Not all data has the same value

There is considerable interest in the availability of the iPhone from Orange in the UK. What is engaging minds is that "unlimited" data plan doesn't really mean unlimited. It actually means 750Mb per month.

This highlights a key problem with opening up a mobile network to full internet access: not all data on a mobile network has the same value. There is a real problem with this as far as a mobile network provider is concerned. For example, the Short Message Service (SMS) carries small amounts of data, yet can be charged per transaction to the subscriber. On the other hand, Youtube is a very high bandwidth application, but a mobile operator would be hard-pressed to charge similar tariffs for this traffic.

Unfortunately then, consumers want access to these high bandwidth applications, yet do not want to pay for such access.

This has a knock on effect into the mobile application space. The vast majority of apps are free, and those that are chargeable, the charge is very low. So how can developers and mobile network operators justify the investment?

Orange defends data limits in its UK iPhone deals: http://bit.ly/1RKoEB