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Nov-04-2009Touch-screen phone use soars, iPhone on top(topic overview)
CONTENTS:
- For all the buzz surrounding touchscreen phones - much of it from the iPhone - the technology is disappointing too many people. (More...)
- Nearly all market forecasters have insisted that integrated hardware and software platforms like RIM's BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone can only possibly be temporary successes that will have to make way for licensed software platforms, where one company or open source group develops software and reference designs that a variety of hardware makers can purchase or use for free. (More...)
- A poll conducted by Canalys indicates that the majority of buyers have been disappointed by their experiences. (More...)
- Although there are still more smartphone users (33.7 million users vs. 23.8 million touchscreen users) the rate touchscreen devices are being adopted is a sign that smartphones may quickly fall behind. (More...)
- Today, you can find Windows Mobile on phones like the HTC Touch Diamond2, HTC Tilt, and the Samsung Jack. (More...)
- The results also raise questions about how well users are coping with the finger-based touchscreen UIs currently on the market and how good a design job vendors have done so far. (More...)
- '''However, if your primary need is for SMS and calling, then you are likely to need something simpler and more positive.''' (More...)
- U.S. smartphone buyers can't wait to get their hands on touchscreen devices, according to figures released Tuesday by industry tracker comScore. (More...)
- Whether you like it or not, without cell phones, you would be completely and totally lost. (More...)
- "There has always been a question mark over how well touch-screens would work among an SMS-centric audience, and the results indicate that the transition has not been totally smooth." (More...)
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For all the buzz surrounding touchscreen phones - much of it from the iPhone - the technology is disappointing too many people. Apple and one or two others may be getting it right, but that doesn't mean consumers who have tried rival products and disliked them will stick with the technology but try a different vendor. A surprising 53 per cent of folk who already own a touchscreen phone said they won't be buying one next time round. Apple and HTC both had much larger numbers of users who who said they will remain loyal to touchscreen technology, Canalys noted, though we wonder whether that's more to do with brand preference than favouring touchscreens, especially in Apple's case. Other vendors who have offered touchscreen phones fared less well. Fewer than a third of Sony Ericsson touchcreen owners said their next phone would use the same kind of UI. Fortunately, for SE, Nokia, RIM and co, they have plenty of button-based phones for these folk to turn to. Those who favour a stylus were among those folk surveyed who were least likely to go to a finger-oriented touchscreen UI. '''This is another example of how strongly current user experience sets future expectations,''' said Pete Cunningham, a senior Canalys analyst. '''It's likely that many of those users perceive moving from stylus to finger as a loss of precision that would degrade usability, hence the underlying resistance. Within this group, there was notably less resistance to change from current HTC and Samsung owners. [1] Looking at the results by handset brand, HTC and Apple stood out as having a much higher proportion of users wanting to stick with the same type of UI, while Sony Ericsson had the lowest proportion among the major handset vendors, at just 29%. "The results suggest that consumer awareness of touchscreen UIs is very high, driven by the marketing of Apple, Samsung and others, and there is no doubt that the changes in device design we have seen over the past couple of years have produced some very exciting products," said Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canalys, "But it is also apparent that, with experience, a significant proportion of users have not been totally won over by some of these devices. This is to be expected, as it is quite a big shift for many users to make, but a poor experience with one touchscreen device may dissuade users from trying another one in the future and it is imperative that vendors focus on usability and practicality as well as visual appeal, and continue to enhance their interfaces.[2]
A recent survey conducted by British-based analyst Canalys has revealed some rather interesting facts about consumer trends in the handset market. More than 3000 Europeans participated in the survey and most of them said they weren't thrilled by touchscreen phones. Just 47 percent of them sair they would stick to the same user interface on their next phone. It is unclear whether consumers are disappointed with the whole touchscreen concept or just different UI implementations. HTC and Apple seem to fair well, as most consumers claim they will stay loyal to the brand. A mere 29 percent of Sony Ericsson touchscreen users said they would stick to SE on their next phones. Interestingly, established players like Sony Ericsson and Nokia just seem unable to get their touchscreen UIs right, while smaller players like HTC, or newcomers to the market like Apple offer superior UIs.[3]
