“Must-Have” Digital Services

Streaming movies make up nearly 22% of all broadband traffic. With smartphones making up more than half of all mobile phones in the US, smart companies are adopting in-building wireless strategies now to meet increased demand for wireless access.

Ryan Singel’s May 17 blog post on Wired.com made two interesting points. First, “Netflix streaming movies now fill more of the United States’ Internet tubes than any other service” accounting for 22.2% of all broadband traffic on fixed access lines. Second, Singel suggests, “That means for perhaps the first time in the Internet’s history, the largest percentage of the net’s traffic is content that is paid for.”

I must admit I am a Netflix fan – personally and professionally. On the personal level, as users of the Netflix service, my entire family and I can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, on almost any device we own, including a Wii, a PS3, a couple of laptops, a number of iPod Touches and an iPhone (WiFi) for less than $10 per month. Add in a couple of extra bucks and we can watch all the Blu-Ray movies we can stand. The service is almost too good to be true and the price makes it an easy choice to fit in the family budget.

On the professional side, Netflix has hit all of the right buttons – product, price, place, position and promotion. They have given consumers just what they want and set a new high standard for service. Competitors have faded and usage is skyrocketing. Not a bad day’s work for a cloud-based company.

Can we expect a similar shift in wireless usage for these must-have digital services? With more than half of all mobile phones in the US being smartphones in 2011, the signs are pointing to increased demand for digital services on all of these new mobile devices. Increasingly, business owners are faced with how to support the growing wireless needs of smartphone users in buildings with dead zones and spotty coverage. Smart companies areadopting in-building wireless strategies now to make sure they can overcome these potential problems. Much like Netflix, they see that providing a high level of wireless service to meet people’s desires to stay connected to whatever they want, whenever they want it, wherever they are is a winning business opportunity.