Diffusion of mobile Internet services

Mobile Internet is an outcome of the merging of two significant domains of technological innovation over recent years: mobile/wireless and the Internet. This merging will lead to new forms of end-user behaviour and also provide business opportunities for companies from the converging telecommunications, IT/Internet, and media industries. The diffusion of technological innovations is widely discussed in the literature. However, applications of the diffusion theory to mobile services have mostly concentrated on mobile telephony, and considered this diffusion to result from end-user adoption decisions that are made independently of other innovations. In contrast, the thesis of this dissertation is that the diffusion of mobile Internet services as systemic technological innovations depends on a cluster of separate but interrelated technology components that diffuse interdependently due to both demand-driven adoption and supply-driven dissemination. This research was conducted using quantitative research data on mobile handsets and services collected from Finland during the years 2005-2009. The diffusion of mobile Internet services was found to depend on the generic technology components of mobile services: devices, applications, networks, and content. These components form an interrelated cluster of technologies. Consequently, direct market actor influence over a specific technology component has indirect effects on the other generic components, and, thereby, also influences the diffusion of mobile Internet services. This dissertation contributes to the fields of innovation diffusion and mobile services research. Firstly, a general approach for planning and forecasting technology product evolution and new product feature diffusion was developed by isolating the previously unexplored phenomenon of product feature dissemination and linking it to the known phenomena of product category diffusion and product unit replacement. Secondly, observations on the diffusion of systemic technological innovations were made in the context of mobile Internet services related to component technology interdependence, market actor dissemination efforts, and end-user assimilation gaps. Thirdly, the fundamental differences of alternative methods to measure mobile service usage as well as the data provided by them were identified, and a holistic framework for analysing the usage of mobile services was developed. Fourthly, novel research methods and data were utilised

