Feature Phone Sales Decreased as Smartphones Boomed

Despite the fact that feature phones dominate the cell phone market, smartphone sales continued to show massive growth in their share in the second quarter of 2009, outstripping the growth of other handsets.

According to NPD Group’s Mobile Phone Track information, led by Apple iPhone 3G and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Curve, sales of new smartphones accounted for 28 percent of all devices purchased in the U.S., presenting a surge of 47 percent in share compared to the same quarter in 2008. Meanwhile, the sales of feature phones, led by LG enV2 and Samsung Rant, still made up the majority (i.e. 72 percent) of new handset sales, but their share has fallen by 5 percent compared to last year.

The feature phone may still be by far the most popular type of mobile device among Americans. However, considering the share of feature phones has dropped while overall handset sales volume in the nation has grown 14 percent in Q2 2009, feature phones are in fact not doing as good as expected.

Why are customers shifting from feature phones to smartphones despite the ties to pricey data plans? NPD Group believes it is mostly because of the rich Internet access capabilities and attractive device pricing. Smartphones, running their own operating systems and mimicking the functions of PCs, offer a greater variety of applications and a better Web experience to users than feature phones. When it comes to the price, the gap between smartphones and feature phones are also narrowing due to the subsidies offered by their carriers.

Although feature phones are taking on more different characteristics of physical appearance and user interfaces than smartphones, they are still generally lagging behind in terms of their applications and web browsing features. To remain competitive in the market, handset makers will have to work a lot harder to find a way out.

So will the feature phone remains the king or will the throne be taken by the smartphone? We will have to wait and see which side consumers choose to pick.

Tags: Apple iPhone 3G Accessories, Apple iPhone 3G S Accessories, BlackBerry Curve 8300 Accessories, BlackBerry 8310 Accessories, LG enV2 (VX9100) Accessories, Samsung Rant m540 Accessories