Cellular Data Plans: A billion here and there is starting to add up

At the end of April cellular carriers in the US announced quarterly results, and wow both AT&T and Verizon had growth in data services.

• AT&T data revenues grew to $2.3 billion for the quarter. That 57.3% growth over the same quarter last year. Data now represents an amazing 21.5% of total wireless revenue
  Source: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/att-adds-1.3-mil-subscribers-in-1q/2008-04-22
  
• Verizon also made 2.3 billion this quarter off data services. Per user that's $11.94 and it represents 23% of total service revenue.
  Source: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-wireless-adds-1.5m-customers/2008-04-28
  

So what do these figure mean for mobile user experience? Well for one thing it means that people are using their phones for more than just talking. Use of texting, email, and even the hopelessly broken mobile web are all going up.

Mobile devices have long made voice calls the most easy to find and prominent features. Where as data services are typically buried inside WAP decks and the phone's web browser. Many phones do place text messaging in an easy to find place. And of course phones like the Blackberry place a high importance on making email easily seen.

So all of this brings up an interesting Mobile UE question. How can device designers place messaging and other data services in easier places for users to find, while not making voice calling any more difficult? After all, on most phones a phone call can be dialed from the main screen (aka the idle screen or the home screen). True there are some short cuts to other applications, but the main screen of most phones doesn't offer any data services on it's own. In the coming years I think we will see more phones place some kind of data service on their main screens.