NPD Group

iPhone 3G passes RAZR as top-selling phone

Phil Goldstein — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:03:52 -0500

The iPhone 3G replaced the Motorola RAZR as the top-selling consumer handset in the United States, displacing the RAZR from the top spot for the first time in three years, according to the NDP Group.

The other phones that rounded out the top five selling phones in the third quarter were Research In Motion's Blackberry Curve (pic), the LG Rumor (pic) and the LG enV2 (pic). NPD found that despite the average selling price of phones rising 6 percent to $88, the sale of consumer handsets fell 15 percent year-on-year to 32 million units in the quarter.

"We had seen[the iPhone's] popularity rise since the launch of the 3G model at lower prices," said Ross Rubin, the director of industry analysis for NPD. "However, for it to be a device that's selling for a significant premium over the price of average handsets, and to be available only at one of the major carriers in the U.S. is exceptional."

For more:
-see this release
-see FierceWireless' Holiday Handset Guide

Related Articles:
Apple sells 6.9M iPhones in Q4
iGR reports 9.2 million smartphone sales in 3Q

Study: U.S. mobile phone sales down 13 percent

Sue Marek — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:20:32 -0400

A study by NPD Group says that U.S. consumers purchased 28 million mobile phones in second quarter, a 13 percent decline over the same period a year ago. The firm estimates that total sales were $2.4 billion, down 2 percent year over year. NPD says that Motorola managed to maintain its lead but its unit sales share dropped 6 percent from first quarter. Motorola led the U.S. sales with 21 percent of the market, Samsung and LG both had 20 percent share and tied for second and third place, fourth place went to Nokia with 9 percent and RIM with 7 percent. Release

Handset sales slowing in U.S. amid worsening economy

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:13:50 -0400

Good and bad news for the U.S. mobile wireless industry when it comes to the worsening economy. The bad news: Consumers' purchases of new mobile devices declined in the first quarter for the first time in many years. The good news: The decline tended to concentrate around customers using prepaid and among the middle class. The higher end market that features higher ARPU customers that heavily use the more sophisticated devices continued to grow.

The Wall Street Journal cites two new studies that indicate falling handset sales in the first quarter. Strategy Analytics reported a 5 percent decline in the quarter compared with the previous year, while NPD Group reported a 22-percent drop in the purchase of new devices in the first quarter. Also, Bernstein Research estimates that U.S. mobile operators added 23 percent fewer subscribers in the first quarter compared with the first quarter in 2007. The firm is anticipating that growth will continue to slow and said that the segment experiencing the most slowdown is new subscriptions for children under 12 and for "deeply sub prime users, and it's reasonable to think that in a weak economy, that both of these populations would be strapped," said analyst Craig Moffett. Prepaid MVNO Virgin Mobile is being squeezed by the economy.

However, NPD estimates that high-end devices made up 17 percent of all mobile-phone sales in the first quarter, in increase of 10 percentage points since the first quarter 2007.

To read more about the economy's impact on the U.S. mobile-phone market:
- check out this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)

Related articles:
- Virgin Mobile's growing troubles Editorial on Virgin Mobile's slowing net additions
- Virgin Mobile USA: Poor earnings economy's fault

ALSO NOTED: M-payments trends; Usage-Cancer link? and much more...

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:59:50 -0500

> The NPD Group's latest report found that mobile phone sales to consumers in the U.S. reached 146 million units by the end of 2007 with total consumer sales of $11.5 billion, after rebates and promotions. Release

> The Wall Street Journal chronicles the mobile payments trend. Article (sub. req.)

> Another piece from the WSJ Asia that sums up the influence Apple and Google are beginning to exert in the wireless industry. Article (sub. req.)

And Finally... Another study links cancer to heavy mobile phone usage. Article

Garmin launches GPS feature phone

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:59:55 -0500

Garmin unveiled a GSM HSDPA smartphone, called the nuvifone, that runs on its own operating system with GPS at its core. The phone includes Google local search, Garmin online services like traffic, fuel prices, hotel discounts, pedestrian navigation services, email, text, IM, camera and video camera functionality and an MP3 player. The company did not disclose the price or carrier partner for the phone, but said it would launch commercially in the third quarter.

"The real popularity of their products and brand make the prospects for this product better than their previous ones," NPD Group's Ross Rubin said in an interview. "We are starting to see more impressive user interfaces and navigation features on both smartphones and more expensive feature phones, so it's going to be challenging for Garmin to break into that field as a new brand."

Rubin seemed most impressed by the nuvifone's ability to send geotagged photos to another unit so that drivers can use that information to create driving directions on the fly.

That said, "the media features don't seem especially strong right now," Rubin noted. "[Garmin] mentions an MP3 player, but they didn't say anything about video despite the high speed radio they have in there. Garmin might be waiting to see what services their carrier partners want to push over the air. Given that they are supporting HSPA, AT&T seems like the likely carrier to carry it in the third quarter."

For more on Garmin's phone:
- read this press release

Report: U.S. Mobile phone sales revenue increased 47%

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:59:56 -0500

According to a recent report from the NPD Group, mobile phone sales to U.S. consumers increased to 38 million units sold in the third quarter. The shipments brought in $3.2 billion in revenue, a 47 percent increase from the same period last year. The percentage of smartphones sold also increased from 4 percent in Q3 2006 to 11 percent during the third quarter of 2007, which marks a 163 percent increase year-on-year. Certain features also grew in popularity during the third quarter: 72 percent of phones sold were Bluetooth capable, 50 percent were able to play music and 11 percent were smartphones, NPD found.

According to the report, Motorola sold 31 percent of the phones during the quarter, while LG sold 17 percent. Samsung came in a close third with 16 percent of the market, while Nokia trailed with 11 percent and Sanyo had 4 percent.

For more on NPD's report:
- read this release

Report: U.S. phone sales up 14 percent

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 06:59:56 -0400

According to a recent report from the NPD Group, U.S. phone sales reached 33 million units in the second quarter, which totaled about $2.4 billion in consumer sales, a 14 percent increase from the second quarter last year. The number of units sold, however, represents a 17 percent decline from the first quarter of this year, but NPD says that is typical for the slow summer period. The group found that carrier stores continue to dominate the market with 62 percent of sales, followed by mass merchandisers and department stores with 9 percent and electronic specialty stores with 5 percent. Because of promotional rebates, about 28 percent of handsets sold in the U.S. were free during the second quarter, while an additional 28 percent cost less than $50.

For more statistics from NPD:
- check out this press release