Nielsen Survey Shows Age and Income Effect Smartphone Ownership

A Nielsen survey of more than 20,000 mobile consumers was recently released. It revealed that “whether or not you have a smartphone is closely related to both how old you are and how much money you make.”

It seems as though if you fall between the ages of 24 and 34 and make more than $100,000 a year, it is incredibly likely that you own a smartphone.

Of the 20,000 consumers that were surveyed, 48 percent said that they owned a smartphone. After conducting the survey, Nielsen then worked to break down that percentage into age groups. Despite the income bracket that 24 to 34-year-olds tend to fall in, 66 percent that were surveyed said that they owned a smartphone. Also, 80 percent of those polled between the ages of 18 and 34, who had purchased a new phone within the past three months, chose to buy a smartphone.

However, as stated previously, age was not the only factor as to whether or not individuals seem to have a smartphone. According to Nielsen, income also seems to be a factor.

"When age and income are both taken into account, older subscribers with higher incomes are more likely to have a smartphone," Nielsen said. "For example, those 55 to 64 making over $100K a year are almost as likely to have a smartphone as those in the 35 to 44 age bracket making $35 to $75K per year."

However, the survey did reveal something a little surprising. Nielsen found that even when individuals in the 18 to 24 year old bracket were making less than $15,000 a year, it did not seem to keep the majority of them from owning a smartphone. Of the individuals polled that met these qualifications, 56 percent of them owned smartphones. However, PCMag mentioned, “In many cases…low-income Americans turn to smartphones for Internet access because it's cheaper than paying for broadband and a computer.”

The results from Nielsen’s survey were very interesting. Some of the results were expected, but some were quite surprising. I think that it will give the smartphone industry some insight into who they should be targeting with their advertising.

Sources: nielsenwire - Survey: New U.S. Smartphone Growth by Age and Income and PCMag - Smartphones Most Popular Among Young, Wealthy

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Microsoft Sells 1.5 Million Windows 7 Phones

On Tuesday, December 21 Microsoft announced that it has sold more than 1.5 million Windows 7 phones in the first six weeks of sales. Unfortunately, those numbers represent the sale of phones to retail stores and carriers. The sales numbers of devices actually sold to customers are most likely much lower.

"Sales are ramping well as our reputation is growing for offering users a unique experience and are in line with our expectations – especially when compared to other new platform introductions," Achim Berg, corporate vice president of mobile communications at Microsoft, said in a statement. "With a new platform you have to look at a couple of things, first of all customer satisfaction."

This is good to hear because there were very disappointing sales numbers when the phone was first released. The Windows 7 phone was built up by the company but only sold 40,000 devices on their launch day. The phone was available through AT&T and T-Mobile. According to a market research source who tracks phone sales and such, Microsoft spent $100 million on an advertising campaign for the phone. Just to give you a comparison, Apple sold more than 2 million iPhone 4s in just the first two days.

Roger Entner, a Nielsen telecom analyst, said at the time that, "It's early in the game. Not every product surges right out of the starting blocks. The first Android phone was not a big seller at T-Mobile."

He continued saying that the Christmas season would really tell how well the phone would do. "We'll see what happens with Black Friday sales," he said. "They'll probably cut prices like everyone else does. It's the nature of the beast. The only one that doesn't do promotions is Apple."

Entner was right. Microsoft has been much more successful since the slow start. Selling 1.5 million devices in the first six weeks is an accomplishment considering the original sales numbers for the devices. Berg did not discuss the U.S. sales versus international, but he did say, “We know we have tough competition, and this is a completely new product. We're in the race – it's not a sprint but we are certainly gaining momentum and we're in it for the long run.”

Berg continued saying that Microsoft had “realistic” expectations for its Windows 7 phones. “We started fresh with Windows Phone 7, and it's a different kind of phone. Measuring for success is more long term than short term," he said.

He further discussed the Windows Phone Marketplace, which now has 4,000 apps and 18,000 different developers creating apps. "We're comfortable with where we are, and we are here for the long run; Windows Phone 7 is just the beginning," Berg said. Berg said that sales are “in line” with Microsoft’s expectations.

Berg promised that the company is planning on releasing several updates for the Windows 7 phone lineups over the next few months. The lineup was released in October. Five different Windows 7 devices are available in the U.S. from AT&T and T-Mobile including the HTC Surround, the LG Quantum, the Samsung Focus, the HTC HD7, and the Dell Venue Pro. It is expected that Windows 7 phones will be offered at both Sprint and Verizon by next year.

It will be interesting to see if sales really do well over the long haul. Microsoft seems very confident in the idea that their phones will be successful in the long term. It’s definitely no iPhone, but I believe that the Windows 7 phones will do well and that the addition of phones from Verizon and Sprint will cause the sales numbers to most definitely increase.

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Study Shows Women Prefer iPhones and Men Prefer Androids

A recent study conducted by Nielsen found that when purchasing their next smartphone, women are much more likely to buy an iPhone and men are more inclined to purchase an Android device.

Nielsen Media Research is an American company headquartered in New York City that researches media audiences and their opinions of television, radio, theatre films, newspapers, and lots of other media outlets.

According to the data that Nielsen collected in October 2010, 31 percent of women wanted to buy an Apple iOS device of some sort as their next mobile device, while only 22.8 percent of them were interested in a Google Android device. On the other hand, among men the study found that 32.6 percent were more interested in purchasing an Android device, while 28.6 percent said they would first consider an iOS smartphone.

The report also said that in terms of market share, iPhones and Blackberrys are in a “statistical dead heat.” Both of these manufacturers each claim 27 percent of the smartphone sales. Android comes in behind them at 22 percent, Microsoft Windows Mobile has 14 percent, and Symbian, Linux, and Palm systems have less than 8 percent of the market.

However, the survey did not just look at the current numbers. Nielsen realized that the important thing to look at was the breakdown of “next desired smartphone purchases.” The study clearly showed that iOS and Android were going to be the preferred systems in the future. Of those surveyed, 35 percent checked that they were most interested in an iOS device and 28 percent said that an Android device would be their preference. Only 13 percent of those surveyed wanted a Blackberry device, which was the next “most desired” smartphone operating system. Following behind Blackberry, Windows Mobile was the next preferred device, but it only snagged six percent of the votes of those studied.

Nielsen even went as far as observing which operating systems were preferred among different age groups. They found that every single age range was most interested in Apple iOS except for 35-54 year olds. This age group said that they would prefer to make an Android their next smartphone purchase. Although this was the preferred system by this group of individuals, the numbers were very close. The study showed that 27.4 percent of those surveyed preferred an Android phone, but 26.3 percent said they would prefer an iOS device.

Another interesting figure that the report by Nielsen found was that 29.7 percent of U.S. mobile phone users currently own a smartphone of some sort. This is the highest figure recorded to date.

Earlier this month, two other research groups, NPD Group and Canalys, reported that Android was installed in about 44 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, putting it ahead of Apple and RIM. Another study released recently was conducted by comScore and claimed that Android was the fastest growing operating system in the market right now.

It’s interesting to see the audiences that different operating systems are appealing to and how close the numbers really are between the desire for an Apple iPhone and an Android device. It was intriguing to see that right now in terms of market shares Blackberrys are tied with iPhones and ahead of Android devices, but considering the future preferences that people have made clear with the Nielsen study, we should be seeing a decrease in the number of Blackberry devices being purchased.

Of course this could all easily change, but for now things are looking good for Apple and Google. We’ll just have to see how it all turns out.

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