Sometime in the next few months, the number of smart phones across the country will overtake the number of traditional cell phones, marking a monumental tipping point for the wireless industry.
“We’re pretty much on track,” said telecom analyst Roger Entner, who first predicted the timing of the takeover in a Nielsen report 18 months ago. “Smart phones will become the new standard, and it will be a new era in wireless.”
The transition has been swift. Consider: At the end of 2009, just one in every five wireless subscribers was using a smart phone such as the iPhone, Blackberry or Droid. Now, less than two years later, that percentage has doubled, to 40 percent of the estimated 270 million cell phones in the United States.
What is expected to tip the balance as early as next month, Entner said, are the consumers who are buying new devices. Nearly three-quarters of all cell phones being sold right now are smart phones, he said.
“Basically, if you got a new phone recently, odds are you’re getting a smart phone,” he said.
The trend reflects a growing consumer demand for constant connectivity. Generally, older “feature” phones are capable of voice calls, text messages and the occasional photo, but not much else. Smart phones, on the other hand, are essentially handheld computers. Users can check their email, browse the web, post updates to social media sites, play games, listen to music, watch movies and even shoot video.
The capabilities are so extensive, some recent studies suggest, that smart phone users develop something akin to addiction. One-quarter of smart phone users admit to using their phone frequently at the dinner table, compared to just 6 percent of feature phone users, according to a survey released last month by technology firm TeleNav.
The iPhone appears to be particularly habit-forming. While 22 percent of all cell phone users said they’d rather live without their toothbrush than their phone for a week, that percentage doubled for iPhone users, according to the survey, which polled more than 500 consumers.
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2 Responses
Yah but I won’t get one if the company makes me pay extra for data, with all the free WIFI hotspots who needs an internet package
Got a “droid” LG Ally “smart” phone. As phones go, the regular cell phone beats the smartphone hands down.
As a toy, the smartphone has more toys. Some of the “toys” can come in handy, but the difference isn’t worth the money unless there is a particular need for one of these extras.
Found one app that I can schedule in advance to shut off the sound whenever I go to minyan or Bais Medrash without my having to remember to do it. That is the one app that convinced me to keep it and not go back to my older, but superior, phone.