RFP News

Published on Jan 28, 2010

Long gone are the days when the average mobile phone user was content with a built-in camera alone. According to a new study from ORC, an Infogroup company, one-fifth of Americans now own a multi-function smartphone.

Of the 29% of Americans who currently own the device or have plans to purchase one in the coming year, the top three "must have features" were cited as follows: e-mail (85%), Internet browser (78%) and digital camera (73%). GPS appears to be a differentiator that might bring additional consumers to the smartphone market, with 73% of smartphone intenders listing this as a "must have" (compared to only 55% of early adopters).

In addition to specific features of the phone itself, seven in ten (72%) respondents are looking for a fast 3G or 4G network. Awareness of the latest 4G network is still building among those not already using a smartphone (41%), and among smartphone users who would already be equipped to take advantage of the increased bandwidth, awareness is nearly doubled at 81%.

To date, the US smartphone market is dominated by the messages of two key players (Blackberry, 32% and Apple, 21%) and a disparate set of market share seekers (a combined total of 42%) which includes Palm (6%), LG (5%), Samsung (4%), HTC (4%), Motorola (3%), and Nokia (3%).

"While having a smartphone with lots of features is certainly an important selling point for mobile operators to promote, they must also recognize user`s need for speed," says Manuel Flores, Vice President and Director of ORC`s Technology Market Insights Practice. "With Verizon and AT&T loudly fighting about the scope, quality and speed of their 3G networks, Sprint, and its partner Clearwire, has apparently been listening to their consumers and has somewhat quietly begun to deploy its faster 4G network." *

0 comments Post Comment

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Your name *
Your E-mail*

What code is in the image?*