14 DAY TRIAL // Along with Blackberries and Treos fighting over the top spot, Motorola Q has come on particularly strong and gained the top spot on the top-five-best-selling smartphones list, followed by Palm Treo 650 on the second place, Verizon Wireless XV6700, Palm Treo 700p and Blackberry 8700. According to an NPD Group report, an increased number of smartphone sales has been recorded from January 2006, rising from 216, 000 units to almost 715,000.
Smartphone sales have also risen from approximately 4 percentage points recorded in the third quarter of 2006, to more than 6 percent in the fourth quarter.
"The long-awaited growth in smartphone sales comes at a crucial time for carriers who have been anticipating wider adoption of smartphones," said Neil Strother, research director for wireless devices at The NPD Group. "For the past couple of years, carriers and their handset suppliers have been hoping more buyers would migrate to these devices, since smartphone owners tend to spend much more on wireless data than those who don't own them."
The best selling smartphones are no longer limited to Treos and Blackberries, and Motorola Q, grabbing the top spot, is proof of that. Motorola Q's great success is not very surprising considering its attractive $99 price on Verizon Wireless. There are several reasons behind the growth in smartphone sales, such as the decline of prices by 10 percent since January 2006, the availability of a wider variety of smartphones users can choose from, and the release of more robust devices, capable of handling music and video applications better than before.
"All of this is welcome news to carriers, and not just because devices are moving in record volume," Strother said. "The simple fact is that smartphone owners spend more on data and are therefore more attractive customers."