Touchscreens can also be frustrating for people who input a lot of data, whether that is through email or SMS. '''There has always been a question mark over how well touchscreens would work among an SMS-centric audience and the results indicate the transition has not been totally smooth,''' Cunningham said. Despite the negativity, 38% of all respondents said they would like a finger-based touchscreen phone as their next device, a figure perhaps inflated by the iPhone factor and marketing hype. According to the report, HTC and Apple stood out as having a much higher proportion of users wanting to stick with their touchscreen gadgets, while Sony Ericsson had the lowest proportion of happy customers among the major handset vendors, at just 29%.[4] With well over half of the mobile phone users surveyed preferring touchscreen mobile devices it gives a considerable advantage towards smartphone manufacturers. It would appear that owners of HTC mobile phones and Apple mobile phones are the happiest with their current handsets. This is partly driven by the marketing of these particular products, but there is no denying that the likes of the iPhone, and HTC Magic and HTC Hero have contributed to breaking new ground.[5]
"The smart phone market continues to hold up pretty well," commented Canalys senior analyst Pete Cunningham. "While growth has undoubtedly slowed, it is still outperforming the overall mobile phone market by some margin, as well as driving data revenue for operators, and smart phones are ushering in a range of changes in user behaviour when it comes to what people actually do on their phones." Notable performers in Q3 included Apple and RIM, which both saw a new record volume of devices shipped in the quarter.[6] Analysts at Canalys (does that rhyme?) conducted a survey with over 3,000 people spread out over France, Germany and the United Kingdom to find out how large of an impact touch screen devices are having on Western Europe. The results speak for themselves: 38% want their next mobile phone to be finger touch enabled and 16% want their next device to be stylus enabled. That's 54% of people who have simply had it with a regular T9 keypad and 5 way directional pad. What about the people who are taking this survey and already have touch screen devices? Of those individuals (percentage not given) only 47% wanted their next mobile device to be touch enabled, which leads me to believe that buying into the touch screen hype and building a terrible user interface is almost as toxic as not making a touch screen model at all. Those with Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) and HTC devices are the most likely to buy another touch device, while those with Sony Ericsson ( NYSE: SNE ) touch devices are the least likely to buy a touch screen again.[7] According to Canalys' figures, 38 per cent of some 3000 mobile phone users questioned in the UK, France and Germany said their next phone will have a finger-oriented touchscreen user interface. Add in the 16 per cent of respondents who said they want a stylus-operated touchscreen device next, and the total jumps to more than half of people surveyed. Clearly, touchscreens are in and, as Canalys found, they have across-the-board appeal, being favoured almost as much by the old as the young, by women as men. Demand is at pretty much the same level in all the three countries included in the survey, and touchscreen phones are as likely to be wanted by pay-as-you-go customers as those folk on contracts.[1] 'In a recent survey conducted by Canalys with more than 3,000 mobile phone users across France, Germany and the UK, 38% said a finger-based touchscreen would be the preferred main user interface on their next mobile phone, with a further 16% opting for a stylus-based touchscreen, suggesting a continuing market shift toward touch-centric devices. This bodes well for smart phone vendors whose designs are focused on delivering a great experience in this area and should prompt those lagging behind to reconsider their strategies.[2] There remains a section of users who are struggling to adapt to the latest handset enhancements. There is an underlying fear that a poor user experience with one particular touchscreen handset will dissuade them from purchasing another in the future. As well as the visual appeal of a mobile phone, consumers still appear to prefer an easy-to-use interface and this is why the transition has not been a complete success as yet.[5]
There has always been a question mark over how well touchscreens would work among an SMS-centric audience and the results indicate the transition has not been totally smooth." The group with the least desire for finger-centric touchscreen products was, interestingly, those that currently use a stylus-based device. "This is another example of how strongly current user experience sets future expectations," Cunningham added. "It is likely that many of those users perceive moving from stylus to finger as a loss of precision that would degrade usability, hence the underlying resistance. Within this group there was notably less push back by current HTC and Samsung owners - two vendors that put their own finger-driven UI on top of Windows Mobile - which suggests they may be more successful in migrating customers in this segment." Overall, future interest in finger-centric touchscreens varied little across demographic groups, tariff types and countries, reinforcing the view that they have mass-market appeal.[2] Coupled with the new BlackBerry app store that was just released, and the wildly popular BlackBerry Messenger(a form of "BlackBerry Only" text messaging), the BlackBerry OS makes the devices an absolute pleasure to use. Downsides include a somewhat lesser amount of choice in device styling then a Windows Mobile phone, as the current form factors include the Pearl (in both regular and flip versions), the Curve (which has a full keyboard, with individually spaced keys), the Bold for ATT (with a full, block keyboard),the Tour for Sprint and Verizon (which also has the full block keyboard), and the touchscreen Storm2, currently only on Verizon. Many find the other portions of the BlackBerry OS to be a little intimidating, as its industrial-style roots make themselves known in the menus and obnoxious variety of options to change on the phone. Power users who love being able to control every part of their phone will love this, but those who want a simple and easy experience may be turned off by this complicated experience.