Compete: Latino Shoppers Prefer Slider, Camera and Music Handsets; Mobile Content Buyers Prefer Purchasing Online

Compete writes that "U.S.-based Latino shoppers prefer newer form factors and camera phones, especially phones marketed as mobile music devices." According to research:

• Latinos were 30% more likely to consider a Swivel or Slider type form factor for their handset.
• Explicitly music-oriented phones drew notably higher interest from Latino shoppers. These phones, which OEMs and carriers market for downloading, storing and playing music, drew 23% more interest from Latino shoppers than from wireless shoppers overall.

Compete also found that "more than 45% of a group of tier-1 wireless carrier content purchasers said they would rather purchase their mobile content online than on their handset. The Internet’s increased selection and the ease of sampling make it an attractive channel."

Compete wrote that "the opportunity to better align with expressed consumer preference to purchase online may already exist, just not yet at the carrier websites.

From October to January 2006, Compete observed off-portal sites (Jamster, etc.) received 2.5 times more online interest than the content portions of the carrier sites. Over 40% of the people who ended up purchasing off-portal cited content selection as the primary reason they did not buy through their carrier. Another 33% said the off-portal sites offered a better price. For those who did purchase from their carrier, the majority said they feel more secure purchasing from their carrier website."