Dinner, movie or, …an iPhone?
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 Karen Ambrose Hickey, EditorMeet the new contender for the family budget. The smartphone and tablet.
The article Cellphones Are Eating the Family Budget in today’s Wall Street Journal discusses that the data plan is currently winning. Androids, iPhones, iPads and other smartphones and tablets are eating more than their share of the budget.
“Government data show people have spent more on phone bills over the past four years, even as they have dialed back on dining out, clothes and entertainment—cutbacks that have been keenly felt in the restaurant, apparel and film industries.
The tug of war is only going to get more intense. Wireless carriers are betting they can pull bills even higher by offering faster speeds on expensive new networks and new usage-based data plans. The effort will test the limits of consumer spending as the draw of new technology competes with cellphone owners’ more rudimentary needs and desires.”
“Labor Department data released Tuesday show spending on phone services rose more than 4% last year, the fastest rate since 2005…Families with more than one smartphone are already paying much more than the average—sometimes more than $4,000 a year—easily eclipsing what they pay for cable TV and home Internet.”
Many families have made the cut in spending in other areas to make room for these bigger phone bills. Maybe one benefit is that since they have cut out travel, they are no longer spending on roaming fees?
“Carriers fully expect people to use more data and pay more for it. “Speed entices more usage,” Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said at an investor conference last week, according to a transcript. “The more data they consume, the more they will have to buy.”
For more on data consumption increases and carrier plan increases, see our Q3 Mobile Workforce Report >>
Tags: cost management
