Tweet

User interface, brand, content top considerations when choosing a new mobile phone

Written by: Dennis Sellers

Article Overview: Though there are rumors that the iPhone will be coming to Verizon soon (something I'd love to see), I'm dubious it will happen (at least until 2011). I'd also love to see the pricey AT&T/iPhone data plan reduced, especially with these tough economic times. In lieu of either of these happening, it will be the sheer user friendliness of the iPhone that keeps it selling.

User interface, brand, content top considerations when choosing a new mobile phone

Though there are rumors that the iPhone will be coming to Verizon soon (something I'd love to see), I'm dubious it will happen (at least until 2011). I'd also love to see the pricey AT&T/iPhone data plan reduced, especially with these tough economic times.

In lieu of either of these happening, it will be the sheer user friendliness of the iPhone that keeps it selling. According to the results of a poll conducted by GetJar, an independent app store, ease of use, brand and embedded content are the top three features that U.S. consumers consider when choosing a new mobile phone. Mobile handset features like touch screen, overall phone design and memory rank lower on the list of purchase-deciding factors in the U.S.

The poll, conducted across the 130 countries in the GetJar network, asked respondents to rank a list of 10 phone features by order of importance including brand, screen size/resolution, user experience/phone software, phone memory, quality of camera, price, touch screen, music player, embedded content and overall design/look and feel. They were then asked to rank each of those features on a five-level scale as unimportant, less important, important, very important and extremely important.

U.S. participants picked the user interface as the most important handset feature with 20 percent of total respondents ranking it highest and 67 percent of those rating it as “extremely important.” Obviously, the iPhone has the edge here.

After user interface, 17 percent of U.S. respondents ranked phone brand as the second most important purchasing consideration, while an unprecedented 14 percent ranked content that comes with the phone as their top consideration. The majority of that group (60 percent) said that content embedded on a handset is “extremely important” to them, demonstrating Americans' appetite for mobile content.

Price and size of the phone’s memory were revealed to be the fourth and fifth most important features respectively to those polled in the U.S. And price isn't an area where the iPhone/AT&T connection excels.

On the other hand, across the 130 countries polled, the No. 1 buying consideration for a new phone was brand with 28 percent ranking it as their top feature. (The U.S. was the only country where brand was not the most popular consideration -- 17 percent.) And no brand is hotter than Apple right now.

Related Articles
  Windows Mobile Development Growth
  Advantages Of Using Mobile Applications than Mobile Browsers
  Mobile Call Forwarding
  5 Things to Consider While Selecting a CMS for You
  The factors which enhance use of mobile phones

Article Tags: appetite, economic times, handset features, iphone, mobile content, mobile phone, music player, participants, phone features, phone memory, phone software, poll, respondents, screen size resolution, software phone, touch screen, user experience, user friendliness, user interface, verizon