Mobiilin Internetin käytön mittaukset Suomessa

Mobile Internet is the outcome of two intense and global trends of the recent years: mobile/wireless and the Internet. Despite the potential the hundreds of millions of new mobile devices sold globally each year present, little information on mobile data service usage apart from mobile operator portals is currently available. In this research, mobile Internet usage was measured in fall 2005 using three fundamentally different methods to answer the question What are the characteristics of consumer mobile Internet usage in Finland? First, data on 80-90% of all Finnish mobile subscribers and terminals was collected with mobile operators' charging-oriented reporting systems. The observed Finnish mobile terminal installed base was old and did not widely support key features for data usage as e.g. packet data capability was in 48% and WCDMA capability in less than 1% of terminals. Nokia's market share was a remarkable 87%. Smartphones constituted 6% of all terminals, over 99% of which were Nokia's Symbian handsets and one third of these Nokia communicators. The terminal base was fairly concentrated as the 50 most common models made up 88% of all terminals. Some 92-94% of all mobile subscribers were postpaid subscribers, 75% of them consumers. While 99% of consumers had operators' default usage-based packet data tariff plan, the remaining 1% created 82% of all consumer subscriber packet data traffic. Second, 50% of all Finnish mobile network packet data traffic was captured in TCP/IP header collection -based measurements. Strikingly, the Windows operating system originated 65% of all packet data traffic in mobile networks. Moreover, VPN usage created 46% of traffic volume leading to a very high 85% share of UDP traffic. The Internet APN accounted for 90% of all packet data traffic. Third, a panel of 500 Finnish Symbian S60 handsets was monitored with software installed in the handsets. Panelists with higher radio capability handsets used packet data more frequently and in higher volumes. Data usage volumes were also higher for users with relatively cheaper fixed fee packet data plans. Operator sites and infotainment dominated web/wap site visits with 32% and 33% shares of all visits. Using handset as a modem formed a 21-25% part of all smartphone data traffic. The most active 20% of data users created 80% of traffic, even when modem traffic was excluded. Browsing was the most important data application area with a 72% share of non-modem traffic, and its relative share increased with data usage volume. In conclusion, Finnish mobile data usage is currently business driven. Traffic to non-operator controlled sites appears to be important. The usage of 3G terminals and effectively flat-rate packet data tariffs seems to increase data usage considerably, and browser is a central application also in mobiles. Mobile operators are recommended to include items on off portal traffic to their regular reporting. Similar measurements enabling evaluation of the development of Finnish mobile data usage should be repeated. The measurement methods could also be productized or sold to operators as a service by a 3rd party. Potential ways to utilize the handset-based data are numerous.Mobiili Internet on seurausta kahden viimeaikaisen voimakkaan ja globaalin trendin, liikkuvuuden ja Internetin yhdistymisestä. Huolimatta satojen miljoonien vuosittain globaalisti myytyjen mobiililaitteiden edustamasta potentiaalista, operaattoreiden portaalien ulkopuolista mobiilien datapalveluiden käyttöä ei tunneta hyvin. Tässä tutkimuksessa mitattiin mobiilin Internetin käyttöä syksyllä 2005 käyttäen kolmea erilaista menetelmää vastattaessa kysymykseen Mitkä ovat mobiilin Internetin kuluttajakäytön ominaispiirteet Suomessa? Ensimmäiseksi, mobiilioperaattoreiden laskutukseen perustuvien raportointijärjestelmien avulla kerättiin aineistoa 80-90% Suomen mobiilitilaajista ja -päätelaitteista. Suomen päätelaitekanta havaittiin vanhaksi ja datakäytölle keskeiset ominaisuudet rajallisesti levinneiksi, sillä pakettidatakyvykkyys oli 48% ja WCDMA kyvykkyys vain 1% päätelaitteista. Nokian markkinaosuus oli huomattava 87%. Kaikista päätelaitteista älypuhelimia oli 6%, joista 99% oli Nokian Symbian puhelimia ja näistä kolmannes Nokian kommunikaattoreita. Päätelaitekanta oli varsin keskittynyt 50 yleisimmän mallin vastatessa 88% kaikista päätelaitteista. Mobiilitilaajista 92-94% oli postpaid-tilaajia, 75% heistä kuluttajia. Vaikka 99% kuluttajista oli oletusarvoisen käyttöperusteisen pakettidatahinnoittelun piirissä, loput 1% loi 82% kuluttajatilaajien pakettidataliikenteestä. Toiseksi, 50% suomalaisten mobiiliverkkojen pakettidataliikenteestä mitattiin keräämällä TCP/IP otsakkeita. Silmäänpistävin tulos oli Windows-käyttöjärjestelmän 65% osuus kaikesta pakettidataliikenteestä. VPN-käyttö loi 46% liikennevolyymistä johtaen UDP-liikenteen hyvin korkeaan 85% osuuteen. Internet APN vastasi 90% kaikesta pakettidataliikenteestä. Kolmanneksi, 500 suomalaisen Symbian S60 puhelimen paneelia monitoroitiin puhelimiin asennetulla sovelluksella. Radioltaan kyvykkäämpiä puhelinten käyttäjät käyttivät pakettidataa useammin ja enemmän. Datakäytön volyymit olivat korkeampia suhteellisesti halvemman kiinteän hinnoittelun käyttäjillä. Operaattoreiden sivustot ja tietoviihde hallitsisivat web/wap käyttöä 32% ja 33% osuuksilla kaikista vierailuista. Modeemikäyttö muodosti 21-25% osuuden kaikesta älypuhelinten dataliikenteestä. Aktiivisin 20% datakäyttäjistä loi 80% liikenteestä, myös kun modeemikäyttöä ei huomioitu. Selainkäyttö oli tärkein datasovellusalue 72% osuudella ei-modeemiliikenteestä, sen suhteellinen osuus kasvoi datakäytön volyymin myötä. Suomalainen mobiilidatakäyttö on tällä hetkellä yrityskäyttäjävetoista. Operaattoreiden portaalien ulkopuolinen liikenne vaikuttaa tärkeältä. Kolmannen sukupolven päätelaitteiden ja kiinteän hinnoittelun käyttö näyttää kasvattavan datakäyttöä merkittävästi, ja selain on keskeinen sovellus myös mobiilissa. Mobiilioperaattoreiden tulisi liittää portaaliliikenteen ulkopuolinen käyttö sisäiseen raportointiinsa. Vastaavat mittaukset tulisi toistaa mobiilidatakäytön kehittymisen arvioimiseksi. Käytettyjen mittausmenetelmien tuotteistaminen tai myynti palveluna operaattoreille kolmannen osapuolen toimesta on mahdollista. Päätelaitepohjaisella aineistolla on lukuisia käyttökohteita

