In a recent survey of mobile business users conducted by ABI Research, employees in the service profession fields of consulting, law, information technology, and field engineering — along with workers in companies of greater than 1,000 employees — demonstrated the greatest interest in purchasing cellular modems for broadband Internet access over cellular networks. The percentage of respondents in these fields who said that they would be “extremely interested” to “somewhat interested” in purchasing this capability was nearly 60%.
According to principal analyst Dan Shey, “The two characteristics that are common with these groups are mobility and income levels. Both enterprises operating at the global level, as well as work engagements for knowledge workers in law, consulting, IT, and field engineering, require access to large amounts of data at multiple locations. Additionally, these customer classifications command relatively higher salaries, improving their ability to pay for cellular broadband service.”
Although survey respondents were from the United States, the results can be applied to any developed market with 3G cellular networks. Over the forecast period, North America and Western Europe will command 66% of all cellular modem sales.
Beyond enterprises and certain knowledge worker professions, primary factors that will govern adoption of cellular modems will be cellular broadband pricing, worker mobility and type, and total data access needed. Shey adds, “Assuming access to 3G networks, cellular broadband pricing will have the most impact on uptake of cellular modems. For various reasons, operators are following a skimming strategy with higher prices and contract options, effectively pricing out a large segment of the market. Once cellular broadband’s total cost of ownership drops, customers’ business/entertainment needs will dictate uptake of cellular modems.”
ABI Research’s study, “Expanding Cellular Broadband Connectivity to the Laptop” (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_research/ Expanding_Cellular_Broadband_Connectivity_to_the_Laptop) provides a comprehensive overview of the market for cellular modems — analyzing the factors driving and inhibiting growth, and how changes in the market are creating opportunity and complexity for the value chain participants including chipset manufacturers and wireless operators, along with producers of modems, laptops, and connection client software. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)
The study forms part of the firm's Mobile Devices Research Service (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/ Mobile_Devices_Research_Service), which includes Research Reports, Research Briefs, Market Data, Online Databases, ABI Insights, the ABI Vendor Matrix, and Analyst Inquiry Support. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)
Survey methodology: data cited above are derived from a Web-based survey among a nationally balanced and demographically representative sample of 1,223 wireless subscribers in the United States, ages 18 and older.
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations supporting annual research programs, intelligence services, and market reports in broadband and multimedia, RFID and Contactless, M2M, wireless connectivity, mobile wireless, transportation, and emerging technologies. For information, visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.