Survey: Consumers confused by smartphone options

Smartphone adoption will continue to grow despite a number of market barriers, according to several new reports.

[1]The number of smartphones shipped with open-sourced operating systems will jump from 106 million this year to 223 million in 2014, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Open-source OS vendors such as Symbian and Google, through its Android effort, are thus poised to benefit. But they won't be the only ones racking up sales; other research firms project growth throughout the entire smartphone sector. Indeed, Gartner said smartphone sales increased to 36 million units worldwide in the first quarter, and recent research from the Yankee Group said 41 percent of consumers plan to make their next phone a smartphone.

However, all of the excitement over smartphones could be tempered by the fractured market. According to a recent survey by Best Buy Mobile, fully 47 percent of consumers who currently do not have a smartphone said they were too confused by the array of smartphones and features available. More than half--53 percent--of adults over 50 expressed confusion over which model to buy.

Additionally, carriers and handset vendors may have to think about subsidizing smartphones even more than they are now, since 64 percent of those who do not have a smartphone said they don't have one because the devices are too expensive, according to the survey.

For more:
- see this Juniper release [2]
- see this Best Buy release [3]

Related Articles:
Consumers get smart: 41% to buy a smartphone [4]
Gartner: Smartphone sales surge
[5]What are the top smartphone operating systems?
[6]Handset sales down 18% in Q1 [7]
IDC: U.S. handset sales to decline sharply in 2009 [8]