Orange reports mobile data surge

Is picture messaging finding acceptance among cell phones users? "Yes" must be the answer, with Orange UK reporting a 37 percent increase in subscribers accessing the service over the last nine months. The company, which claimed its overall mobile data now generated nearly 22 percent of network revenues, said that over 1 million photos were uploaded from mobiles to online photo albums in August alone.

Orange was also bullish with regard to the success of its mobile portal, Orange World, stating that nearly 2.4 million users visited the service each month with an average of 250,000 daily repeat users. While these relatively new services seem to be gaining (at long last…) consumer acceptance, text messaging continues to be the workhorse behind mobile data usage. Orange revealed that this medium maintains its #1 position with over a billion messages sent each month--a 25 percent increase during the nine-month period.

Commenting on the information within the Orange Digital Media Index research, Orange director of portals, Matthew Kirk, said: "Coupled with mobile operator tie-ups with social network brands such as Bebo, mobile phones are quickly providing customers with yet another way of connecting with others in the way that text messaging did ten years ago."

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