Diffusion of mobile data in Finland

Diffusion, Usage, Mobile, Internet, Data, Finland,

Diffusion and Usage of Mobile Browsing in Finland 2005-2006 ABSTRACT

The diffusion of mobile Internet services is currently taking place in Finland. Mobile handsets are used for purposes other than voice calling by an increasing share of handset users. The web browser is a core software application in desktop and laptop computers, and seems to have an equally important role in accessing the Internet with mobile handsets. However, information on actual browsing patterns of mobile handset users is scarcely available. Research data was collected to obtain factual information on the diffusion and usage of mobile web browsing in the Finnish market. Primary research data was collected with TCP/IP traffic measurements at the GSM/UMTS networks of three Finnish mobile operators, including about 80-90 % of Finnish mobile subscribers. Reference data was obtained by organizing Symbian S60 handset monitoring panels including about 500–700 Finnish mobile subscribers. The data was collected twice, in 2005 and 2006. The research shows that Symbian is the most significant handset platform for using mobile Internet services in Finland, and the browser is the most important handset data application. Finnish mobile web browsing is dominated by local content, provided by Finnish mobile sector and media companies. Browsing is quite concentrated to the most popular web domains of these companies. The same traditional media companies also have a strong presence in Finnish PC browsing. Browsing is a composite service consisting of several different types of online services and content. On the other hand, mobile web browsing is only one of the mobile data applications enabled by the “bit pipe ” access service. Thus, separating the factors specific to mobile web browsing diffusion from the factors related to the diffusion of mobile devices and subscriptions more generally is hard

HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Mobile Internet is the outcome of two intense and global trends of the recent years: mobile/wireless and the Internet. Despite the potential the hundreds of millions of new mobile devices sold globally each year present, little information on mobile data service usage apart from mobile operator portals is currently available. In this research, mobile Internet usage was measured in fall 2005 using three fundamentally different methods to answer the question What are the characteristics of consumer mobile Internet usage in Finland? First, data on 80-90 % of all Finnish mobile subscribers and terminals was collected with mobile operators ’ chargingoriented reporting systems. The observed Finnish mobile terminal installed base was old and did not widely support key features for data usage as e.g. packet data capability was in 48 % and WCDMA capability in less than 1 % of terminals. Nokia’s market share was a remarkable 87%. Smartphones constituted 6 % of all terminals, over 99 % of which were Nokia’s Symbian handsets and one third of these Nokia communicators. The terminal base was fairly concentrated as the 50 most common models made up 88 % of all terminals. Some 92-94 % of all mobile subscribers were postpai

Impacts of handset bundling on mobile data usage: The case of Finland

Promotion of the adoption of new services has emerged as a possible driver for the regulation of handset bundling and subsidies. Handset bundling, however, has complex implications not only on mobile data service adoption, the focus of this research, but also more broadly on the mobile market dynamics. Due to the complexity, regulators have difficulties in anticipating the possible resulting impacts. Using a case study, expert interviews, and usage measurements as research method, an empirical framework was constructed to make the service usage impacts more explicit. The framework enables the identification of the regulator's steering options and their qualitative impacts. Results are based on observations before and after the change of law on handset bundling in the Finnish market. According to the findings, handset bundling regulation is a possible but risky tool for steering the market.Handset bundling Service adoption Subsidy Regulation Competition