A study by The Nielsen Company reveals that mobile data usage has enjoyed a significant spike in the past year. Teenagers' data usage changed the most, with an increase of 343% in the last year.
The study showed that teenagers ages 13 to 17 have increased from an average of 14MB per month, to 62MB per month. Males in particular went from 17MB up to 75MB. Females enjoyed a nearly equal increase from 11MB to 53MB.
The spike in data usage is a product of the increasing ubiquity of smartphones, and the widening array of available apps. This was reflected in the number of apps that teens downloaded. Their average app downloads have increased by 12%.
We knew it would happen some time, but mobile web usage has finally surpassed use of preinstalled software like games, factory apps, ringtones, and instant messaging.
Though the increase in teen data usage is impressive, it still falls short of the most consumptive group: 25 to 34 year-olds, who use an average of 178MB per month, up 128% from last year.
The figures are impressive, but we should consider what they really mean. The increase in MB/month could be more a reflection of increasing data speeds, rather than real mobile activity. It would be particularly interesting to isolate usages like streaming music, YouTube videos, and other data-hungry applications.
Ken N. is a former news writer at PhoneArena. He produced a significant number of news stories for PhoneArena in the 2010-2011 period. During this period, Ken reported on various topics from the mobile tech industry, including Apple products, Android software, and US carriers.
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