Keeping address books safe could help tie in users, says analyst

Backing up mobile phone address books will be an important source of revenue for phone companies and could help to reduce 'churn' where users switch to other providers, according to an industry analyst.

"One attractive consumer solution is to offer a backup service," said analyst David Ferris of Ferris Communications.

Although Ferris could not provide any figures, he expected backup services to reduce churn by at least 50 per cent.

"US operators typically charge around $2 a month for a backup service and, apart from the revenue opportunity, operators like the fact that it reduces user churn."

Ferris explained that this market is growing as more phones become available that can support a standards-based backup service provided by the operator.

"We are at the early stages of deployment, and perhaps five million people today are using such backups," he said.

"Expect that number to grow to hundreds of millions over the next five years as over-the-wire backups become commonplace."

Ferris also felt that a backup service could eventually be offered as a free extra to draw in users.

"Over time that's a distinct possibility," he said. "The cost to operators could be minimal, perhaps 1p per user per month, provided that they charge for any helpline support."