METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING A MOBILE DEVICE MANUFACTURER PERFORMANCE

1 . A method for evaluating a mobile device manufacturer performance, the method comprising:

updating a database of subscriber records representative of mobile devices used on a mobile operator network;

extracting information from the subscriber records in the database in relation to a selected mobile device manufacturer and a selected time period; and

processing said information to calculate a metric representative of a performance of said selected mobile device manufacturer over said selected time period;

wherein each subscriber record comprises at least a unique identifier of a subscriber, a mobile device manufacturer identifier, and a timestamp.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer loyalty index.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the manufacturer loyalty index consists in:

calculating value A as the total number of subscribers, who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device;

calculating value B as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer; and

dividing value B by value A.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer is calculated for a selected model or group of models within the portfolio of models of mobile devices manufactured by the selected mobile device manufacturer.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein each subscriber record comprises a mobile device model identifier.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer attraction index.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the manufacturer attraction index consists in:

calculating value A as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device;

calculating value B as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer;

calculating value C as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device from a mobile device manufacturer different from the selected mobile device manufacturer; and

dividing (value B minus value C) by value A.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer is calculated for a selected model or group of models within the portfolio of models of mobile devices manufactured by the selected mobile device manufacturer.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein each subscriber record comprises a mobile device model identifier.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each subscriber has a status of either returning subscriber or new subscriber.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer loyalty index and consists in:

calculating value R_within as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who migrated to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer;

calculating value R_away as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who migrated to any new mobile device; and

dividing value R_within by value R_away.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer attraction index and consists in:

calculating value R_to as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period;

calculating value N_using as the total number of new subscribers who own a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period;

calculating value R_away as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device Manufacturer over the selected time period, and who migrated to any new mobile device;

calculating value R_any as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to any new mobile device over the selected time period;

calculating N_total as the total number of new subscribers over the selected time period; and

dividing (value R_to plus value N_using minus value R_away) by (value R_any plus value N_total).

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a model attraction index of a selected model of mobile device from the selected manufacturer, and consists in:

calculating value R_to as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to a new mobile device of the selected model over the selected time period;

calculating value N_using as the total number of new subscribers who own a mobile device of the selected model over the selected time period;

calculating value R_away as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device of the selected model over the selected time period, and who migrated to any new mobile device;

calculating value R_any as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to any new mobile device over the selected time period;

calculating N_total as the total number of new subscribers over the selected time period; and

dividing (value R_to plus value N_using minus value R_away) by (value R_any plus value N_total).

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein each subscriber record comprises a mobile device model identifier.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one collecting entity:

captures in real time IP packets from a mobile IP traffic on the mobile operator network,

extracts relevant parameters from said captured IP packets, and transmits said parameters to a processing unit.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the processing unit further processes the parameters for updating the database of subscriber records representative of mobile devices used on the mobile operator network.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the parameters include an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) or an MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number) representing the unique identifier of a subscriber, and an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) representing the mobile device manufacturer identifier.

18 . A system for evaluating a mobile device manufacturer performance, the system comprising:

a database for storing subscriber records representative of mobile devices used on a mobile operator network;

a processing unit:

for updating said database,

for extracting information from the subscriber records in the database in relation to a selected mobile device manufacturer and a selected time period, and

for processing said information to calculate a metric representative of a performance of said selected mobile device manufacturer over said selected time period;

wherein each subscriber record comprises at least a unique identifier of a subscriber, a mobile device manufacturer identifier, and a timestamp.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer loyalty index.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the manufacturer loyalty index consists in:

calculating value A as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device;

calculating value B as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer; and

dividing value B by value A.

21 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer is calculated for a selected model or group of models within the portfolio of models of mobile devices manufactured by the selected mobile device manufacturer.

22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein each subscriber record comprises a mobile device model identifier.

23 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer attraction index.

24 . The system of claim 23 , wherein the manufacturer attraction index consists in:

calculating value A as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device;

calculating value B as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device Manufacturer;

calculating value C as the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who upgraded to a new mobile device from a mobile device manufacturer different from the selected mobile device manufacturer; and

dividing (value B minus value C) by value A.

25 . The system of claim 24 , wherein the total number of subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer is calculated for a selected model or group of models within the portfolio of models of mobile devices manufactured by the selected mobile device manufacturer.

26 . The system of claim 25 , wherein each subscriber record comprises a mobile device model identifier.

27 . The system of claim 18 , wherein each subscriber has a status of either returning subscriber or new subscriber.

28 . The system of claim 27 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer loyalty index and consists in:

calculating value R_within as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who migrated to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer;

calculating value R_away as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who migrated to any new mobile device; and

dividing value R_within by value R_away.

29 . The system of claim 27 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a manufacturer attraction index and consists in:

calculating value R_to as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to a new mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period;

calculating value N_using as the total number of new subscribers who own a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period;

calculating value R_away as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device from the selected mobile device manufacturer over the selected time period, and who migrated to any new mobile device;

calculating value R_any as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to any new mobile device over the selected time period;

calculating N_total as the total number of new subscribers over the selected time period; and

dividing (value R_to plus value N_using minus value R_away) by (value R_any plus value N_total).

30 . The system of claim 27 , wherein the metric representative of the performance of the mobile device manufacturer is a model attraction index of a selected model of mobile device from the selected manufacturer, and consists in:

calculating value R_to as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to a new mobile device of the selected model over the selected time period;

calculating value N_using as the total number of new subscribers who own a mobile device of the selected model over the selected time period;

calculating value R_away as the total number of returning subscribers who owned a mobile device of the selected model over the selected time period, and who migrated to any new mobile device;

calculating value R_any as the total number of returning subscribers who migrated to any new mobile device over the selected time period;

calculating N_total as the total number of new subscribers over the selected time period; and

dividing (value R_to plus value N_using minus value R_away) by (value R_any plus value N_total).

31 . The system of claim 30 , wherein each subscriber record comprises a mobile device model identifier.

32 . The system of claim 18 , wherein at least one collecting entity:

captures in real time IP packets from a mobile IP traffic on the mobile operator network,

extracts relevant parameters from said captured IP packets, and

transmits said parameters to the processing unit.

33 . The system of claim 32 , wherein the processing unit further processes the parameters for updating the database of subscriber records representative of mobile devices used on the mobile operator network.

34 . The system of claim 33 , wherein the parameters include an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) or an MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number) representing the unique identifier of a subscriber, and an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) representing the mobile device manufacturer identifier.