Revenue from mobile data services in the United States reached $10 billion in the first quarter of 2009, making it the worldwide leader in mobile data revenue and the first country to reach that point. According to research published by Chetan Sharma, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile now respectively hold the No. 3, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 8 spots worldwide in terms of the amount of mobile data revenue generated each quarter. The leaders worldwide are NTT DoCoMo and China Mobile.
The definition of data services in the report includes both mobile messaging (SMS and MMS) and other uses (browsing, apps, video, etc). Sharma noted that the growth in 3G networks, smartphones and better interoperability of messaging has allowed the United States to edge past Western Europe in data use, and to go “way past Western European countries in the actual data revenues being generated.”
For more information, see:
http://www.chetansharma.com/usmarketupdateq109.htm
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/us-pulls-ahead-in-mobile-data-revenue-analyst-says/