More Kiwis will be accessing the internet from their phone than from a desktop within the next two years as the market for smartphones heats up.
Vodafone senior managers told a media briefing in Auckland today that smartphones accounted for two-thirds of sales by Vodafone last month and that women aged between 35-54 were fuelling the growth.
Vodafone's general manager of consumer marketing Kursten Shalfoon said customers were increasingly turning to smart phones to access data - much of it to browse social networking sites.
It expects 20 million devices will be connected to its New Zealand network in the next decade.
Shalfoon said Facebook traffic on the Vodafone network grew by 400 per cent in the last six months and accounted for 50 per cent of the telco's mobile internet traffic.
Vodafone also announced today plans to axe its free 3GB of data plan for smartphone users, which was introduced to the market in 2009.
"When you look at the usage profile not many customers are getting anywhere close to using that amount. Also commercially it doesn't make any sense to give away that much data," the telco said.
- NZ HERALD ONLINE