In 2010 video accounted for 40% of all mobile traffic. That is not insignificant by any measure. It is guessed that in 2011, we are jumping up to 60%. That clearly is even bigger. The interesting part of this is that while it has never been easier to get video on your mobile device, good video nonetheless, only about 10% of us are responsible for these numbers. As it seems, a small portion of folks are monopolizing nearly half our available bandwidth all alone. We have been saying for quite some time now that AT&T majorly dropped the ball with regards to its network. Can you imagine what would have happened if these numbers were off and even 20% of people used video?
Caps and whatnot have been imposed which are which were set to curtail usage but this is clearly an up-and-coming issue. As a user of mobile, I shudder to think what happens if the needle ticks to 15%; our phones will be shooting to a screeching halt. As a creator of mobile apps, many of them are utilizing video components. To this end, we are in the middle of the effort to make more video present and used. Where does this end?
The answer is no one knows right now. The new networks are rolling out now which will certainly help. 4G is a lot “more” network that we have now which is good. However, it is not 100% guaranteed to fix this. For now, the 10% of you out there using up 40% of everyone’s pipe, be happy more of us don’t use video.
