Several service providers have identified backup of phone data as being a top customer issue. As phones offer more functionality, the data that they store grows more important. Beyond the all-important address book, phones today store other kinds of data such as photographs, videos, messages, and downloaded content. Thus, as the phones grow in their capacity to store and manage data, the value of the phone grows. This makes it even more important to safeguard the phone. If the phone is lost, the damage done is more than the expense of a replacement: it is the loss of irreplaceable data that causes greater pain. In the UK alone, over 700,000 phones go missing (lost or stolen) each year.

In addition to being a pressing customer issue, the loss of a handset has a revenue impact on the service provider if it is a mobile operator. After all, it provides a pre-paid subscriber with an opportunity to churn. Even if the subscriber does not churn, it results in a significant drop in call volume as the subscriber builds the contact list again. An Asian operator measured an ARPU drop of 70% in the first month alone, for subscribers who reported lost phones. This makes address book backup an even more valuable service for operators.

 
 
   
   
   
 
 
 
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