A new study from the UK points out that 3G users use more data services and spend more per month on average than 2G users. That’s probably not too surprising, right, what with the higher speeds and everything — but to put the increase down to speed alone is missing part of the point. Yes, the higher speed of 3G data is important, but only as an aspect of usability.
The higher speeds don’t necessarily engender new applications and services — video calling is the only one on the list that’s not possible on 2G (although some of the other services, like streaming video, are undoubtedly miles better on 3G). But it certainly makes all those other existing services better. I’m not trying to make some pedantic point here, but rather that it’s important to look beyond the increased speed of 3G networks when evaluating mobile data applications and services and to increasing usability as a whole. In this particular case, enhanced usability comes from the increased speed. But higher speeds aren’t the only way to make things easier and more usable, nor are they the only way to get people to use data.
We need to take a step back and view the step up to 3G not just as faster data, but as one type of usability enhancement. There are plenty of ways apart from higher speeds to make mobile data services and applications easier to use, and any overall improvement stands to be just as beneficial — if not more so — than any arbitrary speed boost.
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