14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recent report from The NPD Group, the average purchase price for mobile phones on the US market has been dropping lately. The latest buy-one-get-one (BOGO) offers, as well as other price cuts, have led to a drop of 3 percent in the average selling price for mobile phones in the third quarter of the ongoing year, compared to the same time frame a year ago.
The NPD Group shows that the average purchase price during Q3 2009 was of US$85 in the US, while a year ago the price was of US$88. However, the smartphones accounted for a larger part of the mobile phone market. The report shows that 28 percent of handset sales during the third quarter of the year were smartphones.
“Carriers have been heavily promoting the latest advanced handsets, which has spurred recent growth in the smartphone market and an increase in the number of smartphone brands available to consumers,” said Ross Rubin, director of Industry Analysis at The NPD Group. “For example, while there was only one Android device available in the fourth quarter of last year, now there are eight available from three major carriers.”
NPD's Mobile Phone Track also shows that smartphone price cuts made by carriers drove the handsets like the Blackberry Curve, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G to the top of selling charts. On the feature phones area, LG is the dominating handset vendor, with LG enV3 and LG enV Touch at the top. As for the mobile accessories market, it reached $2.3 billion in Q3 2009, marking an increase of 12 percent year on year.
“Carriers and retailers are increasingly looking to the holiday season for the increase in sales traditionally enjoyed by other consumer-electronics categories,” Rubin said. “Growing revenue opportunities offered by accessories and service are just two ways that handsets offer revenue potential beyond someone switching carriers.”