If the latest Mowser stats combined with AdMob’s metrics report [PDF] are any indication, when it comes to mobile internet usage, Canada’s in a dead heat with… Bangladesh.
The thing is, nobody who’s going to do anything about it really cares. As long as politicians can read their email on their Blackberries, they’re “on the cutting edge” (and supporting a Canadian tech success story, double points!) Rogers is running ads on TV promoting their Facebook integration, which captures the youth vote.
It’s really hard to sell the “what could be” scenario. Last year I had an argument with a Bell rep (at a trade show; I wasn’t hassling in-store staff) and she tried to explain to me how I didn’t actually need more wireless data because I’m not using very much of it as it is. (Yep, kind of like “I won’t give you a second network card for the lab until you use the first one.”)
Sadly, Canada’s not going to do anything exciting with mobile until another country has developed, marketed, and proven a need for the next killer app, and they’ll have too much of a lead for us to catch up. We won’t even have the consolation prize of licensing the .ca version – Bangladesh will probably snap that up first.
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