Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Mobile
    • Networking
    • PC Hardware
    • Small Business

    Best Buy, OEMs Offering More Mobile Services, Says Report

    By
    Michelle Maisto
    -
    December 2, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      The number of mobile devices requiring cellular connectivity support is increasing, and as a result, the OEMs and large retailers, such as Best Buy, that are selling the devices are expected to begin acting as the connectivity providers for their products, according to a Dec. 1 report from ABI Research.
      While mobile carriers have gone from supporting and subsidizing smartphones to also netbooks and notebooks, a still-increasing number of devices, such as e-readers, mobile navigation units, gaming devices, mobile media players and digital cameras, now also require cellular connectivity services.
      ABI forecasts that by 2014, 2.5 billion connected data-centric devices will be in use worldwide, and of those, almost 1.5 billion will not be mobile phones.
      “Carriers tell us they view the wireless connectivity business model for these emerging devices as murky,” Mark Beccue, an ABI senior analyst, wrote in the report. “They are quite prepared to sell connectivity wholesale, allowing retailers and OEMs to assume the role of primary service provider to their customers.”
      Beccue says the trend has already begun, noting that AT&T agreed to allow TomTom and Garmin to sell the connectivity services to their navigation devices, and that in Japan, Hewlett-Packard acts as the wireless service provider for one of its netbooks.
      While ABI expects the trend to extend to all “developed consumer societies,” it’s expected to be especially strong in North America, where retailers are large, the integrated device market is significant and consumers tend to own multiple devices.
      “These new service providers won’t dominate the market, but in North America in 2014 will provide as much as one-third of the 595 million expected mobile data connections,” Beccue wrote.
      “Data plans offered by retailers and OEMs will focus on pay-as-you-go services,” Beccue added, “or on models like that of Amazon’s Kindle, where the connectivity cost is built into the price of the content.”
      (Amazon’s Kindle offers cellular connectivity through the Sprint Nextel network, though payment is built into the initial cost of the e-reader – handled between Amazon and Sprint – and customers don’t receive a monthly bill. In October, Amazon announced an international version, for data-connectivity support worldwide, that relies on the AT&T network. )
      ABI reports that big-box retailer Best Buy, which it writes has an “annual turnover of $40 billion and a growing mobile business,” is in a strong position to become a wireless data connectivity mobile virtual network operator – or MVNO.
      The one-third of the market that ABI anticipates being covered by these untraditional providers, by 2014, are an equal-parts combination of retail and OEM MVNOs.

      Avatar
      Michelle Maisto
      Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×