App Efficiency Underlined as Wireless Data Capped
Tiered pricing for wireless plans could mean application developers pay more attention to the size of their apps and more Wi-Fi connections, experts said. AT&T’s move to abandon unlimited pricing could prompt others to follow suit, analysts had said (CD June 3, p2).
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Data usage caps could change the game for app developers, said Dave Grannan, CEO of Vlingo, developer of IP-based communications services. Developers are looking to optimize apps for bandwidth constraints and typically didn’t pay attention to bandwidth consumption as capacity was viewed as free before tier pricing was implemented, he said. Vlingo company has developed its applications with network efficiency in mind, he said. Technologies like compression can help developers lessen the load on network, he said.
Some of these techniques can help, applications that stream high-bandwidth video and route phone calls and face-to-face video chats over the Internet could be seriously affected, said Schwark Satyavolu, CEO of BillShrink, which analyzes cellphone bills. This includes music services like Pandora and VoIP services like Skype. Applications that require regular updates, like Google Maps, also may face challenges, he said. Usage caps would force developers to look at ways to squeeze down the size of the applications, he said. Most applications have already been optimized, so “I don’t know what more they can do,” he said.
Some developers are less concerned. Pandora streaming consumes “an extremely modest amount of data, so we don’t expect the tiered pricing to impact our business model at all,” a spokeswoman said. “We don’t believe the new pricing structure by AT&T will have much impact on most Skype for iPhone users,” a Skype spokesman said. Even with AT&T’s lower tier 200 MB data package, a consumer should be able to make lots of Skype voice calls via 3G network without needing to worry about incurring extra data fees, he said.
Though most iPhone users will fall below the 2GB mark, they will be still more cautious about their data consumption, Satyavolu said. A big problem is consumers typically have no idea how much data they use or how much data a particular application uses, some developers said. AT&T allows its customers to track their data use and receive alerts when they near their quotas. With usage caps, communicating with consumers on data consumption will be much needed, several developers said.
Most people won’t have to worry about their usage much under current usage levels, Satyavolu said. If data demand continues to grow, usage limits could be an issue in the future, he said. Devices like the Apple’s iPad with bigger screens and more processing power are expected to have increased data usage compared with smartphones, he said. Heavy users would spend more time on Wi-Fi, said Grannan. Most people don’t use Wi-Fi as it consumes more of a battery’s power, Satyavolu noted. The use of Wi-Fi standards like 802.11n, which can transmit over longer distances at faster speeds, helps offload significant traffic from carriers’ networks, said Sarah Morris, senior marketing manager with the Wi-Fi Alliance. She said the standard offers the ability to service more simultaneous customers.