Wirefly, wholly owned and operated by Simplexity, announced that the sales of touchscreen mobile devices increased by 56 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2009, based on a review and assessment of its sales figures, and currently account for 38 percent of mobile sales.
The company says that the two primary drivers are a wide range of such devices, suiting almost any combination of techno and aesthetic requirements, and a flexible price range.
One factor luring people into procuring touchscreen mobiles is that these devices are offered free with variously and reasonably priced packages, new activations or contract extensions with service providers such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile. In fact, Wirefly officials claim that the T-Mobile (News - Alert) deals are so attractive that the pricing is “Too Low to Show.”
TMCnet reported that the industry has seen a high percentage of people turning to social networks to communicate, recommend and seek advice for all sorts of stuff. So another logical reason for increased touchscreen mobile sales is that potential customers are convinced that the devices work over extended periods of time, are easy to use, and justify the price.
“The mobile industry has embraced the touchscreen,” said Andy Zeinfeld, chief executive officer of Simplexity. “Consumers are in love with the fluid interface. Many find the touchscreen cell phone easier to learn and easier to navigate than its push-button counterpart. With a simple flick, tap or swipe of a finger, users can quickly glide, zoom and flip through web pages, documents, emails and photo albums.”
Wirefly released its list of the most popular touchscreen mobile phones sold by it. Absent from the list is the iPhone (News - Alert) because Apple and AT&T are still into an exclusive distribution agreement until 2010 and have limited internet sales of the iPhone to Apple (News - Alert) and AT&T.
TMCnet reported that the iPhone is the world’s most popular smartphone with a 33 percent share, and North America’s most popular phone having captured nearly 50 percent of the market share. Almost all Smartphones have touchscreen functions.
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Vivek Naik is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Vivek's articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Michael Dinan