The wireless industry has been in a bit of a rut this year but was able to turn things around in the third quarter thanks in part to carrier net additions from connected cars and other IoT devices.
In its third quarter research update for the US mobile market, Chetan Sharma Consulting reports that cars and IoT accounted for 62 percent of net carrier additions. That figure may seem high but when you consider that smartphone penetration is already at 92 percent, well, there's not much room for traditional growth.
The report also highlights the fact that T-Mobile's Un-Carrier initiative continues to pay dividends. The company captured 67 percent of postpaid net additions over the last 12 months and came out ahead on a number of growth metrics including postpaid revenue, service revenue, overall ARPU, postpaid net additions and phone net additions.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that mobile data pricing has dropped by 60 percent this year. That's helpful considering average data consumption is expected to cross 6GB per month by the end of the year.
Interestingly enough, the report notes that the average upgrade cycle is over three years although the iPhone X should bring that down in the fourth quarter as lots of people are expected to upgrade to it.
Speaking of Apple, a quick check of the stock market reveals the company now has a market cap of more than 900 billion. The race to one trillion is on and a very real possibility. It's really only a matter of time.