WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.-According to new research from J.D. Power and Associates, U.S. mobile phone owners are becoming increasingly concerned with their phones’ design and ease of use.
“As more services are added to the phone, the ability to navigate around the handset in an easy and straight-forward manner becomes paramount,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. “For example, the incidence of the camera phone feature among new owners has increased more than five-fold, from 4 percent in 2003 to 23 percent in 2005. Making it easier for customers to learn how to operate these kinds of product and service offerings can increase satisfaction performance and enhance the overall wireless experience.”
The firm’s new mobile phone survey found users consider the physical design of their handset first, followed by the phone’s operation. Secondary considerations include features, handset durability and battery function. Interestingly, the firm found that consideration of a phone’s design grew from 19 percent to 24 percent over the past two years.
In other findings, J.D. Power and Associates found that manufacturers are moving away from the candybar-shape design and more toward the clamshell design. In 2002, 70 percent of wireless users owned a candybar-type handset, compared with 45 percent in 2005. Over the same period, clamshell-design phone ownership rose from 7 percent to 52 percent, the firm said.
Despite users’ changing interests, the mobile-phone market in the United States continues to be big business, according to research from NPD Group. The firm said mobile-phone sales in the United States hit 31.6 million units in the third quarter, up 7 percent from the second quarter and up more than 30 percent from the same quarter a year ago. NPD Group said total third quarter handset sales reached $2 billion.
“The handset market was very robust in the third quarter,” said Neil Strother, research director for mobile devices at NPD Group. “These numbers reflect strong replacement demand among consumers, coupled with more limited growth from new subscribers.”
The firm said Motorola continued its leadership in the U.S. market during the third quarter, boasting three of the top five best-selling models, including its popular Razr device. The firm said the battle continues to be intense among LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Nokia Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for the No. 2 market position.