[8] We write about the latest cell phones, the most interesting devices and the hottest new mobile technology. What do we actually have tucked away into our own pockets? If you have ever wondered about which cell phones we'''re using, what we love and hate about them and which phones we might want instead then just read on because those secrets are all revealed here today. Andrew uses an iPhone 3G. His first smartphone was the HTC Touch with Windows Mobile 6.1. Although he liked the phone'''s smart features and''its touchscreen, he couldn'''t stand the Windows Mobile platform so he decided to make the switch to the iPhone ''' and he'''s glad that he did.[9] '''''Bad battery life. That'''s just annoying to deal with. Andrew is happy with this phone. He'''s the first to admit that the iPhone has a lot of problems but he'''s lucky because most of them don'''t apply to him. He rarely makes or receives voice calls so the well-known problem of poor call quality on this phone doesn'''t apply to him. He also doesn'''t need to edit documents, swap networks or do a whole lot of multi-tasking so it'''s not a big issue for him that the phone doesn'''t do those things. He likes it well enough that if he traded it in then it would probably just be to upgrade to an iPhone 3GS but he'''s got no plans to do that at this time. If he had to choose another phone then he'''d probably go with the new HTC Touch HD2 but it'''d be a tough switch since he really doesn'''t like that Windows Mobile platform.[9] Luke actually has the first smartphone that Andrew was using: the HTC Touch. He is relatively happy with the phone although a lot of the things that he liked about it to begin with are things that he doesn'''t really need anymore. The main reason that Luke likes this phone is because it could double as a laptop. Luke originally got this phone because it was Windows capable and could connect to his iGo stowaway Bluetooth keyboard. (This keyboard is a full-size keyboard that folds into a size small enough to fit into your pocket.) This combination meant that he could use the phone to do his online writing from just about anywhere. It'''s a great thing about the phone but now that Luke has a new Netbook he doesn'''t actually need this function anymore. The main complaint that Luke has about this smartphone is that it doesn'''t seem to last very long.[9]
Nearly all market forecasters have insisted that integrated hardware and software platforms like RIM's BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone can only possibly be temporary successes that will have to make way for licensed software platforms, where one company or open source group develops software and reference designs that a variety of hardware makers can purchase or use for free. Gartner recently predicted in a widely publicized report that three years from now it expected to see Symbian slipping only a few percentage points to maintain its lead as the most widely used smartphone operating system. This prediction comes despite the fact that Nokia, by far the largest user of Symbian, has already started seeing its share of smartphones drop rapidly, and that the company is earnestly working to invest in alternatives to Symbian, including its Maemo Linux platform. On the the other end of the scale, Gartner predicted massive 400% growth for Android and 70-80% market share growth for Windows Mobile, while assuming that the iPhone wouldn't grow its market share at all and that RIM would lose half of its share by 2012. [10] Rather than eating into RIM and Apple's integrated platform sales, Android appears largely to have cannibalized the use of other free Linux minority platforms and taken the lunch away from Microsoft's Windows Mobile. The largest backers of Android are HTC (which actually lost market share as its former sales growth plateaued over the last year) and Motorola, which is in such bad shape that it has fallen from Canalys's top five and joined the "other" pool without so much as even creating a ripple.[10]
Our end-user research indicates growing demand for touchscreen products and Apple's satisfaction ratings in our surveys are consistently the highest of any vendor. The iPhone's appeal is not limited to the consumer market, in our October study of 600 European decision makers in medium and large enterprises, more than 20% said they expect the iPhone to be the dominant smart phone platform for running business applications in their organisation within the next 3 to 5 years. In France, the iPhone was ahead of Windows Mobile and RIM in this regard - a remarkable result."[6] Nokia remains the smart phone volume leader by some distance and its share is stable year on year. In Q3 it suffered somewhat from component shortages as suppliers reduced capacity due to the overall market slowdown, but while its smart phone volume was down 10% in EMEA year on year, in the APAC region 29% growth put it comfortably ahead of the market average. "Much of the recent growth in the smart phone market has come in the high tier, with products like the Nokia N97, the iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold," observed Rachel Lashford, MD of Canalys APAC. "Vendors are now beginning to drive smart phones into a new segment, with products such as the Nokia 5230, targeting consumers who are new to smart phones. We expect this to boost growth and penetration of smart phones substantially over the next two years. There will be increasing competition in this space - T-Mobile, for example, is already offering the Huawei-built, Android 'Pulse' on pre-pay, and it is likely we will see more Symbian devices being pushed at price-sensitive segments."[6] 'Global smart phone shipments in Q3 2009 rose 4% year on year, slower than the 13% annual growth seen last quarter, and held back primarily by a 6% fall in EMEA. Shipments in North America were up 5%, but the APAC region saw a remarkable 26% rise after several flat quarters, reports Canalys. Nokia retained its worldwide smart phone lead, with a share of 40% - slightly up on its year-ago position, but down almost 5% sequentially.[6]
