Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Mobile phone user behavior is changing rapidly, should it be tracked?

In 2011 the total number of smartphones shipped is around 490 Million , this means that by end of last year 1 in every 3 phone is a smartphone and half of those have Android OS.



The use of voice over data is also accelerating  with OTT applications such as  Skype, Viber and Tango installed in most smartphones. The highest revenue derived from data services were recorded in Asia, this trend is not slowing down and continually gaining traction. With all these facts why do some operators still do not care about their subscribers experience while using their data network. Is that because most smartphone users are connected to a WiFi network more than 60% of the time?

Perhaps it is due to the fact that most mobile operators have probes and DPIs deployed in their networks that supposedly records and captures customer experiences across the entire subscriber base. Essentially operators spying on their customers without the mobile user knowing it. Probes and DPIs capture network performance and a lot of information across all subscribers but it misses what matters most to each mobile user, their mobile devices.  As a casual mobile phone user how do you feel if you learned that your mobile operator is secretly recording how you are using your mobile phone? To capture customer experience on mobile devices, the user should grant their consent in doing so and this is best done  through native applications where user has control of the application instead of embedded applications that are pre-installed in devices.

I think its about time to give the mobile phone user a voice on how they want their experiences to be monitored or recorded by their service providers. If you have a smartphone, chances are you do not have to be secretly tracked by your operator, everything can simply be in your device and you have control over it.  So if you use any smartphone such as an iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone or even Symbian based smartphones it is time to speak up and let your voice be heard!

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