Mobile Web Traffic Has a Distinct Pattern, Compared to PC Web Use

Mobile and PC web traffic patterns are quite distinct, according to an analysis by Chitika. 


Web traffic from mobile devices sees a sharp drop off overnight, and then gradually grows over waking hours in the US, finally peaking at the end of the day, eastern standard time, generally around 8 pm to 10pm.


The data suggests that users start to use their smart phones and tablets at about 5 am, with traffic building through the day until about 10 p.m.

PC web usage is much more constant across the day. Mobile Web Traffic Up 35% in Under a Year

FCC Won't Expedite Dish Network Spectrum Request

The Federal Communications Commission has refused to issue a waiver that would allow Dish Network Corp. to quickly re-purpose some of its satellite spectrum to build a terrestrial Long Term Evolution fourth generation network.

Dish wants to use spectrum acquired when Dish bought satellite operators DBSD and TerreStar Networks out of bankruptcy. 

The waiver, had it been granted, would have allowed Dish to begin operational activities. Instead, the FCC wants a formal review that will take the balance of 2012. The caution on the part of the FCC probably was influenced by criticism of the perceived "hastiness" about approving a similar request by LightSquared. FCC delays Dish plans

There has not been concern that Dish will have the interference issues that so far have blocked LightSquared's plans, but the FCC probably wants to insulate itself from charges that it has not allowed a full vetting of any potential issues to other wireless users. 

Bigger Screens Drive More Transactions

To the extent that larger screens are more conducive to many types of commerce operations and transactions, it is not surprising that actual transactions seem to happen more frequently on tablets than smart phones.

Tablet and smart phone ads seem to lead to later transactions conducted on PCs. There are differences, though.  Tablet and smart phone owners in Germany, Italy and the U.K. are more likely than American device owners to make a purchase online using a PC, after viewing an ad on their tablet or smart phone, according to new research from Nielsen. 

Italian device owners are the most likely to click on an ad to seek out further information on a product advertised on their tablet or smart phone.

Americans are the least likely to make a purchase on their smart phone after viewing an ad. 

But U.S. tablet owners are more likely to click on a mobile ad or search for more information after viewing a mobile ad than U.S. smart phone owners.

AT&T Caps Unlimited Data Plans

Some 17 million AT&T subscribers might be affected by new AT&T bandwidth caps that end unlimited smart phone plans, even for customers that had been grandfathered under older plans. 


Subscribers who were grandfathered into $30-a-month unlimited plans will find that their download speeds will be cut back if they use more than three gigabytes of data a month. It also appears the new limits will apply to users on family plans as well. 

Retailers Want Their Own Mobile Payment System

As if the mobile payments business were not complicated enough, a consortium of about 24 major retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores and Target, are developing their own mobile payments system.

That move illustrates the complex nature of the mobile payments business, where formerly distinct industries strive to grab leadership in a new business that necessarily has to include retailers and end users, but remains unsettled in terms of the roles of banks, transaction processors, devices, application and service providers. Retailers Join Payment Chase

Google: Wallet expanding to 10 more Sprint devices this year - FierceMobileContent

Sprint Nextel will introduce "at least 10 additional phones" with support for Google Wallet in 2012. That's important since mobile payments is a scale game, and limited availability of Google Wallet on specific and popular handsets inhibits attainment of scale. Google Wallet on 10 more Sprint devices

Some 22 of the largest U.S. retail chains now support the Google Wallet, Google says, implying a base of 300,000-plus MasterCard PayPass-enabled merchant terminals able to accept Google Wallet.

Still, there is some element of the dot com frenzy to "get bigger faster."

U.S. Smart Phone Ownership 46%

Some 46 percent of American adults are smartphone owners as of February 2012, an increase of 11 percentage points over the 35 percent of Americans who owned a smartphone in May 2011, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.


Some 20 percent of cell owners now describe their phone as an Android device, up from 15 percent in May 2011. About 19 percent of cell owners now describe their phone as an iPhone, up from 10% in May 2011.


Some six percent of mobile device owners now describe the phone as a Blackberry, down from 10 percent in May 2011. 

The proportion of cell owners describing their phone as a Windows (two percent) or Palm (one percent) device is unchanged since the last time we asked this question in May 2011.