Canalys said much of the recent growth in the smartphone market has come from the most expensive models -- iPhone, Nokia's N97 and the BlackBerry Bold -- but vendors are increasingly focusing on offering cheaper models. "We expect this to boost growth and penetration of smartphones substantially over the next two years. There will be increasing competition in this space," said Canalys' Rachel Lashford.[11]
A poll conducted by Canalys indicates that the majority of buyers have been disappointed by their experiences. Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canalys, said that the findings show that it is '''imperative that vendors focus on usability and practicality''' and that they '''continue to enhance their interfaces''' to convince people of the merits of touchscreens. He added: "There has always been a question mark over how well touchscreens would work among an SMS-centric audience, and the results indicate that the transition has not been totally smooth." The study did, however, also reveal that demand for touchscreens remains strong with 38 per cent of those polled saying that they seek out phones with finger-based touchscreen interfaces and 17 per cent looking for stylus-based touchscreen phones. [12] The study finds that while some touchscreen phones have proved popular, too many have failed to meet consumer expectations, leaving early-adopters disappointed. '''It's partly because a lot of touchscreen phones on the market didn't focus on consumer experience,''' Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canaly, told PC Pro. '''It's bad news because, for most people, this will be their first experience of a touchscreen phone and if it's a bad experience they won't want to come back.'''[4]
Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canalys concludes that consumer awareness of touchscreen UIs is high, mainly thanks to aggressive marketing. "It is also apparent that, with experience, a significant proportion of users have not been totally won over by some of these devices," said Cunningham.[3]
"The results suggest that consumer awareness of touch-screen user interfaces is very high, driven by the marketing of Apple, Samsung and others," said Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canalys.[13]
Although there are still more smartphone users (33.7 million users vs. 23.8 million touchscreen users) the rate touchscreen devices are being adopted is a sign that smartphones may quickly fall behind. "It's clear that consumers are embracing touchscreen interfaces that allow them to easily navigate the increasingly powerful and complex services afforded by new phones. This is a trend that should continue to pick up as additional touchscreen devices, many of them running the Android operating system, arrive in the market before the holiday shopping season," said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of Mobile [14] "Touchscreen phones have quickly gained adoption as new devices have flooded the mobile marketplace," said comScore senior vice president of mobile devices Mark Donovan. "It's clear that consumers are embracing touchscreen interfaces that allow them to easily navigate the increasingly powerful and complex services afforded by new phones." Donovan expected the popularity of touchscreen mobile phones to continue to climb as more devices, many of them based on Google-backed Android operating systems, hit the market for the prime year-end holiday shopping season.[15]
LG Dare and Voyager model mobile phones were second and third place in the market, with 8.7 percent and 7.8 percent respectively, according to comScore. "The iPhone clearly set the trend in the industry for touchscreen devices, so it's no surprise that it has the largest share of the market," said Donovan.[15] According to comScore ( NSDQ: SCOR ), touchscreen phones are growing faster than even the overall smartphone market, which jumped 63 percent in the same three-quarter period ending in August. There are now roughly 23.8 million touchscreen owners, and 33.8 million smartphone owners. comScore's SVP Mark Donovan: "This is a trend that should continue to pick up as additional touchscreen devices, many of them running the Android operating system, arrive in the market before the holiday shopping season."[16] The number of phones in American hands has jumped 159 percent from 9.22 million in August 2008 to 23.84 million just one year later. By comparison, the entire U.S. smartphone market grew by 63 percent to 33.78 million, or enough for touchscreen phones to represent a large section of the smartphone business where they were just a minority before. Among those who do own advanced handsets, more than half of these users are under 35 years old. Of these, 51.4 percent of smartphone owners are under the age marker, while 57.7 percent of touchscreen phone owners fit into that age group.[17] According to the report, among the users of smartphones, more than half are under 35 years old. Of these, 51.4 percent of smartphone owners are under the age marker, while 57.7 percent of touchscreen phone owners fit into that age group. This article is copyrighted by International Business Times.[18]
