I CHANCED UPON A RECENT†survey conducted by research firm Amplitude Research for AccessSystems Americas which shows an interesting insight on the purchase decisions of cell phone buyers.
Here are the top six features that buyers regard as most important when buying a cellphone:
1. Text messaging – 73%
2. Camera – 67%
3. Email capabilities – 63%
4. Internet – 61%
5. Music – 34%
6. Video capability – 33%
This survey validates what I have suspected all along – that in spite of the onslaught of new multimedia capabilities in newer cellphones, good old texting remains to be the killer application in mobile communications. This is especially true in the Philippines where I estimate that no less than 80% of all cellphone users hardly use or have never used their cellphone features other than text messaging and camera. Oh yes sometimes they use their cellphones as a telephone, too.
For more details about this survey, check out the following links:
http://www.amplituderesearch.com/headlines.shtml
http://www.adotas.com/2008/07/study-sms-top-priority-for-mobile-users/
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I think this survey is not limited to RP. If in RP, texting and camera would still rank no. 1 and 2 but the gap between them and the other features will be far wider. I think music and video capability will rank next to text and camera.