Best Buy: too many smartphones on market
updated 03:50 pm EDT, Tue June 30, 2009
BBuy on Smartphone Fears
About half of all prospective smartphone buyers don't get one because of the glut of models, Best Buy noted today in a study. Of those who don't already own a smartphone, 47 percent said they were "too confused" by the sheer number of phones and range of features. Roughly 63 percent of all those studied didn't own one because they thought it was too expensive; 39 percent of those who don't own one specifically hated the shopping experience.
The retail chain also hoped to disabuse notions that smartphones are primarily bought for work-oriented purposes. Over half of those that own that class of device, at 58 percent, want to play music; 41 percent want social networking and 36 percent value games.
An unusual gender split also exists for apps, Best Buy adds. Women almost always valued apps more than men. They were also more likely than men to value built-in features like SMS messaging (71 percent versus 46 percent), photography (55 percent versus 30 percent), music (44 percent to 25 percent) and GPS (51 percent versus 33 percent). Men only valued calendars more than women did, with 46 percent putting a value on the organizer where 39 percent of women put the same importance on the feature.
While Best Buy doesn't try to explain the findings itself, they play directly into media-friendly phones like the iPhone while downplaying devices running platforms like Windows Mobile that often downplay media features and favor calendaring and other work chores.
yes
06/30, 04:05pm (3 replies) reply
Because choice has always been a bad thing. That's why people stopped buying cars. And just think of all the people who never buy a house because they just have too many choices.
testudo
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Joined: Aug 2001
wrong
06/30, 04:19pm (1 reply) reply
people stopped buying cars/houses because the economy tanked and they either lost their jobs or could no longer afford to pay rent/mortgages.
GeneralDMac
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Joined: Jun 2009
Pff
06/30, 04:19pm reply
I don't believe it. People answer surveys the best they can, but a survey can't read minds. Someone who says "I am interested but won't buy because I don't know what I want" aren't really interested.
njfuzzy
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Joined: Apr 2001
The paradox of choice
06/30, 04:32pm reply
If you don't believe this phenomenon is real, read "The Paradox of Choice" by the psychologist Barry Schwartz. The classic example from six years ago is how many cell phone/payment plan options there were from just one vendor. Consumers are being asked to make intelligent decisions based on noise rather than data, and they're making the intelligent choice: not buying.
Frankly, I suspect one of the reasons for the iPhone and iPod's success has been the bewilderment of choice: faced with no other really salient facts, many people think, "Apple makes good stuff. The heck with trying to compare hundreds of choices on the basis of cost/benefit. I'll just buy what I know is probably a pretty good product."
gurman
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Joined: Sep 2000
sample group
06/30, 04:51pm reply
i'd be curious about the complete breakdown of demographics in this sample group. i'm willing to bet a majority portion of this group that is confused by choice are older, and confused my lots of technology in general. In 5 to 10 years, plenty of older demographics will have no trouble choosing and using "smartphones" or whatever they'll be called at that point.
EternalGuest
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Joined: Mar 2009
People I know aren't
06/30, 04:57pm reply
very tech savvy and the number of features on a handset excites them and bewilders them at the same time. They don't like reading manuals and get frustrated at features they can't figure out. Apple has this beat with the iPhone because many people can pick them up and get to the easiest features quickly and then can expand since the interface is relatively consistent. I've never used a Windows handset so I don't know how complicated it is. I could easily handle a complicated handset because I've always enjoyed reading manuals.
But I understand people who can't figure out menus and I would never try to pack so many features into a handset that the average person can't figure them out. That's why I don't understand the tech-head snobs that think because a handset has every feature in the book and beats the c*** out users trying to figure out how to access the features think a Windows handset is such a great device. For them yeah, but not for the average user. I say, don't build devices for tech-heads, build them for the not so tech savvy and you'll make a lot more money from sales.
Choice can be confusing for the uninformed especially when it comes to weighing particular features. Try to buy what you need the most in features and find out if they're simple to access.
iphonerulez
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Joined: Nov 2008
Plan cost
06/30, 05:06pm reply
For me the cost of the plans is too high. Two phones with data and text (otherwise why get a smartphone), is about $200/month or $2400/year. I'd rather pay $40/month for two voice-only phones, and spend the difference on two new PCs a year (or other technology).
macemoneta
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Joined: Jun 2009
As a Sales Person
06/30, 05:12pm reply
As a sales person who actually sells phones for Rogers (We've got more smart phones than just about anyone else, unless you count the number of colours Telus has the BlackBerry Pearl in.) I typically talk with a customer about what they want. Cause honestly having the customer go over and look at a wall full of phones, none of which work, they poke a few and get confused is bad for sales. Typically I talk about what they need and figure out if they need an iPhone, a BlackBerry or an Android device. We also sell windows mobile and symbian phones, but it's very rare that I'll even pitch one of those to a customer because both of those platforms don't really take into account how people want to use their phones and provide a cruddy experience, fact is I want to sell phones where the customers are less likely to come back and complain to me about their phones.
If they're doing a bajillion emails a day I tend to say BlackBerry, if they wanna web browse or listen to music I sell em an iPhone, and if they want to have a cool phone that does a lot of cool stuff and they don't like the iPhone I sell an HTC magic. Fact is first you sell the platform then you sell the features of the device in the platform. The problem with most best buy reps is they don't use the phones, they don't know about em, and they don't know how to help their customers.
Salty
Professional Poster
Joined: Jul 2005
An excuse?
06/30, 05:20pm reply
Perhaps Best Buy does not have what it takes to market and sell smartphones?
TiG4
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2001
the car analogy
06/30, 06:31pm (1 reply) reply
It doesn't work, you can't compare cars and smartphone's. Cars have certain standards, use the same gas and roads, have the same speedlimit (that of the state) and haven't changed that much in 50 years.
Smartphones on the other hand don't mix very well and are in a constant evolution. The iPhone is popular because it only has 1 basic model, all the software works on all hardware versions, software is easy to find and install, a simple UI that doesn't hide functions behind a butload of buttons and menu's.
The smartphone segment will trim down to 1 main manufacturer and it won't be Microsoft.
Peter Bonte
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Joined: Aug 2001