Warning: Early-Adopters Have Lukewarm Response to Multimedia Handsets

SUMMARY

The cellular phone industrys hype machine has been in high gear over innovative music- and TV-centric devices and services. But hold on, a new In-Stat report shows that some early-adopters are less than enthused.

The report, titled "Warning: Early-Adopters Have Lukewarm Response to Multimedia Handsets," finds fewer than 9% of respondents were very or extremely interested in buying a cell phone capable of playing MP3 or other music files.

In addition, this primary research shows what end-users think about:

• TV on cell phones
• Storage capacity for music and video files
• Payment schemes
• Video content preferences

In addition, the report includes worldwide shipment forecasts, discussion of some of the latest handsets, and details on the looming battle between DVB-H proponents and Qualcomms MediaFLO.

If your work touches multimedia and cell phones, this new report is for you. It has the information you need to stay ahead of competitors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Executive Summary
• Methodology For Data Collection
• Overview
• Music
  • Getting Music Files: USB Cable Wins
  • Storage: How Much is Enough?
  • Sweet Spot for MP3 Phone: $10 to $25 Extra
  • Tepid Interest in FM Radio
  • Weak Interest in AM Radio
• TV
  • Broadcast TV Stirs Little Interest
  • Paying Extra: Less than $10 to $25 Per Handset
  • Slight Interest in Video on Demand (VOD)
  • Thumbs Down for Current VOD Payment Model
• Paying for Audio or Video Services
  • Top Scheme: Pay Per Clip, or Song
• Carriers and Multimedia
  • Best Multimedia Carrier
  • Interest in TV on a Handset by Carrier
  • Music Phone Interest by Carrier
• Phone Brand
  • Interest in a Music Phone by Brand
  • Interest in TV Phone by Brand
  • Interest in Storage by Phone Brand
• Storage
  • Removable Storage
  • Interest in Removable Storage by Carrier
• Demographics
  • Occupation
  • Age
  • Income
  • Summarizing End-Users
• Handset Forecasts, Technology
  • Emerging Mobile TV Rivals
• Multimedia Handsets
  • Music Phones
  • TV and Video Phones
• Summary

List of Tables

• Table 1. Worldwide MP3-playing (and other music file formats) Cell Phone Forecast, 2005-2010 (Units in Thousands)
• Table 2. Worldwide TV-enabled Cell Phone Forecast, 2005-2010 (Units in Thousands)
• Table 3. Comparison of DVB-H and MediaFLO mobile TV technologies

List of Figures

• Figure 1. Just 8.5% of respondents said they were very or extremely interested in buying a cell phone with the capability of playing MP3 or other music files
• Figure 2. Nearly three out of four respondents would prefer to ?gcable?h music files from a PC to a cell phone, while slightly more than one in four would prefer to get them over the air from their wireless carrier
• Figure 3. One gigabyte of built-in storage for music files was the amount chosen most by respondents
• Figure 4. The largest segment of respondents would pay between $10 and $25 extra for a cell phone with MP3 capability
• Figure 5. Just 8.6% of respondents were either very or extremely interested in buying a cellular phone with the ability to receive FM radio stations
• Figure 6. A very small segment (6.7%) of respondents were either very or extremely interested in AM radio capability on a cellular phone
• Figure 7. Just 10.7% of respondents were very or extremely interested in buying a cell phone capable of receiving broadcast TV programming
• Figure 8. News and weather were the leading types of programming among respondents who were at least somewhat interested in buying a TV-enabled cell phone
• Figure 9. The largest blocks of respondents (45.3%) would pay less than $10 to less than $25 extra for a broadcast TV-enabled cell phone
• Figure 10. Just under 12% of respondents were either very or extremely interested in video on demand (VOD) for their cell phones
• Figure 11. Most respondents (63.4%) thought the pricing of VCast service was too high at $15 per month
• Figure 12. The top payment scheme for buying music or video content was per song or clip, according to 31.8% of the respondents
• Figure 13. Verizon Wireless was seen as the wireless carrier with the best multimedia offerings, but the vast majority did not know which carrier to rank best, a clear sign that it is still quite early for these types of services
• Figure 14. T-Mobile respondents had the greatest interest in buying a cell phone capable of receiving broadcast TV programs
• Figure 15. Sprint PCS and T-Mobile respondents had the greatest interest in buying a cell phone with MP3 or other music file playing functionality
• Figure 16. Respondents with Samsung phones had the greatest interest in buying a music-enabled phone
• Figure 17. Respondents with LG phones had the greatest interest (13.7%) in buying a cell phone capable of receiving broadcast TV programming
• Figure 18. Kyocera respondents had the greatest interest in removable storage on their cell phones
• Figure 19. Nearly one in four respondents said removable storage was very or extremely important to have on a cell phone for music files, pictures, video clips or other data files
• Figure 20. T-Mobile respondents had the greatest interest in removable storage on a cellular phone
• Figure 21. The largest group of respondents identified their jobs as being in the executive or managerial segment of the market
• Figure 22. The largest segment of respondents was 55 and older
• Figure 23. The largest group of respondents had an annual pre-tax income between $75,000 and $100,000
• Figure 24. Sony Ericssons W800 Walkman phone
• Figure 25. Left to right: LGs VX8000, UTStarcoms CDM8940, and Samsungs SCH-a890
• Figure 26. Nokias 7710 smartphone