According to the results of a poll conducted by GetJar, the world's leading independent app store, ease of use, brand and embedded content are the top three features that U.S. consumers consider when choosing a new mobile phone. Mobile handset features like touch screen, overall phone design and memory rank lower on the list of purchase-deciding factors in the U.S.
The poll, conducted across the 130 countries in the GetJar network, asked respondents to rank a list of 10 phone features by order of importance including brand, screen size/ resolution, user experience/ phone software, phone memory, quality of camera, price, touch screen, music player, embedded content and overall design/ look and feel. They were then asked to rank each of those features on a five-level scale as ‘unimportant', ‘less important', ‘important', ‘very important' and ‘extremely important'.
U.S. participants revealed user interface to be the most important handset feature with 20% of total respondents ranking it highest and 67% of those rating it as "extremely important." After user interface, 17% of U.S. respondents ranked phone brand as the second most important purchasing consideration, while an unprecedented 14% ranked content that comes with the phone as their top consideration. The majority of that group (60%) said that content embedded on a handset is "extremely important" to them, demonstrating Americans appetite for mobile content. The poll also revealed the preference for mobile content to be a world-wide trend, with 69% of all global GetJar users stating the content embedded on the phone was "extremely important" or "very important."
Price and size of the phone's memory were revealed to be the 4th and 5th most important features respectively to those polled in the U.S.
"While the phone's user interface and brand prove to be dominant factors for deciding which handset consumers choose, the big change in consumer preference we see within this survey is the importance they are placing on content," said Ilja Laurs, founder and CEO of GetJar Networks. "With nearly five years experience distributing mobile applications to consumers around the world, GetJar brings quality content directly to consumers in the easiest and quickest way possible. GetJar generates over 22 million downloads per month, so we know how important content is to consumers, and these poll results indicate that they also want top quality content in place when choosing a new mobile phone."
Additional GetJar "What's Important on a Phone" poll key findings:
* Globally an overwhelming majority of 71% stated they are planning on getting a new phone this year; 26% saying they were planning to purchase a new phone in the next 10 days
* Across the 130 countries polled, the No. 1 buying consideration for a new phone was brand with 28% ranking it as their top feature. The U.S. was the only country where brand was not the most popular consideration (17%)
* The No. 2 new phone factor globally was user interface, with 17% choosing it as their top feature
* 69% of all consumers polled for this survey said content embedded on the phone was "either extremely" important or "very important"
* 4% ranked touch screen as the most important phone feature
Research Methodology
GetJar conducted a quantitative survey on the GetJar network - during the week of the Mobile World Congress 2009, the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry. The company polled 1,000 respondents across 130 countries. The primary demographics of the sample were 75% male, with 79% of respondents under 25 years old.
About GetJar Networks
GetJar is the world's leading independent app store, where consumers can download apps for any phone. GetJar's developer community sees more than 22 million consumer downloads every month from among over 20,000 unique applications, from countries as diverse as the USA, UK, China, India and Indonesia. GetJar is backed by marquee investors such as Accel Partners and is based in the UK, Silicon Valley and Lithuania. For more information, visit www.getjar.com.