Compete: Consumers have enough choice for handsets, apps

Boston, MA – January 16, 2007 — Compete, Inc., a leading web analytics company, today released an in-depth study analyzing consumers’ demand for market openness around wireless devices and consumer electronics. The study, which was first presented at the International Consumer Electronics Show, examines consumers’ current awareness of open access developments and predicts how upcoming industry shifts will affect their shopping and buying behavior.

“With the iPhone launch in 2007, we saw the wireless industry make an initial move away from its legacy of carrier controlled devices and services,” said Adam Guy, Compete’s general manager of telecommunications and media. “With carriers beginning to embrace open access, they will be able to focus on marketing their products and services to the masses while outsourcing niche device and content development to third parties.”

Compete’s data is drawn from the browsing and shopping behavior of a panel of millions of consumers. This research also analyzes responses from a targeted survey of recent online shoppers of mobile phones and portable consumer electronics (CE) devices. Key findings from the shoppers include:

• Mass market wireless shoppers don’t want more devices, services or applications. 59 percent of respondents feel their wireless carrier has sufficient selection.
• Wireless shoppers are not aware of available services. Of the consumers that want more features and services, the majority requested applications such as GPS and Internet connectivity, which are already available.
• Consumers are unaware of open access options. The majority of respondents rank device price (75 percent) and customer service (69 percent) above flexibility when asked about the most important mobile phone features.
• Wireless shoppers can’t find what they want. In the past two years, 32 percent of respondents reported increasing difficulty finding the right mobile phone.
• CE device shoppers are ready for connectivity. More than 50 percent of laptop and GPS shoppers are very interested in devices that enable wide area connectivity. 

Editor's Note: For comments from Compete or for more information about the data and insights, contact Gretchen Bender at (617) 275-6526, or gbender@greenoughcom.com [1].

About Compete, Inc.

Compete helps the world’s top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading marketers such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Hyundai Motor America, Upromise, Chrysler, and Verizon Wireless rely on Compete’s services to create effective online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns. Compete’s online behavior database – the largest in the industry – makes the web as engrained in marketing as it is in people’s lives.

Compete was founded in 2000 and is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S. For more information about us, please visit www.competeinc.com [2], or to join the conversation visit compete.com [3].

All logos, company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.