Over the past few years, the mobile phone experience has certainly changed. This latest survey by the NPD Group seems to further assert this. The NPD Group shares that mobile phone users now seem to be preferring touchscreen and QWERTY keypads over standard keypads.
All the top selling mobile phones in the U.S. according to the report were incorporated with touch-screens or QWERTY keyboards in Q4 of 2009. Phones seem to be quickly moving towards new forms of input that appears to have been made popular by smartphones.
The latest data from NPD’s Mobile Phone Track further suggests text messaging to remain as one of the topmost motivating features for those who buy mobile phones. Apparently, it resulted in a large number of American consumers buying handsets that boasted of touch screens or QWERTY keyboards.
Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at NPD remarked, “Regardless of whether they opt for a data plan, consumers want richer user interface options; the humble keypad is losing in the race to optimize a handset’s surface.â€
The survey additionally brought to light that as per U.S. consumer purchases of mobile phones in Q4, 2010, all 83XX models in the RIM BlackBerry Curve portfolio ranked first. The LG enV3, Apple iPhone 3GS (both models) and Apple iPhone 3G stood at number 2, 3 and 4. Motorola’s Droid was ranked fifth while the LG envTouch and RIM Blackberry Tour ranked at number six and seven. The last three phones in the list were the Samsung Intensity, Samsung Solstice and Samsung Impression.
In spite of Motorola’s Droid launching in the mid-quarter launch, it emerged as the fifth most-purchased consumer mobile phone in the U.S. Apple, LG and RIM all saw a decline in unit share in Q4 2009. According to Rubin Motorola’s successful introduction of the Droid that is allegedly the only smartphone in the top five ranking including both a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard appears to be an early validation of the company’s decision to back the Android operating system (OS). It also seems to be testament to the promotion offered by its exclusive carrier Verizon Wireless.
Furthermore, the survey indicates that 46 percent of phones sold in Q4 2009 had QWERTY keyboards compared to 31 percent in 2008 and 34 percent had touch screens as against 20 percent the prior year. This seemed true even as smartphones and other feature-rich phones surged in their overall consumer share of the handset market.
