According to GetJar, the independent app store, the content that comes with a device is now one of the major factors for consumers looking for a new handset. The results of a GetJar poll published today shows 69% of respondents said the content provided with a new phone is now more important to their purchase decision than price, design or touch screen capability.
The poll was conducted across the 130 countries in the GetJar network. It asked respondents to rank a list of 10 phone features by a five-level order of importance. The features were: brand, screen size/resolution, user experience/phone software, phone memory, quality of camera, price, touch screen, music player, embedded content and overall design/look.
Brand remains the number one factor for consumers (28%), followed by user experience (17%). Embedded content was third (12%), ahead of phone memory (8%), price (5%) and design (7%).
US consumers found embedded content more important than Europeans, with 60% of US respondents ranking it ‘extremely important’, compared to 47% in Europe. In India, 60% said the phone interface/software was ‘extremely important’.
From the release:
“While the phone’s user interface and brand prove to be dominant factors for deciding which handset consumers choose, the big change in consumer preference we see within this survey is the importance they are placing on content,” said Ilja Laurs, founder and CEO of GetJar Networks. “With nearly five years experience distributing mobile applications to consumers around the world, GetJar brings quality content directly to consumers in the easiest and quickest way possible. GetJar generates over 22 million downloads per month, so we know how important content is to consumers, and these poll results indicate that they also want top quality content in place when choosing a new mobile phone.”
What we think?
This can probably be laid at the feet of the iPhone again. People have gotten used to their devices being able to perform a whole swathe of functions straight out of the box. It doesn’t surprise me that consumers don’t want to fiddle about with finicky downloads and awkward mobile web access when they’ve just sprung a couple of hundred bucks for a new device – this bodes well for the “all-in” attitude being shown by Yahoo! Mobile. I was interested in the Indian results, where software/interface was king – when your mobile is your main interface with the mobile web, the fluidity and ease of your access becomes hugely important.