Apple's coveted iPhone dominated the U.S. market, accounting for 32.9 percent of touchscreen smart phones owned by people 13 years of age or older.[15] Thanks to the popularity of the iPhone, the number people who own phones with touchscreens in the U.S. has skyrocketed by 159 percent during the past year to 23.8 million users. Release.[16]
The number of people using touchscreen mobile phones in the U.S. almost tripled to 23.8 million during the three months ended in August from a year earlier, according to comScore Inc. (SCOR).[19]
A recent survey conducted by Canalys of over 3,000 mobile phone users across France, Germany and the United Kingdom revealed that 38% of consumers now look for finger-based touchscreens and a further 17% keen on stylus-based touchscreens.[5] "While growth has undoubtedly slowed, it is still outperforming the overall mobile phone market by some margin, as well as driving data revenue for operators," Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham said in a statement.[11] While Apple leads in France, Canalys' enterprise survey shows RIM in pole position in the UK, and Windows Mobile holding a strong lead in Germany. Apple is already ahead of Microsoft in the minds of those UK decision makers and wider availability can be expected to translate to greater acceptance among business buyers. "As well as enjoying a sustained strong position in the UK and North America, RIM is seeing great growth in other parts of the world and overcoming some difficult market conditions," added Chris Jones, principal analyst and VP. "Despite overall market contraction in both Latin America and the Middle East, RIM saw strong growth in both of these regions, of 54% and 214% respectively. This was aided by demand for the Curve 8900 and the newly introduced Curve 8520, and supported by specific in-country marketing campaigns and promotions."[6]
The latest Q3 2009 smartphone market figures from Canalys show RIM and Apple gobbling up the smartphone market as overall growth in the segment begins to slow.[10]
Again, from a manufacturer perspective, outside of the top three makers (Nokia, RIM, Apple), "everything else" has fallen from 28% to 21% in just a year. This makes it essential for rival phone makers to distract from the smartphone market and talk about the vast numbers of low margin simple phones being sold. As that larger market continues to shrink, this will become increasingly difficult to do.[10] Market leader Nokia ( NOK1V.HE ) lost some share in the quarter but still held 40 percent of the smartphone market, well ahead of Research in Motion's ( RIM.TO )( RIMM.O ) 21 perent and Apple's ( AAPL.O ) 18 percent, Canalys said.[11] HELSINKI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Growth in the global smartphone market slowed to 4 percent in the July-to-September quarter as sales of more advanced handsets fell in Europe and Latin America, research firm Canalys said on Tuesday.[11]
"There is no doubt that the changes in device design we have seen over the past couple of years have produced some very exciting products." Canalys found that only 47 per cent of people already using a touch-based handset would choose such a device again. "It is also apparent that, with experience, a significant proportion of users have not been totally won over by some of these devices. This is to be expected, as it is quite a big shift for many users to make," said Cunningham. "But a poor experience with one touch-screen device may dissuade users from trying another in the future, and it is imperative that vendors focus on usability and practicality, as well as visual appeal, and continue to enhance their interfaces.[13] "The user awareness and interest is clearly there, and the opportunity to drive a mass change in user interaction, and hence device capabilities and the opening up of new application and service revenue streams, is tantalisingly close. Only if users continue to embrace these new UIs once they have tried them. This is the new arena in which mobile vendors must differentiate themselves, and the user experience battle will spread to other product categories, such as netbooks."[2] Mike Welch, vice president of Canalys, said in a statement: '''The user awareness and interest is clearly there, and the opportunity to drive a mass change in user interaction. is tantalisingly close. Only if users continue to embrace these new UIs once they have tried them.''' He added: '''This is the new arena in which mobile vendors must differentiate themselves, and the user experience battle will spread to other product categories, such as netbooks."[20]
Today, you can find Windows Mobile on phones like the HTC Touch Diamond2, HTC Tilt, and the Samsung Jack. These phones offer a variety of options like touch screens, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth functionality. Unlike the iPhone OS, however, Windows Mobile is known for being rather slow, and despite its latest revision, still lags behind its competition when it comes to a user-friendly phone experience. [8] Windows Mobile has been around significantly longer on devices than iPhone OS. With the added benefit of the ability to be installed on a variety of cell phones, the chances of finding a phone with Windows Mobile on it to match your needs are high.[8]
I might also be able to change my answer and say that I use my phone more than the computer if I had an iPhone. WiFi hotspots keep growing and, as they grow, mobile phones will go the way of the iPhone and use wireless Internet signal instead of cell phone signal. When they do, the mobile world will take off and that is when most people will use their phones more than their computers.[21] '''''Video iPod downloads. The iPhone 3G makes it easy to download video podcasts and watch them right on your mobile phone which is a feature that Andrew likes to use.[9]
