Study: Only 10% Of Americans With 3G Phones Use 3G services

location based services

TNS has issued a report showing that of the people who have a 3G handset and service, only a fraction use 3G capability. “In the United States, 16 percent of mobile phone users have purchased 3G-enabled handsets, but only a fraction of that number--10 percent--use their phones’ 3G functionality. That’s slightly better than Americans’ global counterparts; 20 percent of handset owners worldwide have 3G handsets, but only 9 percent of those use 3G functionality.” I find that 20% figure a little high, considering the number of large markets that don’t have 3G networks yet, like China. TNS say this is an opportunity for carriers to educate users on the benefits of 3G, but I think that’s something they should be doing after the customers have signed up. Customers care most about the cost of the service, and while they’re keen for content it’s very rarely their primary concern. Still, once they have the service anyway, if they’re shown how to use it they often do.