Wireless Research Round-up
October 28 2005
New research from the Yankee Group predicts increasing convergence between mobile phones and consumer electronic devices. As mobile products become ever more sophisticated, a plethora of reports from other research firms also analyse new developments in the high-tech mobile and wireless markets.
The Yankee Group's first ever US Portable Entertainment Forecast pulls together data from its Video Capable Device Survey and Mobile User Survey to provide a comprehensive view of the portable device market.
As well as increased convergence between mobile handsets and portable devices, it predicts the following:
- The portable game business will be worth $2.3 billion by 2009
- Half of all portable music players will be phone hybrids by 2009, yet these phones will account for only one-third of the portable music service revenue
- Handheld game devices and phone hybrids will garner near equal shares of revenue by 2009.
Also looking at hybrid products, the new
Mobile Market Intelligence report from
Parks Associates finds that a quarter of all US Internet households are willing to use a high-resolution camera phone as their primary camera, and that 52% (10.2 million homes) intend to buy a mobile phone with an integrated camera. Music phones are slightly less popular, with only 30% (5.9 million homes) planning to purchase a mobile phone capable of downloading music. The report is based on a survey of more than 2,000 US Internet users.
The
J.D. Power and Associates 2005 US Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study finds that, as mobile phones offer more functions, good operation and physical design are increasingly important to overall consumer satisfaction.
The study, based on responses from more than 17,000 households, measures satisfaction among customers who have owned their mobile phones for less than two years. Overall satisfaction is measured based on performance in five areas. In order of importance, they are: physical design (24%, up from 19% in 2003); operation (22%, up from 15%); features (20%); handset durability (19%); and battery function (15%).
LG and Sanyo rank highest for overall customer satisfaction, each performing significantly above the industry average across all five factors. LG performs particularly well for physical design and battery functionality, while Sanyo receives top ratings for operation, durability and features. Also above the industry average are Samsung and UTStarcom (Audiovox).
In other mobile market analysis,
Strategy Analytics states that 800 million wireless phones will be shipped worldwide in 2005. Its latest report says shipments increased by 25% in the third quarter of this year, while the average selling price for mobile phones fell by 11%. It states that Motorola achieved a 19% global market share during Q3 2005, representing its highest position since 1999, while Sony Ericsson's share rose to almost 7% - its highest rating since the companies' merger was announced in 2001.
Finally, research from
Ipsos Insight in the US finds that people who access the web wirelessly are far more likely to invest in high-tech products and services than those who rely on wired broadband or dial-up access.
Ipsos says wireless access is strongly correlated with use of DVRs, projection TVs, dual disc CDs, gaming consoles, MP3 players, camcorders, PDAs, and personal entertainment devices (PEDs). Wireless web users are also more likely to use subscription-based music services, satellite radio, and online gaming, and to use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services.
The above companies are online at
www.yankeegroup.com ,
www.parksassociates.com ,
www.jdpower.com ,
www.strategyanalytics.net and
www.ipsos-na.com.
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.