Over a third of mobile phone users now prefer to use a touch-screen finger-based interface, according to new research.[13] Touch controls emerged as the most popular method of phone input with 38 per cent of users in a new study by Canalys, while 16 per cent preferred to use a stylus.[13]
Touchscreen interfaces on smartphones are less popular than they seem, according to new research. When it came down to brand, more HTC and Apple smartphone users were happy to stay as they were, but Sony Ericsson only had 29 per cent wanting to keep the same UI.[20] Because it is still relatively new, portions of the OS lack polish, and can be somewhat more awkward to use than other Smartphones. Companies like HTC have found ways to get around this by placing a "skin" over the Google layout(This is seen on their popular phone Hero/Eris, found on Sprint and Verizon, respectively), but this comes at the cost of some speed on the device.[8] Adoption of touchscreen phones is expected to accelerate even further as more touchscreen phones, particularly devices that use Google's Android operating system like the Motorola Droid, reach the market.[18]
The Apple iPhone now represents almost one third of all touchscreen phones in the U.S., according to a new study.[18] The iPhone now represents almost exactly one third of all touchscreen phones in the U.S., new comScore info says.[17]
The iPhone itself is also an extremely powerful phone, with the new 3GS version boasting advanced graphics, stronger GPS support, and an amazingly fast processor. Unfortunately, some people find that the iPhone's strict limits on customization, as well as the fact that the iPhone is on ATT(a much lamented problem for the iPhone) are enough to steer them to another smartphone OS.[8] To start, there are 4 major smartphone operating systems on the U.S. market today: Windows Mobile, iPhone operating system, Android, and BlackBerry OS.[8] Among operating systems, Microsoft's ( MSFT.O ) Windows Mobile continued to lose share and held 8.8 percent in the third quarter, while newcomer Google's ( GOOG.O ) Android had 3.5 percent.[11]
Symbian, which has long been the "Windows of smartphones" outside of the U.S. simply because there weren't many viable global competitors, is now abdicating the throne. Of all the alternative licensed platforms hoping to take its place, from the commercial Windows Mobile to free options including Google's Android and various other platforms built on top of Linux, none are making much progress.[10]
Syncing like that, especially with online storage and access comes at a premium from the other services(like Apple's MobileMe service, which offers similar functionality, but costs $99 a year). These phones also boast an application store, which though smaller than Apples', gives users access to thousands of free and paid downloads. The only downside to the Android platform is its age.[8] The ranks of touchscreen mobile telephone users led by Apple iPhone lovers swelled to 23.8 million in August, soaring 159 percent during the preceding year, according to comScore.[15] In the past year, touchscreen mobile devices including the iPhone, have increased adoption rates at a staggering pace.[14]
"Touchscreen phones have quickly gained adoption as new devices have flooded the mobile marketplace," said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile.[18] The rise of the smartphone culture in the mobile phone market has brought about a significant demand for touchscreen handsets.[5] Worldwide demand for mobile phones will grow by three per cent in the fourth quarter, it has been predicted. Palm Pre owners can no longer synch their handsets with iTunes, after Apple disabled the facility.[12] In the fast-moving mobile phone sector, every day brings the launch of new state-of-the-art handsets, applications and tariffs.[12] Here we give you the latest news on the mobile industry, plus mobile phone market news, technology developments, news on mobile applications and more.[12]
For a great selection of the latest smartphones, including HTC mobile phones visit online mobile phone specialists, Foneshop.com.[5] Further HTC mobile phones are being marketed and heavily advertised in the build-up to Christmas rush.[5]
The overall mobile phone market fell 4-6 percent in July-September, according to analysts estimates.[11] The first-ever Sony Ericsson Android mobile phone, the Xperia X10, has been officially announced today.[12] Top 25 Mobile Phone Blogs Here at Dial-a-Phone we love reading blogs as much as anyone so we decided to create a unique resource for people to find the Top 25 Mobile Phone Blogs.[9] You might not, but a lot of people do. If you have a mobile phone then I bet it's a close race. A lot of people are still getting used to the thought of having a cell phone and when they hear the phrase text message, it might fly over their head.[21]
Add on text messaging, Blackberry Messenger and the mobile Web and you can see how I spend a lot of time using my mobile phone.[21] As the future progresses, I think that I will continue to use my mobile phone more and more.[21] Then I switch to my work laptop in the afternoon and at night, before ending the evening back on my Mac. As you can see, I use both my computer and my mobile phone quite a bit.[21]
You can listen to music, watch videos on YouTube, TV shows on Hulu.com and much more. We see those iPhone commercials now that advertise all the things you can do with your mobile phone and all the applications you can download to make life a little easier.[21] Our phones will become mini computers, which will be pretty awesome. You can already do a ton with mobile phones like take video, photos and then post them to social networking sites like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.[21] Every week there are four of us that post our thoughts, opinions and researched ideas about mobile phones here on this blog.[9]