Related Forum Posts
Mobile Internet Viewing - A few years ago (2001 - 2002) there was a lot of talk about creating websites for mobile phones using technology called WAP which I considered to learn but never got around to it. I don't believe you should even consider creating an optimised website for mobile viewing at the moment unless you are offering ring tone downloads or something for use directly on a mobile phone. Another exception is if your target market uses mobile internet but again this would only be for ringtone, theme downloads etc because I know most people would not use their mobile phone for book reviews or stories for example.
Mobile Marketing - Mobile marketing is a huge growth opportunity for local businesses. More and more people are carrying smartphones that have always-on internet connections, and they're using them to find local businesses when they're on the go.There are very few businesses that approach mobile marketing correctly, however. Most companies have either no "mobile" version of their website, or if they do it's really just a smaller version of the same site. The latter is a little better option, but it's still not very effective. As far as the first problem - having no mobile-specific version of your website - this makes it extremely likely that someone searching for more information will simply leave the page and look for another site that's friendlier. Having a mobile-friendly version of your websites is a better option so that it can be easier to read. After all, what are people looking for when they look up a business on their mobile phone? 99% of the time, they're looking for one of two things - a phone number or an address. They don't want to read the website or anything else; they're just trying to either call or get to the right location. If someone searches for a local business on their smartphone, and winds up on a webpage, don't you think the chances are much better that they're going to actually call and/or visit as a result? And that's not all you can do with mobile websites. Most of today's smartphones have various other functions that can be integrated into a mobile site. Many smartphones have GPS functions built right in. What if you could include GPS coordinates on your website so all your potential customer had to do was click on the link and it would open their GPS and give them exact directions to get from wherever they are to your location? Or how about including all that contact information on your website so that customer could click another link and automatically have it all loaded into their phone's address book? Don't you think they'd be a lot more likely to make multiple visits to your business if the details were all loaded in their phone whenever they needed your products or services? For that reason greater chance of visiting your site is possible.
Re: What's the best anti-virus/spyware software? - I just read an interview today with Kaspersky, the Kasperky himself. I hope I'm spelling his name right. The interview was about the company new antivirus, of course, but he was talking about the new ways to insert harmful viruses to your computers and mobile. 1- SMS, it is not new, but the phenomena is increasing with the development of mobile phone with OS, and of course the mobile companies that ignore this problem. 2- Social networks, twitter, facebook, etc, with one tiny message you can infect 100,000 computers, because the lack of security and "thanks" to people who approve everyone. 3- On 3rd party softwares, for example FireFox Add-ons, or other programs that connect the internet, the most favorite are Flash and Quicktime.
Re: Mobile Marketing - Top 10 trends in the mobile application in 2012 What is most interesting to us mobile marketers is what lands at # 2 and # 3 spots on his list. "Mobile Search", "location-based services," and also, the place n. # 8 is our favorite of my "mobile advertising." last round after this morning's location based on 1020 funding Placecast poster supports the thesis that when it comes to phones, people expect to be able to discover things around them. That makes sense - after all, what good is a mobile device if you can not access the information you need right now? Gartner reports that location services will be "one of the most disturbing in the coming years." Gartner predicts that the LBS user base of 96 million global growth in 2009 to more than 526 million by 2012. "His value to the user high is the result of its ability to meet a variety of needs, ranging from productivity and fullfillment target social networking and entertainment." Mobile Search, which Gartner says is a fundamental purpose "to drive sales and marketing opportunities in the mobile phone," now just need the user experience. Once "the industry improves the user experience of mobile search to get people back again," Gartner predicts it will be the third most popular application in 2012. Getting to # 8, mobile advertising is no joke. Total spending on mobile advertising in 2008 was $ 530.2 million, which Gartner expects to grow to $ 7.5 billion in 2012. "Mobile advertising is an important way to monetize the mobile Internet content, applications and offering free services to end users. The mobile channel will be used as part of the largest advertising campaigns in various media, including television, radio, print and outdoor, "says Gartner. Here's the full top 10 types of future mobile applications, according to Gartner: 1. Money transfer 2. Location Based Services 3. Mobile Search 4. Mobile Browsing 5. Mobile health monitoring 6. Mobile Payment 7. Near field communication services 8. Mobile Advertising 9. Mobile Instant Messaging
Re: Protect yourself from Hackers - I've never heard of protection for mobile (cell) phones either, but our phones are certainly not safe. I myself have been a victim of phone scams and it cost me £20 in just 2 days. The only way I could stop it was to get another sim card. It started with one text message, which I opened and that was it, every text I received after that from the scammers, and there were quite a few, I was immediately charged for receiving even though I didn't open them and even blocked the number(s). As soon as the text hit my phone I was charged! My advice: do not give out your phone number online to anyone unless you are 100% sure you can trust them, Carol


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Twitter Tips For Work-at-Home Moms

The new marketing question. Will they follow?

Web Design in 30 Minutes - Can this be Right?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.