Startup Talk: Americans’ data usage more than doubled in 2015

Editor’s note: Each Thursday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Startup Talk,” a round-up of startup, technology and entrepreneurial news.

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AMERICANS’ DATA USAGE MORE THAN DOUBLED IN 2015
An annual survey by wireless industry trade group CTIA found that Americans used 9.6 trillion megabytes (MB) of mobile data in 2015, three times the 3.2 trillion MB in 2013. This is the equivalent of consumers streaming 59,219 videos every minute or roughly 18 million MB, the report says.

The report also noted that smartphones are the No. 1 wireless device in the U.S. with more than 228 million owners, which was up almost 10% from 2014. 70% of the population now owns a smartphone, while there are more than 41 million tablets in use on wireless networks, up 16% from 2014.

Meanwhile, Americans talked more than 2.8 trillion minutes on their mobile phones, up more than 17% from 2014. At the same time, mobile phone users in the U.S. exchanged more than 2.1 trillion texts, videos and photo messages, or more than four million every minute.

To handle the increase in devices and usage, America’s wireless carriers invested almost $32 billion in 2015, including adding nearly 10,000 new cell sites. Since 2010, carriers have invested more than $177 billion to improve their coverage and capacity.

CADRON CREEK PROVIDES EARLY STAGE FUNDING TO CONWAY ACCOUNTING TECHNOLOGY STARTUP
Conway-based Cadron Creek Capital, the early stage venture capital fund headed by Acxiom executive Jeff Standridge, announced recently it will provide seed funding to Eyenalyze, a Central Arkansas startup that provides software and accounting technologies for restaurant chains and operators. The funding will be used to further Eyenalyze’s real-time analytics solution that simplifies restaurant back-office business operations including inventory, plating costs and employee tracking – all while providing end data that is useful and compatible with financial analysis and reporting, officials said.

And the end of 2015, Cadron Creek completed more than $1.5 million of investments in its first round of funding in technology-focused startups in the Conway area. To learn more about Eyenalyze, click here.

AMAZON TO OPEN TWO NEW FULFILLMENT CENTERS IN ILLINOIS
Online retail giant Amazon announced Wednesday (June 1) that it plans to open two fulfillment centers in Edwardsville, Illinois, and create more than 1,000 full-time jobs between the facilities when they open. The company also recently announced plans for a new fulfillment center in Joliet, Illinois, and the creation of 2,000 full-time jobs there. An existing fulfillment center in Joliet already currently employs 1,500 full-time employees.

The new Illinois fulfillment centers will span more than 700,000 square-feet each where employees will pick, pack and ship items for customers. One of the buildings will specialize in handling larger items like big-screen televisions, sports equipment or kayaks and the other building will handle smaller items such as books, toys and electronics.

In late 2015, Amazon also announced plans to open a new state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Edgerton, Kan., creating 1,000 full-time hourly positions there. In recent months, Amazon has unveiled the new fulfillment centers as parts of its strategy to keep up with the one- and two-day delivery demands of its growing Prime customer base. Part of those plans also include purchases of 20 Boeing cargo planes as part of the company’s air cargo network, and efforts to rely less on UPS and FedEx to deliver its goods.