I'''ve been blogging about mobile phones for a couple of years now and love checking out the latest.[9] Top 10 Mobile phones (owned by Formula Digital Ltd.) will keep you updated with our own Top 10 offers and related information via email.[12] Today's corporate world and the younger generation know all about the mobile phone and its capabilities and some day that might be all we know.[21]
The results also raise questions about how well users are coping with the finger-based touchscreen UIs currently on the market and how good a design job vendors have done so far. Of those for whom this was already their primary method of interacting with the phone, only 47% said they would choose the same type of UI on their next model. [2] More than half of finger-based touchscreen users would not want the same interface on their next phone.[20] Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at Quocirca, said that any interface'''s popularity depends on what the user is doing with the handset. '''If you are doing much more than calling and SMS, using lots of applications, you would want a touchscreen,''' he told IT PRO.[20] Cunningham blamed the criticism on touchscreen interfaces used in Windows Mobile handsets, which were adapted from the original concept of stylus input.[4]
Currently in version 6.5, Windows Mobile offers multiple versions to match the type and form factor of phones.[8] The nice part about the BlackBerry is that even if there is no Internet signal, but there is a cell phone signal, I still get access to the mobile Web.[21] Most of the runners-up are Verizon devices and include the LG Dare and Voyager at 8.7 and 7.8 percent respectively. The BlackBerry Storm has just seven percent, while the T-Mobile G1 is both the most popular Android and T-Mobile phone on the list with 3.6 percent.[17] With the November release of Motorola's "DROID" on Verizon, Android is quickly gaining ground as a favorite smartphone OS. With direct contact with Google's servers at all time, any information stored on the phone or online in a Google account is instantly and constantly synced with the device and internet. For anyone with a Gmail account (and really, who doesn't have an @gmail.com address today? Are you seriously still using Hotmail?), they can have backed up contacts, online storage of their calendar, and instant Google access, all from their phone, and all for free.[8] The newest phone OS, Android, is proving to be a serious contender in the smartphone arena.[8] The proportion of smart phones running Google's Android OS climbed to almost 4%, from just under 3% in Q2.[6]
Many are familiar with the BlackBerry OS, thanks to the wildly popular Pearl and Curve phones. Found on every BlackBerry, BB OS has one major advantage over its competition, and this stands out amongst the others: Messaging. The BlackBerry was made for e-mailing and text messaging, and it does both extremely well.[8] The iPhone 3G syncs really well with Mac particularly in the area of email. Andrew does a majority of his community via email so this is a really great feature of his phone.[9] Of all touch phones in the country, 32.9 percent are iPhones while all others trail significantly behind.[17] Of all touch phones in the country, 32.9 percent are iPhones, according to ComScore report released on Monday.[18]
'''However, if your primary need is for SMS and calling, then you are likely to need something simpler and more positive.''' '''What has sparked the increase of touchscreens is new apps, but a lot of people still just want a phone and have the realisation that they just want to jab buttons and have done with it. look good but for daily life many people just want to click and go,''' he added. [20] I'''m happy with the fact that it'''s a tiny phone that does what I need a phone to do which is to call and text people.[9]
I'''m always on my laptop anyway so I don'''t need any of the advanced features of a smartphone. When I'''m not at home, I don'''t want to be online so I carry this phone around with me and love the fact that it'''s super tiny.[9] I rarely use my phone at all. The only thing I use it for is texting and voice calls which this phone is totally capable of handling. I can also take pictures (which I almost never do) and I think the phone has voice dialing features but I'''ve never checked them out. '''''It doesn'''t do anything fancy. There'''s a small part of me that does want a smartphone and sometimes I get annoyed that this phone can'''t really do much.[9]
I can'''t help but notice that there'''s a gender split in the phones that we have here. Harriet and I have the simple phones and use them basically to talk. Andrew and Luke have the smartphones and use them for almost everything but talking.[9]
Most people who aren't familiar with smartphones have heard of the ultra-popular iPhone OS, which is on every iPhone sold today. Currently on its third revision, the iPhone OS is exceptionally fast, boasts thousands of applications for download, and manages to remain speedy despite the trials of daily use.[8]
