Gurgaon/New Delhi, April 26, 2006: "Integrated
Digital Camera, FM Radio and Speaker Phones continue to
remain the features which are most likely to drive
up-gradation of mobile handsets this year along with
MMS, the new entrant to this list. Features like
tri-band, Bluetooth, infrared port etc. have also
observed growing demand, but are yet to develop any mass
appeal" as per the IDC India Mobile Handset Usage
Satisfaction Study 2006. These value added handset
features are yet to become mainstream for all the
existing handsets, though for a large proportion of
handset users, some of these features are 'must haves'
while buying their next handset.
According to Parijat Chakraborty, General Manager, IDC
(India) Limited, this trend can be attributed to a "more
for less" wave in the Indian consumer market. He
explains, "The costs of these features in mobile
handsets are coming down rapidly with competition and
technological development. Therefore, the otherwise
'advanced' features are becoming must haves for common
cell phone users even if their regular needs and
lifestyle do not justify these features." It would be
interesting to observe the actual usage of these
features by these aspirants in future. Mr. Chakraborty
is however not expecting any major change in the usage
pattern of these features in the hands of common Indian
cell phone users.
Features that are seldom used by the big majority of
mobile phone users, such as Reminder, Scheduler,
Organiser etc., have been observed to have lost their
shine and saliency over time.
According to the IDC India Mobile Handset Usage
Satisfaction Study 2006, Sony Ericsson left behind all
other mobile handset brands to grab the No. 1 spot in
the handset user’s overall satisfaction, even though the
brand has a very low overall market share. Nokia, LG and
Samsung followed closely at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4
spots respectively. However, the major handset brands
have all witnessed improvements in their satisfaction
scores compared to their ratings in last year's (2005)
study.
According to this year's IDC study, current mobile users
are willing to spend on an average Rs. 7,100 while
buying the next handset, which is a shade below as
compared to last year. “The average amount spent on the
current handset is Rs. 4,300; thereby an additional Rs.
2,800 is likely to be spent while upgrading, a good news
for mobile handset manufacturers,” said Shailendra
Gupta, Manager, User Research, IDC (India) Ltd.
The study also reveals some interesting facts on the
mobile handset usage front. On average a mobile handset
is used for less than one hour in a day for voice
communication (incoming and outgoing calls) whereas it
was more than an hour a year back. “Reduction in voice
usage is due to an increasing number of subscribers
being from low spending market segments such as workers
and students,” commented Shailendra.
On the second most commonly used service, SMS, usage of
SMS has increased as compared to last year. An average
SMS user sends 6 messages in day, while the number of
messages received is slightly higher, at 8 per day. This
is due to a number of messages from mobile service
providers giving information about various downloads
like ring tones, bill related information and various
contests. The other reason is the messages received from
public utility services such as banks, railways,
airlines etc. "The overall increased usage of SMS can be
attributed to reasonable tariff charges and widespread
usage of SMS by TV shows, public opinion polls etc"
Shailendra further added.
Note: The IDC India Mobile Handset Usage
Satisfaction Study 2006 was conducted by taking a sample
of 3,140 mobile users (both GSM and CDMA). The study
covered all the four metros and 10 other major cities.
Socio-economic category A, B and C respondents were
covered in this study. |
