothing to brag about.

You can link to my previous carrier metrics spreadsheets here.

US Carrier Metrics Compared Q2 2010

The Big 4 carriers represent over 92% of US wireless subscriber connections.

I've highlighted the top performer in each category. Note Sprint's Data ARPU number is in italics because it's from last quarter... for some reason they chose not to break out Data ARPU for Q2 2010 (hmmm).

For fun, take a look at how these numbers compare with Q4 2008.

I Switched: Why One San Francisco Exec Ditched His iPhone For An EVO

Guest post by Daniel Stein

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I have been an iPod advocate since the very beginning. Since the device launched in 2002, I have lost count at how many iPods I have purchased. I have a shoe box at home that is filled with my old hardware – the original 5GB (engraved, even), an iPod Shuffle; 2 iPod Minis (that I used with my Nike+ system); 2 Nanos, an iPod Touch (can’t remember why I bought that); a 60GB and 80GB iPod; and a few more that I am sure I forgot to mention.

When the iPhone launched in 2007, I was one of the first to own it. Since then, I have replaced or upgraded my iPhone 4 times. When the app store launched in July 2008, I was blown away. It made me realize how powerful mobile and location-based computing could be. It was probably the single most game changing device that I had ever experienced. It tied together entertainment, communications, social media, music and productivity in a simple, easy-to-use and very cool-looking package.

All that said, in early July of this year, I threw away my iPhone, paid my extortion money to AT&T to cancel my account and switched to Sprint and the HTC EVO. Regardless of how cool the iPhone was and how powerful the applications are, I made the decision that the reliability of the phone was more important than the power of the applications.

At the time I switched, I was dropping about 15-20 calls per day. Generally speaking, about every call over 3 minutes would be dropped at some point in the conversation. There was no rhyme or reason to when a call would be dropped. There was no pattern, no dead patch, no spotty reception. One minute you were there, the next minute you were gone. It was driving me insane and I eventually got to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore.

What I found when I switched was that I really did not give up as much as I thought I would. Although the Android market didn’t have near as many applications as the iPhone, it had many of the same applications and everything that I consistently use. Some of the native apps (like Google Maps) were actually much better than the apps on the iPhone. Best of all, the phone worked, everywhere and all the time. This may sound absurd to say in 2010, but having a phone that you can rely to simply work as promised changed my life.

Don’t get me wrong, the EVO isn’t perfect. There are a lot of shortcomings that I would love to see fixed in the future, but overall I am very happy with my decision to switch. Here is a quick list of pros and cons I have expected with the device.

PROS

• Phone: Phone works great. I have had the EVO for over three weeks and have not dropped one call. There are a few “dead” spots that I have noticed in San Francisco and Oakland, but I assume that is expected with any service.
• Apps: The Android Market has far more apps than I expected. There isn’t anything that I am “missing” from the iphone.
• Mapping: The mapping software and turn-by-turn navigation was seamless, fast and accurate.
• Social Integration: Integration with my Google, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr account, etc. worked right out of the box integrates with your address book, mail and SMS features.
• Camera: The 8 mega-pixel camera and flash takes incredible pictures.
• Sprint HotSpot (i.e. Tethering): By a simple click of a button (and an extra $29.95 per month), you can turn your mobile phone into a sprint mobile hotspot and share internet service to your Mac, PC or other device.

CONS

• Battery Life: The battery life of the EVO is horrible. The first time I traveled with the device, it fully discharged in about 3 hours. Since then, I purchased a portable charger and reconfigured it to use less power.
• Usability: After using as iPhone for so many years, I found the interface clunky and unintuitive. It took me a few weeks to feel “at home” with the device.
• Size: The EVO is big. A co-worker of mine calls it the Hummer of smart phones. It doesn’t bother me, but it may be too big for some of you.
• Typing: Typing without a physical keyboard is still frustrating. I find myself making many mistakes on the the any virtual keyboard, but the autocorrect on the iPhone worked pretty well. The autocorrect on the EVO doesn’t work near as well.
• 4G: I am not really sure what this means, as I have never been able to access 4G. I am starting to think it’s like turning your stereo to 11. It doesn’t really exist, but it sounds very powerful.

