The social networking internet phenomenon has
gone mobile in a big way, according to data gathered by Sure.
Since November 2007, when the company
introduced its new Sure live! web portal, there has seen a dramatic
increase in the number of mobile users logging on to the internet
via their handsets. More than 2,500 customers a month in the
Channel Islands and Isle of Man have since been taking advantage of
the facility.
And social networking sites are among the most
popular. Facebook has received more than five times as many hits as
the next most visited link on the Sure Live portal, which was BBC
Sport.
Facebook rivals Bebo, itsmy.com and Waparty are
also in the top ten sites visited.
Sure’s own download games and ringtones portal,
Sure Live!, has also been a great success with over 6,000 downloads
since launch. Top of the pops for ringtone downloads has been
Apologize by US R&B star, Timbaland.
Sure’s marketing director Mark Briers said
media downloads and access to information on the move were the main
drivers behind the explosion in mobile internet use.
“The internet is undoubtedly one of the fastest
growing phenomena in the mobile marketplace the world over. More
and more customers are now using their handsets to access the
entertainment and information that they are used to having on their
computer. Now they have it at their fingertips, wherever they
go.”
Mobile internet usage could be set to rise
further, as the company is slashing prices by up to 80%.
Prior to December 2007, mobile internet cost £5
per month for 10 megabytes (MB) of data. Following a free internet
promotion, Sure is now launching a permanent internet booster
product offering 10 MB for just £1. That is the equivalent of 400
mobile internet pages, or three full music tracks.
The cost of 100Mb of data has been slashed from
£15 to £5, and a new 1Gb package is being introduced for £10.
Mobile internet boosters are available from the
Sure store or by calling the company’s 24 hour Contact Centre,
telephone: 0808 10 15 247.
Mr Briers said the price reductions reflected
the rise in demand.
The Sure Live! portal includes an extensive
library of mobile games, ringtones and wallpapers along with
shortcuts to several popular sites, including local news and
information, as well national sport and headlines. Customers can
also search for other sites, or bookmark their own
favourites.
It was re-launched in November using a new
technology platform, called Openwave. This automatically processes
content from any website, to reduce the amount of data that the
user has to download and therefore enabling a faster
experience.
Mr Briers said the introduction of the Openwave
platform had made a big difference.
“In the past one of the things that has held
back mobile Internet use is concern by users over how much data
they download when they access a web site, because in general that
is what the charge has been based on. With Openwave, users can
access sites that are not actually designed for mobile internet
users, and they are automatically converted to reduce the amount of
data.”