In-Stat: Users Find SmartPhones More Valuable than PDAs and Laptops

According to an In-Stat consumer survey, "more users of SmartPhones reported that these devices are essential to their business than the users of PDAs or laptops." The firm warned that "this does not mean that there will be automatic acceptance of SmartPhones and widespread replacement of PDAs and laptops."

Bill Hughes at In-Stat said, “Wireless manufacturers have more work to do before converged phones start taking market share from other devices instead of just complementing their sales. Users want a number of feature improvements including better keyboards, automatic synching with other devices, applications that have the same look and feel as on other devices, and expandable screens.”

Key findings include:

• SmartPhones represent about 10% of the wireless phone market today. This will grow to 25% of the overall global market over the next five years.
• In many cases, users carry devices that have redundant applications. This behavior is in spite of the desire to have fewer devices.
• Wireless phone manufacturers can offer consumers more options on a single platform with SmartPhones. This reduces costs across the board.