With all of the talk about smart-phones, most notably the Apple iPhone, we sometimes forget that the bulk of phone users use what are affectionately now called dumb-phones. The plain old cell phone that does little except to make a call or send text is used by the majority of the 234 million Americans over the age of 13 years old. According to a recent survey from comScore, RIM [Research In Motion] the maker of the Blackberry, accounts for only about 8.3% of the market. The Apple iPhones share is so small it is not even listed.
Here are the leading sellers of cell phones:
| Top Mobile OEMs 3 Month Avg. Ending Mar. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2009 Total U.S. Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
|||
| Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | |||
| Dec-09 | Mar-10 | Point Change | |
| Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| Samsung | 21.2% | 21.9% | 0.7 |
| Motorola | 23.5% | 21.9% | -1.6 |
| LG | 21.9% | 21.8% | -0.1 |
| RIM | 7.0% | 8.3% | 1.3 |
| Nokia | 9.2% | 8.3% | -0.9 |
So in a day an age of smart-phones that fill the daily news, it is good to know I am in good company with the majority of you who still use dumb-phones everyday. LOL
Comments welcome.
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Lemme see if I can get my mind around this.
You pick up a phone, punch in a number and talk to the person you intended. Add a couple of goodies like storing numbers, and a duplex speaker. And maybe a big OFF button. Wish for bigger buttons and a display that shows the name and number of outgoing and incoming calls so you can actually see them at a glance. That about covers it for me. So how smart/dumb is a phone that will do all that? My washing machine does exactly what it’s designed to do but I don’t call it smart. But my phone does exactly what it’s designed to do and it’s either dumb or smart.
Maybe the folks who toss around the dumb/smart thingy need one of those labels applied to them?
Hi Dick,
We have become a society where everything needs a label.
You might be surprised at the utility of a `smart’ phone.
Way WAY back, I used to carry a Palm Pilot and a cell phone. At that point, it made sense to integrate both functions into one device. The capabilities have gotten better over the years.
I now use a Droid, which serves as a phone, calendar, address book, audio (and video) player, alarm, news reader, web browser, network monitor, and guitar tuner. That’s a lot of utility.
[...] Posted Dumb-phones Still Rule The Cell Phone Roost. [...]
Well, It aint gonna be that way for long. People are swapping their dumb phones for smart phones. I plan to get an iPhone when the new one comes out this summer. I wouldn’t imagine anyone in this day and age wanting to buy a RAZR or LG Chocolate when they can get an Android phone for the same price.
I haven’t the money nor the desire to have a phone with more than basic functionality.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as technology crazed as the next college student but when I actually stop to think about how often, and for what purposes, I use my phone. A “smart” phone just is not worth my time or money.
In fact at those prices I can get myself a basic phone and a net book which does just as much if not more. Just my opinion.
But yes I am a user of “dumb” phones and proud of it.
But, Ron Schenone, what do you mean we’ve “become” a society that needs to label everything? We’ve always been that way. In my study of Social Studies classification and labeling are a staple of human thinking. And in the information processing theory of how people learn we fit all sensory data into schema and schemata for use in information transfer and projection.
Hi Levi,
Good point.
[...] Dumb phones still rule the cell phone roost. [...]
I think almost everyone is forgetting one thing that keeps me from buying a smartphone. Well two…
One: Network choice.
Why change networks to get a snazzy phone when you have one that works just fine on your current one?
Two: Mobile Data Plans
Are you serious? These plans run for WAY more than normal phone plans do. This is probably the biggest reason I’m not buying a smartphone. You have to pay out the butt to get one, then you have to be attacked every month with a bill big enough to eat up hell and half of Georgia!
So no, I am not buying a smartphone. I have an iPod Touch and a “dumb”phone, so together they are a very smart phone. iPod for music, entertainment, all that kind of stuff, and phone for PHONE stuff. Like talking and texting.
These days it seems such a novel concept to have a phone that *GASP* actually just makes phone calls & text messages. LOL! Only thing extra I really need on mine is a decent camera. I don’t WANT to access the internet or my email when I’m away from home. And Twiiter — puh-leez! I DO have a life in the REAL WORLD. (Yeah, scary place these days. I know)
Just give me the basics along with good netwrok coverage & I’m happy.
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