Android Users Are Data Hogs: Study
NEW YORK (
) --
Google's
(GOOG) - Get Report
Android phones are the biggest consumers of network bandwidth, according to research from network management software specialist
Arieso
.
A series of Arieso studies, which measured Android phones such as Google's Nexus One and
HTC's
Desire against
Research In Motion's
(RIMM)
BlackBerry Bold 9700 and
Apple's
(AAPL) - Get Report
, reveals that Android users score higher in terms of data call volumes, time connected to the network and data volume uploaded and downloaded.
|
"Smartphone subscriptions are rising and so too is subscriber appetite for mobile data," said Michael Flanagan, Arieso's CTO, in a statement. "Since the launch of the iPhone3G, we've seen a multitude of popular new smartphones arrive on the market, successfully driving app and service usage."
According to Arieso,
Samsung
Galaxy users typically upload 126% more data than iPhone3G users, and HTC Desire users download 41% more data than iPhone3G users.
There have already been signs that Android
is gaining momentum in the U.S. smartphone market.
Analyst firm
Canalys
recently reported that Android-based smartphones accounted for almost 44% of U.S. smartphone sales during the third quarter, up from 34% in the prior quarter.
With new Android phones like
Motorola's
(MOT)
Droid Pro and the
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
Fascinate swarming onto the market, Google's mobile OS has been going from strength to strength.
Arieso, however, warns that the deluge of data-hungry smartphones is placing new pressures on the service providers that support the devices. "Operators must now be able to quantify the impact of the devices they support, and how subscribers use them, and prepare their networks accordingly," explained Flanagan.
Verizon, which is
ramping up its next-gen 4G network
, is likely to get hit the hardest. Already the largest seller of Android handsets, Verizon is expected to add the
to its list of products early next year. Arieso noted that iPhone 4 users consume more data than their iPhone3G counterparts, suggesting that users of subsequent models of the iPhone could use even more data.
Google shares rose $1.08 or 0.20%, to $588.26, as the Nasdaq gained 0.35%.
--Written by James Rogers in New York.
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