Daniel Stein is Founder & CEO of the digital advertising & branding agency Evolution Bureau

Drones & Clones Gotta Jones For Them iPhones

Q4 2009 Big 4 US Mobile Operator Key Stats

Q4 2009 Big 3 US Mobile Operator Key Stats

What doesn't matter?: Coverage map pissing matches & 4G

What does matter?: iPhone... and BlackBerry

What may matter in 2010?: Android

Dredging The CESpool For Cool

So, I'm back from Las Vegas with a lighter wallet, no voice, potential liver damage and some decent business prospects. Good show, good times. I've aways contended that it's hard to get perspective on the entire beast that is CES when you're on the ground, living it... but for what it's worth here are the things that I thought were cool, interesting or notable from the slice of the show I experienced:

• First, props to the nurse at the First Aid Station at the Las Vegas Convention Center, who by virtue of providing me with an isopropyl soaked towelette was ultimately much more helpful rectifying my latest BlackBerry Bold trackball crisis than the charming yet useless folk in the RIM booth.

• 3D TV is way cooler than I expected, especially the full HD version (1080p in both eyes). But, it is still hard to fathom kickin' it in active 3D glasses along with 22 of my closest friends during a Superbowl XLV, or a Superbowl L party for that matter. I think Samsung is on to something with the glasses-less solution. The good news in the short term is that excitement around this niche should make that sweet non-3D 55" LED set I'm coveting much cheaper.

• Thanks Nokia booth guy for the great demo of the N900. Slick device. I particularly liked the social networking topscreen widgets (like MotoBlur) and thought the Flash 9 enabled browser was awesome. Now go and get yourselves a carrier subsidy you sillies.

• Slates, tablets, eReaders galore... some like the Kindle except better, like Plastic Logic's Que proReader, and some that are more rich media friendly the the HP slate. There's a lot of froth and fear in this product sector that I'm convinced (and reliable sources I spoke with agreed) is about to be defined (on Jan 27th) by Apple.

• I'm happy to report that based on the balance of parties there's evidence to suggest the AVN is virile of spirit (if not of revenue) in the face of potentially withering challenges that industry faces from an onslaught of free digital services and its cultural destigmatization. Didn't get to spend any quality time at that show, but I did get to attend one of the aforementioned parties courtesy of some cool folk at Gawker, and I was gonna say it didn't suck at all, but...oh never mind....

• Android, Android, Android... the exuberance continued into the show following Google's Nexus One event last week. The fact that Flash 10 was announced to be coming to Android browsers didn't hurt. (Hopefully this will push Apple over the hump with Adobe). On the Android handset front I heard some strong positive buzz from industry insiders about the Sony Xperia X10 device (see demo below), that will unfortunately sell like 2 units in the US if the SE can't get any carrier love.

• I like to say I'm into architecture, so I thought my mind would be blasted by the newly opened City Centre property... but no so much. I felt that it took some modern concepts from a dream team of kick-ass designers and plugged them into a tired LV model (set back hotels, promenade mall, etc.). Instead of feeling original and exuberant, it felt formulaic and strangely anachronistic given its embrace of super-premium Eurotrash retailers and it's cookie-cutter (though dark) casino. On top of that, several locals I spoke to expressed hatred for the already notoriously crap attitude of the staff. I did have an Eric Schmidt sighting there on Friday, which felt as much like a check-the-box as the property itself.

• Samsung blew it on the mobile front by not showing their highly anticipated Bada S8200 featuring their Bada OS (yeah! another smartphone OS?). I think they had the most impressive booth at the show, but overall I must say their handset selection made me long for another Red Bull (without Vodka this time).

• Unexpected superawesomeness in the form of the Schlage LiNK demo in the RIM booth. They have system where you can use your BlackBerry (or, presumably, any other web enabled phone) to remotely access and activate your door locks, temperature controls, lights and remote cameras in your house. While my initial thoughts tended toward hijinks, in retrospect this system may be one of the more useful innovations demonstrated at the show.

• Lenovo had some bad-ass looking netbooks, including the tabletesque, capacitive screen S10-3t. But you know, in terms of netbooks that Nokia Booklet 3G that was deployed all over the Nokia booth maybe the netbook eyecandy du jour.

• There was a lot of excitement about the Boxee Box (made by D-Link) that allows consumers to access the internet content on their TVs without a computer. Uh, er... wasn't that called WebTV? I'm not convinced I should be excited.

