Digital Lifescapes

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, mobile Internet usage will account for 25 percent of China's mobile phone service revenues in 2012 -- that's up from less than 23 percent in 2011. In India, mobile Internet is forecast to represent 19 percent of this year's service revenue. While the figures demonstrate the robust demand for mobile data across the Asia-Pacific, they still pale in comparison to the region's leading markets -- such as Japan (40 percent) and Hong Kong (44 percent). ABI Research senior analyst, Aapo Markkanen said, "It’s in carriers’ interests to become part of the Internet value chain from early on. Strategic choices, such as those seen in Indonesia, can give operators a more integral role in defining the customer experience in a time when the local digital landscape is still being shaped up." Moreover, such moves also allow mobile network service providers to gain valuable mindshare among local content providers and ap...

Hong Kong is confirmed as the best value on earth for consumer broadband -- while Singapore joins the top ten nations worldwide for the first time -- according to the latest market study by Point Topic . The research data, which is collected on a quarterly basis by industry leading analysts at Point Topic, showcases the best value on offer to consumers around the world. "Consumers in different countries are faced with very different broadband tariffs, dependent on geography, market and network maturity, local competition and various levels and sources of subsidy," said Fiona Vanier, Senior Analyst at Point Topic. In the standalone tariffs that Point Topic tracks, advertised bandwidth can vary from 150kbps up to 1Gbps. Many come with data limits, email addresses or static IPs and that is before any 'special offers' are accounted for. To help comparison, Point Topic has analyzed the amount a consumer will actually pay for a megabit of bandwidth. For this analysi...