Apple Could be a Dangerous Mobile Service Provider

A new global survey conducted by Accenture suggests Apple might be a formidable Internet service or mobile service provider.

The global survey of mobile users by Accenture finds that 31 percent of all respondents surveyed prefer that their device supplier also supply their communication needs, including Internet access service.

In fact, 40 percent of Apple owners prefer all communications needs to be met by Apple.  

A majority of mobile Internet users prefer device makers over their mobile provider as their unified provider of communication needs. Mobile providers actually rank third in preference.

This preference is exceptionally strong in emerging markets, where more than 40 percent of mobile Internet users prefer mobile device or OS makers to fulfill all their communication needs, compared to only 17 percent who prefer the mobile provider.

In emerging markets, fully 42 percent of respondents would prefer that their device supplier also provide communications and Internet access.

About 28 percent of all respondents do not care what entity provides their Internet access, as long as those needs are met. The study indicates how big the opportunity for new ISPs might be.

Only 21 percent of all respondents indicated that their mobile service provider was their “preferred supplier.”

Accenture’s Mobile Web Watch 2013 study surveyed nearly 31,000 consumers in 26 countries.

That means mobile service providers potentially could be disrupted, as Google Fiber now is disrupting consumer expectations of fixed network services.

Fixed network Internet service providers, whether they will admit it or not, are feeling a disruptive challenge from Google Fiber, simply because Google Fiber is resetting consumer expectations about what a state of the art Internet access service looks like.

All prior offers are challenged on both the value and price front, by Google Fiber’s $70 a month 1 Gbps symmetrical service, which provides two to three orders of magnitude more bandwidth in the downstream direction, and three orders of magnitude more bandwidth upstream, than other offers, at prices that are close to what users already pay for vastly slower services.