The word “growth” pretty much sums up with global wireless data market’s performance last year. Two key changes occurred as a result: India managed to overtake the U.S. in terms of subscriptions, and the U.S. passed Japan in terms of service revenue.
Chetan Sharma
In the financial arena, this puts the U.S. on top with $24.5 billion in wireless data revenue, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting. Japan stayed close, with $23.2 billion, and China was rather far behind, taking in $12.5 billion. But from the perspective of subscription numbers, things get turned more or less on their head.
China was the far and away leader, with 500 million subscriptions, whereas India and America were closer to the 250 million mark. Growth in both China and India seems to outstripping the steady rise in America, and this will surely affect revenue standings in time.
Not every stat was equally impressive – China and India haven’t really done anything with 3G technology – but Om Malik notes, “Overall, the report is just further proof that wireless broadband is going to have a major impact.”
Meanwhile, on a somewhat related note, there’s word from Walt Mossberg that a 3G iPhone should be released within the next 60 days.
