Submitted by Chad Shmukler on
The latest news regarding regarding wireless access to the internet suggests that iPhone owners may use these features on their phones between 30 and 50 times more than typical owners of other models. The numbers have apparently come as such a shock to their originators - sources such as Apple, Google, and German iPhone service provider Deutsche Telekom AG - that some have gone back and double-checked their figures.
According to Google, mobile searches using their search engine originate from an iPhone roughly 50 times more frequently than from other internet-capable cell phone models. Google and others think the difference is the convenience of accessing the mobile web that the iPhone provides. Even more astonishing is the fact that Google thinks that if other manufacturers produce devices which make mobile internet access so convenient, mobile searches could exceed "normal" internet searches within the next few years.
Google's head of mobile operations, Vic Gundotra, told the Financial Times that "we thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs again".
The pattern in increased usage isn't limited to searches. iPhone users seemingly transfer a much larger amount of data compared to other handset owners. According to Deutsche Telekom, iPhone owners on their network use approximately 30 times the data transfer bandwidth when compared to their other customers.[via Financial Times, ZDnet]