Mobile broadband makes smartphone users unlikely to switch

Mobile broadband and the provision of downloadable content make it unlikely that a smartphone user will switch to a different platform once they are engaged with a particular provider's service, according to Gartner.

The analyst explains that, once they have begun to use a specific company's downloadable applications on their smartphone handset, people are less likely to want to change to a different network or operating system.

For more engaged users of mobile broadband - such as those who upload content to their provider's cloud services - the likelihood of switching to another platform arguably drops even further.

Cloud computing consists of services, storage and applications that are based online, rather than downloaded or installed on to a particular smartphone handset or computer system.

Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst for Gartner, says: "As well as putting their devices in the context of a broader ecosystem, manufacturers must start to see their smartphones as part of a computing continuum."