CTIA Debuts Site To Determine App Data Usage
- by Gavin O'Malley @mp_gavin, December 27, 2013
Going into 2014, it’s hard to imagine consumers curbing their mobile usage for any reason. However, some industry watchers suspect that astronomical wireless bills (and the parents who pay them) could do the trick.
Trying to protect its members, the CTIA wireless association is rolling out a Web site featuring various tools for consumers to track the data usage of particular mobile apps.
At KnowMyApp.org, consumers (and their parents) can now determine how much data is used when apps are downloaded at initialization, as well as during active running time and background time; how apps impacts different data plans; and how users can conserve their data usage.
In addition, the CTIA and its members have released a “best practices” for app developers in media and marketing to help maximize content and functionality, while minimizing impact on customers’ data plans and network resources.
If not the sexiest issue for publishers to considers, data and battery usage can spell success or failure for an app, according to Jake Ward, executive director of the Application Developers Alliance. “Data and battery efficiency increases what is possible today and tomorrow,” Ward stated.
The new site was developed by CTIA and its Application Data Usage Working Group, which includes a slew of mobile-facing companies from Apple and Microsoft to AT&T and T-Mobile.
With direction from its members companies, the CTIA relied on product testing company Intertek to develop a mobile app data usage benchmark test using the AT&T Application Resource Optimizer -- an open-source diagnostic tool that captures, analyzes and reports network app data usage.
Worldwide, the mobile app market will grow 85% to $27 billion in 2013, London-based ABI Research predicted earlier this year. Edging out tablets for now, smartphones have generated the vast majority of apps, ABI reported. However, tablets are gaining ground and are expected to account for 36% of apps this year and surpass smartphone app revenue by 2017, according to ABI.
