Openwave® Mobile Analytics Helps Operators Understand and Leverage Internet Traffic Patterns for Improved Traffic Management and Monetization
London, UK – October 20, 2010 – Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV), a global software innovator delivering context-aware mediation and messaging solutions, today published its Fall 2010 report highlighting key mobile internet usage trends in Europe. The findings are the result of Openwave® Analytics collecting and analysing data traffic and usage behavior from a tier-one mobile operator in Western Europe. Key mobile internet trends, as well as recommendations for leveraging traffic patterns and behavioral insights, which can pave the way for new tiered pricing plans and demand-based tariffs, are detailed in the full 2010 fall report available at Openwave.com. Highlights include the following:
“Video-to-go” and Other Network Clogging Categories
As the proliferation of high-end smartphones continues, the demand for video content remains insatiable, transforming the mobile network into an on-demand video service. Without mediation, the enhanced video capabilities of high-end devices (preconfigured access to HD content, for example) will clog existing mobile networks. Analytics uncovered that just three sites contributed to ten percent of all data on the network for the European operator. The remaining 90 percent of the data was generated from the “long tail” of 771 sites. The extraordinarily high traffic volumes from those few sites fell into three basic categories:
1. Video on demand
2. Status updates (from social networking sites)
3. Mobile search
Similar to the extreme users segment, the three top sites have a direct impact on available network resources. This European operator could use Analytics to identify usage and URLs causing network congestion and apply network policies to effectively manage the data generated from those sites during peak traffic times.
Phone battles: the Feature Phone Lives On
Analytics findings suggest that perhaps the feature phone is not dead nor are they going away as quickly as first thought. While smartphone users on the European operator’s network visit more categories such as e-commerce and sport sites in comparison to feature phone users, portal content consumption is 17 percent lower for smartphone users compared to feature phone users.
The operator could use Analytics to monitor the behaviour of feature phones and analyze content consumption in relation to the smartphones. Over time, similar analysis has shown an erosion of portal traffic from feature phone users, resulting in lower on-deck portal revenues. This operator could also run targeted campaigns to upgrade certain segments of feature phones to smartphones with personalized data plans and promote different device models based on users’ behaviour.
Addressing Disproportionate Usage
Extreme users place a huge demand on network resources, resulting in increased costs and an often slower internet experience for other users. Our Analytics findings with the Western European operator revealed that behind nearly every case of extreme usage is an unlimited data plan and a high-end smartphone that was consuming an average of 50.4MB of data per day. These “extreme users” were found to generate nearly three times more data than the segment called “heavy users,” almost nine times more data than “medium users” and nearly 70 times more than “light users.”
This European operator can mitigate these problems by using Analytics to drive new usage policies, which could compress and optimise the data, building network optimisation directly into the subscriber data plan.
“The days of all-you-can-eat data plans are becoming less and less feasible for operators on both sides of the Atlantic and it is crucial for operators to become better aligned with network availability and usage needs if they are to stay competitive,” said John Giere, senior vice president of products and marketing, Openwave. “Analytics can help operators to segment based on current and historic data to create predictive models on how device, content and network usage will evolve. This can help operators proactively plan for high traffic periods and optimise network for high bandwidth traffic such as video.”
Openwave recently issued a press release announcing the availability of the latest version of its intelligent, content and context aware video optimisation solution, Media Optimizer that automatically triggers optimisation when the network reaches pre-determined thresholds. For more information on Openwave Analytics, please visit http://www.openwave.com/solutions/data_mediation_and_analytics/mobile_analytics/index.html.
About Openwave Systems
Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV) is a global software innovator delivering context-aware mediation and messaging solutions that enable communication service providers and the broader ecosystem to create and deliver smarter services.
Building on its mobile data heritage, Openwave mobilises the Internet with predictive solutions fuelled by real-time analytics that mediate among different ecosystem elements, permitting the enhancement of every mode of IP traffic. The result can provide customers with a 360-degree view of their network, devices and services, and enables them to proactively optimise network resources, quickly launch smart mobile services, and provide a contextually relevant user experience.
Openwave is a global company with a blue chip customer base spanning North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Openwave is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information please visit www.openwave.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements regarding Openwave Systems’ expectations of the benefits of Openwave® Analytics, as well as the expected timing of the release of Openwave® Analytics. Actual timing of release and performance of Openwave® Analytics could differ materially as a result of unanticipated factors and events, including that Openwave Systems could face difficulties in launching Openwave® Analytics, or Openwave® Analytics may not function as expected with various operators, due to technical or other unforeseen reasons. Further risks inherent in Openwave Systems’ business are detailed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Openwave Systems’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 (filed September 7, 2010 with the Securities and Exchange Commission).
Sarah Gregory
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Bite Communications
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