July 02, 2009
Most Users Unaware of Budget-Friendly Travel Options on Wireless Devices: Sprint
By Carolyn J Dawson, TMCnet Contributor
Travelers today use their mobile devices built on the Sprint 3G network to access a variety of applications like GPS, video and photo sharing and weather and flight information, while at remote locations such as the beach, an amusement park, or while camping.
But the company said that most users are unaware of all the advantages their Sprint (News - Alert) phone offers, adding that there is tremendous amount of untapped potential available to them at their fingertips. The company has worked to evolve a pricing model that efficiently accommodates all the value added services offered in an attempt to carve a niche for itself in the market.
For instance, Sprint’s Simply Everything Plan and the Everything Data Plan offer a host of travel based applications and utility tools in a bundle as part of the package. The company’s celebrated GPS-based navigation system, Sprint Navigation, which gives users voice based detailed directions, 3D animated maps and virtual, instant traffic alerts, is also bundled in the plan and has been made available to over 50 Sprint phone variants.
A comparable AT&T (News - Alert) plan would cost subscribers an extra $9.99 monthly for similar value added services. As compared to smartphones like the Palm Pre and the Blackberry Curve, subscribers can leverage the benefits of corporate email services and the functionalities of the Sprint Everything plan, available on more than 20 Sprint phone variants, the Sanyo (News - Alert) Karana Eclipse and the LG Rumor, free of cost, under the Sprint Everything Data plan.
According to a survey undertaken by Sprint to study consumer usage patterns, when packing for a vacation, most people take their laptops (50 percent), MP3 systems (38 percent), portable DVD players (17 percent) and wireless appliances (79 percent). An overwhelming 89 percent of vacationing adults between 18 and 34 also prefer to connect to travel-based solutions on their wireless devices, including social networking sites (34 percent), online and wireless games (19 percent) and restaurant information (51 percent). The survey also indicates that travel based applications has some degree of penetration in the 18-34 age group of males (35 percent) and females (24 percent).
At least 56 percent of holidaying adults were not open to using travel based applications on their wireless devices believing it to be too expensive. More than 61 percent of the women and 65 percent of the young adults comprised in this group also see the cost factor as a restraint on the usage of these applications. Some 37 percent of men do not give a true picture of their connectivity to mail during holiday; but 77 percent of young adults check their mails as against older adults (only 66 percent). 76 percent of adults stay in touch using their mobile phones but only 31 percent check their mails compulsively. Another 38 percent of young adults also upload images and videos recorded on their mobile devices to social networking sites.
Carolyn J Dawson is a Contributor to TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please columnist page.
Edited by Amy Tierney
