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Feature phone users clinging to ?dumb? devices

The latest and greatest mobile technology is focused on flashy smartphones. The smartphone market is up to 47 percent in the U.K., but that doesn’t mean that feature phones have gone the way of the floppy disk. While you might assume that current feature phone owners will eventually switch over to smartphones, it’s not as logical a conclusion as you might think.

Appeal of “Talk and Text“ Phones

Let’s face it. The economy is getting everyone down, and an expensive smartphone plan is one of the first things to get cut out of a household budget when things are getting bad. Feature phones might only manage the talk and texting part of the phone equation, but when it’s a choice between playing Angry Birds and putting food on the table, it’s pretty easy to see what gets taken out first.

The late adopters to the smartphone market usually aren’t the technologically savvy demographic, so while the smartphone penetration numbers are predicted to rise to 55 percent in the U.K. over the next 12 months, it might be harder to convert the hold outs. Some people don’t want their phones to do anything else other than talk and text, while some of the demographic simply cannot afford the plans that include smartphone data and usage.

Furthermore, feature phones are getting a small share of love from app developers. Thanks to mobile platforms that make it easier to port a game, for example, from one phone to the next, developers are able to make a profit even when they charge only $5 for it. Without mobile platforms like Brew, it would be far too time consuming to adjust an app for each phone’s set of buttons and operating systems.

Nokia has a huge lead in the feature phone field, owning 43 percent of the market. They have a wide range of feature phones that range from very basic phones to more advanced phones with a keyboard to facilitate texting. Studies have shown that over half of current feature phone users express satisfaction with their phones. Forty percent don’t see a practical reason for switching over to smartphones at all, while between 30 to 40 percent of the responders are turned off by the cost associated with smartphone ownership.

While Nokia has the best chance of converting feature phone users to smartphone users due to brand familiarity, they have classically never managed to get much recognition in the smartphone world. Only 7 percent of smartphone users have a Nokia phone, with 4 percent of those converting from feature phones. Samsung, on the other hand, has a 20 percent market presence in the smartphone world, with 25 percent in the feature phone arena.

The Future of Feature Phones

Smartphone adopters are beginning to lessen, so the battle isn’t over for feature phone companies and users. There will always be a need for a standard, affordable cell phone option, though. While smartphones are new and shiny, the economy has more and more people looking at ways to cut their costs in any method that they can choose. The smartphone manufactures will always angle to convert feature phone users in to the smartphone world, plenty of opportunity exists to leverage the existing market.

Feature phone manufacturers can work on keeping this market by emphasizing the affordability of the phones and plans, and keeping app development going strong. Feature phones may never be as shiny and appealing as their smartphone brethren, but they serve a valuable market niche that’s not going to go away anytime soon. Smartphone companies are working on making their handsets more affordable, but the added data plan cost is still enough to drive away the budget conscious among the cell phone world.

Many feature phones are starting to get applications, and most have mobile web access, so they’re much more advanced than feature phones used to be. These applications compare in some ways to smartphones, so they can get a more smartphone-like experience without the cost.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Danielle M. .