RIM held onto second place with a largely unchanged (compared to Q2) share of 21%, while Apple reached a new high of 18% share in third, significantly up from the 14% it held in Q2 as supply of the iPhone 3GS improved in many countries. HTC retained its fourth-place position with 5% share. Looking at the market by operating system, Symbian's overall lead shrank as its share fell to 46%, ahead of RIM and Apple. Microsoft remained in fourth with its share dipping slightly below last quarter's previous low point of 9%.[6] Examples include music players (a market first dominated by Sony's Walkman and then by Apple's iPod, where efforts to introduce PlaysForSure as a licensed platform simply failed) and video games (long dominated by Nintendo and usually only one or two other significant rivals at a time.) Many attempts to introduce a new integrated platform into a mature market have fallen flat, both in PCs outside of the Macintosh (something discovered by Amiga, Atari, NeXT, BeOS, and others) and in MP3 players (like the Zune) and even smartphones (there does not seem to be much global market potential for the Palm Pre).[10] Canalys' press release only cited market share percentages for hardware vendors and software platforms, so AppleInsider did the math to chart the changes in smartphones over the last two years.[10] What the last three years' smartphone numbers actually show is a shrinking on the top and the bottom of licensed platforms, with growth coming from integrated platforms in the middle.[10] Outside of the top three platforms (Symbian, RIM, Apple), "everything else" has shrunk from 20% of the market a year ago to just 15% now.[10]
Apple's success comes as the touchscreen field itself has swelled dramatically in the past year.[17] Apple's success comes as the touchscreen market itself has grown dramatically in the past year.[18]
U.S. smartphone buyers can't wait to get their hands on touchscreen devices, according to figures released Tuesday by industry tracker comScore. [15] How many consumers are now touching mobiles? Nearly 24 million as of August 2009. At this point, touchscreen adoption is pushing quickly past smartphone adoption rates.[14] The overall smartphone market in the United States reportedly grew by 63 percent during that same period to 33.8 million users.[15] With all the options to choose from, finding the right smartphone can be difficult. The biggest factor for the user is determining which device he or she the most comfortable with.[8] '''The user awareness and interest is clearly there, and the opportunity to drive a mass change in user interaction, and hence device capabilities and the opening up of new application and service revenue streams, is tantalisingly close. Only if users continue to embrace these new UIs once they have tried them.'''[5] "And we expect to see continued growth for Apple, especially with new operators coming on board, for example in the UK with the end of O2's exclusivity on the device.[6]
The iPhone's market share was nearly four times larger than the next largest device family, the LG Dare.[18] The iPhone uses a Web browser just like your computer and is able to access the mobile Web when a wireless signal is present.[21] '''''Twitter apps. If you like to use Twitter then it'''s great to get an iPhone because there are so many iPhone apps available for this mobile social media site.[9]
If I had an iPhone I would probably use the mobile Web a lot more because it is faster and easier to use.[21]
My mobile Web service runs off my mobile provider, Verizon, and not off an actual wireless signal like the iPhone does.[21]
Whether you like it or not, without cell phones, you would be completely and totally lost. [8] '''''Battery life faded quickly. It was good to start out with but it went downhill fast. '''''It seems to block people for no reason. This has happened several times. In particularly, it randomly blocks people from texting me and I have to go in manually and request that they not be blocked anymore. That'''s probably the most annoying thing about this phone. As far as the free phones go, this one is a great one.[9] '''''Folder phone. I'''m one of the few people I know who prefers the old folder phone design (as opposed to slider phones, etc.) and that'''s one of the main reasons I chose this phone.[9]
"There has always been a question mark over how well touch-screens would work among an SMS-centric audience, and the results indicate that the transition has not been totally smooth." Stylus users are the least likely to want to use finger controls, possibly because they believe they may lose some precision, Canalys said. [13] According to a new comScore report touchscreen adoption grew by 159% from 2008 to 2009 ; iPhone now accounts for one-third (33%) of the touchscreen marketplace.[14] Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms.[11]
SOURCES
1. More than half of touchphone users will go back to buttons ''' Register Hardware
2. Europeans Increasingly Want Touchscreens on Their Phones
3. Fudzilla - Punters disappointed by touchscreen phones
4. Touchscreen smartpohnes given the thumbs down | News | PC Pro
5. Mobile Phones: Touchscreen Culture on the Rise | Press Releases @ Your Story
6. Smart Phone Market Shows Modest Growth in Q3
7. Analyst: Over half of Europeans want their next mobile phone to have a touch screen
8. Student Printz - Get smart: the latest in mobile technology
9. What Phones Are Your Bloggers Using? | Dial-a-Phone
10. AppleInsider | Canalys Q3 2009: iPhone, RIM taking over smartphone market
11. Smartphone market growth slows in Q3-Canalys | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
12. Top 10 Mobile Phones News '' Touchscreen mobile phones disappoint buyers
13. Mobile users warm to touch-screen input - V3.co.uk - formerly vnunet.com
14. Touchscreen mobile adoption skyrockets more than 150% - Mobile Marketing - BizReport
15. Touchscreen smartphones being snatched up in US
16. Report: Touchscreen Phone Ownership Jumps 159 Percent Over The Past Year | mocoNews
17. iPhone now makes up 33% of all touchscreen phones | Electronista
18. iPhone makes up 33 Pct of all touchscreen phones - International Business Times -
19. Touchscreen Mobile Phone Growth Outpaces Smart-Phone Rate - WSJ.com
20. Smartphone users to move away from touchscreens? | IT PRO
21. Columnists: Mobile phone starts computer takeover | phone, mobile, computer : Burlington - WAP
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