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Message: Smartphones

Smartphones

posted on Aug 22, 2009 11:44AM

Smartphones Less Popular Than Others


Despite the much-publicized launches of various smartphones, regular mobile phones are still the best-selling type of handsets in the United States, according to researcher NPD Group.

Smartphone sales are growing fast with a 47 percent increase since last year alone, but regular mobile phones still represented 72 percent of all phone sales this quarter, compared with 28 percent for the data-handling devices.

Sales of regular mobile phones are slowly declining though. NPD’s report said unit sales of new regular mobile phones fell 5 percent in the United States from 77 percent last year.

NPD said the advanced features of smartphones are attracting customers despite their pricier data plans—AT&T and T-Mobile charge an extra $30 per month for data service.

"With the price gap between smartphones and feature phones narrowing, to remain competitive feature phones need to develop a better Web experience, drive utility via widgets, and sidestep the applications arms race,” NPD analyst Ross Rubin said in a statement.

The report said the top-selling regular mobile phones for the quarter were the LG enV2 and the Samsung Rant, while Apple's iPhone 3G and RIM's BlackBerry Curve were the top-selling smartphones.

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