• Sprint's Overdrive 3G/4G portable hotspot device has a lot of potential...like Verizon's MiFi but faster. However, it's not even worth considering in LA til almost 2011, when their WiMax network rolls out here.

I'll add more if I think of them... in the meantime I'd love to hear what impressed you. Let me know.

Mobile Game Mavericks On The Move

Three veteran luminaries of the mobile games business, and three people that make this a great space to work in, have made professional moves in the last couple of weeks...

1) On August 3rd industry journalist and thought leader Stuart Dredge left popular games news source PocketGamer.biz in order to contribute his freelance talent to UK mag/website Mobile Entertainment. Previously he was at Informa, where he was lead reporter for the analytical newsletter Mobile Games Analyst. Stuart is, without doubt, the most highly regarded journalist in the mobile games business.




2) On August 7th Qualcomm's gaming BREWmeister and ubiquitous industry panelist Mike Yuen left the company after an 8 year career to join Zeebo (a company Qualcomm funded with Brazil's Tectoy) to become its SVP of worldwide content & services. Zeebo has developed a low priced console for the developing world that uses OTA distribution and leverages Qualcomm's BREW technology and protocols. Mike is a clear thinker, great guy, games enthusiast and, perhaps most importantly, super-helpful at navigating companies through the often labyrinthine world of Qualcomm.


3) Today it was announced that Jason Ford, who was at Namco for the last 3 years, has joined re-emergent Kansas City based developer/publisher Handmark as its VP of Games. Ford is probably best known in the industry for his 5 year tenure at Sprint, where he was an almost legendary, obsessively quality focused, not-that-shy about sharing an opinion, general manager of that operator's game deck when it was a dataARPU superstar. When the book is written about the development of mobile entertainment there will be a chapter about Jason Ford.

Unsure Whether iPhone Helped AT&T in Q2 2009?

Q4 2008 US Carrier Metrics

Fierce Wireless posted a series of handy metrics today for the tier 1 US carriers...here is a summary of Q4 2008 data with the addition of some Data ARPU numbers I reported earlier:

(Subs & adds in millions)

Rumors of Sprint's Death Have Been Somewhat Exaggerated

At one time Sprint, now Sprint Nextel (S), was the content thought leader among US carriers and the data ARPU darling. They had a robust, community oriented games deck, innovative music apps and they were the first carrier in the world to stream full length movies over a 3G network. But their 2005 decision to merge with Nextel, which used an incompatible network technology and had a totally different customer base, proved to be an unmitigated disaster. One of the biggest problems was that in an effort to make the Nextel acquisition feel more like a merger management failed to retain many of the key people that had made Sprint a mobile content powerhouse. Frankly, the train has been off the tracks for the last couple of years. They have taken a substantial hit to their customer base, first losing many of their Nextel customers, and more recently core Sprint customers...to the benefit of Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility. In their 2008 earnings statement this week they announced they had lost 4.5mil customers during 2008, leaving them with 49.3mil subs. Revs were down 11% from 2007 to $35.6bil with a Net Loss of $2.8bil. But there seems to be some light and the end of the tunnel and many, including myself, think Sprint could be poised for a bit of a comeback in 2009. Here are the factors that could help turn things round at the #3 operator:

• Overall Data ARPU is still strong, in 2008 it was $14.50 and CDMA (core Sprint subs) Data ARPU was $17.75 or 31% of total ARPU...that's substantially better than the $13.99 from Verizon Wireless and $13.50 from AT&T Mobility
• Sprint has an exclusive partnership with Palm for the launch of the Pre...which has the potential to be a rockstar handset
• CEO Dan Hesse has promised to improve Sprint's infamous and much maligned customer service
• Sprint's 4G WiMax rollout (in partnership with Clearwire & Intel) is at least a year ahead of Verizon's 4G LTE initiative, with deployments live in Baltimore and Portland
• Sprint launched Sprint Open Software Platform at the end of last year to help developers expedite the delivery of new services and applications
• Sprint continues to field a solid range of data friendly handsets (including a planned Android device) and have the cheapest premium data plans

All this said, 2009 is a critical year for Sprint if it's going to continue as an autonomous wireless operator. They must continue to cut costs and pare inefficiencies while maintaining investment in the infrastructure (to keep it's data users happy) and elevating it's battered brand profile...all in the shadow of a super-rough economy, in a totally saturated market. No small task for Mr. Hesse.