Telcos will be the new channel

IN FOUR YEARS more than 60 per cent of Internet connected kit will be flogged through the telecom carriers.

According to bean counters at In-Stat, carriers are becoming a significant channel for all Internet-connected mobile devices.

Soon most netbooks and mobile PCs will be flogged through carriers as a method of getting you to sign up for expensive telco services.

In-Stat thinks that the amount of gear sold through the carriers will continue to increase as services are bundled for multiple devices and service prices decrease due to increased bandwidth from new communications technologies and increased competition between carriers.

The stake are high. In the US carriers are charging up to $60 per month for a two year contract with the subsidized purchase of a netbook.

In-Stat analyst Jim McGregor said that while the subsidy costs the carrier $50 to $100, it generates $1,440 or more in service fees over the life of the contract.

In Europe, where customers are a little cleverer than in the US and competition is higher, data contracts are at lower prices than in the US. As a result of the recent success of selling netbooks, carriers are now venturing into offering notebooks.

McGregor said that the total available market for Internet connected devices is projected to grow at a 22.3 per cent rate through 2013.

Nearly a third of notebooks will be sold through carriers in 2013, and 78 per cent of Internet connected devices will be using processors with integrated multimedia acceleration, including 85 per cent of mobile PCs, In-Stat predicted. µ