Mobile data users left disappointed

Services fail to convince despite surge of interest during World Cup

Matt Chapman, vnunet.com 12 Jul 2006

Almost half of the mobile phone users who accessed a data service for the first time during the World Cup will not use similar offerings again, according to a report by a mobile services firm.

Problems with the pricing, ease of set up and usability mean that 44 per cent of users will not bother to use a service again, according to a survey by Olista.

Almost a third of mobile users accessing world cup data used such a service for the first time during the tournament, but only 49 per cent were satisfied with the cost of the mobile data service they used.

Nineteen per cent of users also believed that if mobile data services were easier to set up and use they would access them more often.

Users said that the services they most wanted were text alerts (22 per cent), video clips (16 per cent) and picture messages (16 per cent).

"The survey illustrates that operators are succeeding in getting consumers interested in mobile data services with an encouraging amount of first time users during the 2006 tournament," said Oren Glanz, chief executive at Olista.

"The disappointing part of this survey is that, after interest has been achieved, the customer is often left disappointed and does not become a repeat customer."

The survey questioned 999 adults and was carried out during the final weekend of the World Cup competition.

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