According to the NPD Group, the smartphone market in the US has entered a "growth spurt."
October 2006 sales soared 230% from January of this year, rising from 216,000 units to nearly 715,000.
"The long-awaited growth in smartphone sales comes at a crucial time for carriers who have been anticipating wider adoption of smartphones," said Neil Strother of NPD. "For the past couple of years, carriers and their handset suppliers have been hoping more buyers would migrate to these devices, since smartphone owners tend to spend much more on wireless data than those who don't own them."
The current top five best-selling smartphones reflect a shifting market that is no longer limited to Treos and BlackBerries. Motorola's Q has come on strong, and actually led sales between August and October 2006.
The key reasons behind the overall growth in smartphone sales include:
- Prices declined an average 10% since January 2006
- More smartphone choices are available — the Motorola Q, Palm Treo 700p, BlackBerry Pearl and Nokia E62 all entered the market this year
- Smartphones meet the growing demand for personal e-mail usage, which has doubled since March 2006
- More robust devices are now capable of better handling of music and video applications
- Devices now boast significantly greater data storage capacity than standard phones, and many provide slots for removable memory cards
- Smartphones can now take advantage of faster networks for quicker data transfers and Web browsing
"All of this is welcome news to carriers, and not just because devices are moving in record volume," said Mr. Strother. "The simple fact is that smartphone owners spend more on data and are therefore more attractive customers."
Smartphone users spent an average of $6.31 per month for wireless data in the third quarter. By comparison, owners of all types of mobile phones spent just $0.89.
"It's no wonder carriers covet smartphone owners so much," explained Mr. Strother.