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Purchase of Cell Phones Decreasing in U.S.
The Associated Press reveals that consumers in the United
States are buying less cell phones – yet they are paying
more for the phones when they do buy them.
Reporting on an NPD Group report published on Tuesday, the
Associated Press goes on to say that only twenty eight million
phones were sold during the second quarter of this year. This
is 13 percent less than how many were sold in the second quarter
of 2007.
This is actually the third consecutive quarter that has seen
a decline in the purchase cell phones. Thus far, it is also
the lowest.
The difference is that the phones which were sold during
the second quarter of this year were generally higher end
cell phones. They had more features, when tended to make them
more expensive as well. As a result, the total market value
only saw a decline of 2 percent from 2007. It still totaled
in at $2.4 billion.
The report revealed that Motorola Inc. was the most popular,
selling more phones than its competitors during the second
quarter. Even still, last year it sold 32 percent of its units;
this year, that number dropped considerably, down to 21 percent.
However, these findings need to be taken with a grain of
salt, as they were based mainly on surveys taken on the Internet,
by people who had bought cell phones. Therefore, neither the
government nor corporate buyers were included. A different
study by a different research firm suggests that those buyers
make up for the decline in consumer purchases.
An analyst for the other research firm, IDC, said that the
number of handsets shipped to markets in the United States
had actually gone up 6 percent from the second quarter of
2007. The firms findings included manufacturer reports.
Still, NPD found that phones cost more this year. The average
cost $84, a 14 percent increase from last year’s average.
This is mostly due to the prevalence and popularity of smart
phones, with Internet access and a number of other high end
features.
(August 20, 2008)
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