Analyst Chetan Sharma have compiled a 2010 wireless data review for 2010 and there are some interesting stats from the US market.
The latest US Mobile Data Market Update Q4 2010 and 2010 report from analyst Chetan Sharma has a bunker full of stats, the biggest of which is that US mobile subscriptions officially crossed the 100% penetration mark in Q4 2010.
According to the report the move past 100% is the start of a new computing and communications era. For the first time in the US, the smartphones shipments exceeded the traditional computer segments (that consists of desktops, notebooks and netbooks). According to Sharma in 2011, the smartphone segment along with the connected devices (tablets and eReaders) will not only exceed the computer segment in unit shipment but more importantly in the overall revenues as well.
Sharma also notes that the iPad (and other tablets) are making Netbooks irrelevant, and are starting to eat into the laptop category as well, with many enterprises are giving out iPads to their workforce instead of laptops or Netbooks.
The report also shows that US mobile data consumption continued to grow across all networks increasing 2-5 times on the major US networks, with many of the superphones introduced in 2H10 clocking 1-1.5GB/mo average. That compares to the average data consumption in the US at the end of 2010 which was 350 MB/mo. Thus, while the data revenues for the year increased 23%, the mobile data traffic grew 132%.