Buyers of Apple's iPhone have turned out to be voracious users of electronic mail and other data services, giving network operators hope that the much-hyped device will finally unlock billions in mobile advertising revenue.
After years of false dawns for operators, the use of mobile phones for web surfing is on the verge of becoming widespread in Europe and the US, and iPhone research by O 2 shows the device is acting as an important catalyst for such activity.
Matthew Key, who becomes chief executive of O 2 Europe next month, told the Financial Times that 60 per cent of the company's iPhone customers in the UK were sending or receiving more than 25 megabytes of data a month, the equivalent of 7,500 e-mails without attachments or 25 YouTube videos.
By comparison, less than 2 per cent of O 2 's other UK customers on monthly payment contracts use more than 25MB a month.
"Here's absolute proof that if you get the proposition right, customers will use data," said Mr Key, who reached a deal with Apple for O 2 to be the exclusive UK network operator for the iPhone.
Mr Key last week flew to Apple's Cupertino headquarters in California to discuss the research with Steve Jobs, the US computer company's chief executive.
The iPhone is on sale in the US, France and Germany, as well as the UK, and will launch in Asia next year.
iPhone customers in the UK pay flat-rate monthly tariffs of up to £55 that give them unlimited data usage.
However, O 2 hopes the iPhone will give a significant boost to the mobile advertising market, which Informa, the research firm, estimates will grow from $2bn (€1.4bn) now to $11.3bn by 2011. Operators want to take a big chunk of that revenue.
O 2 's iPhone research relates to use of data services on the operator's 2G mobile network. The main criticism of the iPhone is that it does not run on a 3G network, which would ensure faster web browsing.
However, the O 2 research found that customers who have Nokia's N95, the Finnish handset maker's nearest equivalent to the iPhone, which runs on 3G networks, access markedly less data compared with those using the Apple device.
The 2G flaw is also ameliorated by the way iPhone also runs on wi-fi networks, which offer faster browsing speeds than 3G.
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