Consumers Are Willing to Pay More for Cell Phones This Holiday Season

Handheld electronics are always a hot item during the holiday shopping season. Last year it seemed that MP3 players were everywhere. This year a recent survey indicates that consumers might not be willing to pay as much for these this year, but will pay more for cell phones. This is good news for both cell phone retail establishments as well as the networks that provide the service for the cell phones. This information was provided in a recent press release from PriceGrabber.com.

The press release indicates that cell phones increased in price by 26% when comparing September of 2007 with September of 2006. Meanwhile, comparing those same two months, the average price of MP3 players fell nine percent. The press release indicated that the majority of consumers are purchasing cell phones in the $300 to $500 price range. In general these models are mid to high-range cell phones and have added features such as MP3 players built into them. These sales were boosted by the recent release of phones such as the iPhone and other "smart phones".

The survey that provided this information was conducted during the month of October of this year. It included just over 2,500 shoppers. 58 percent of those surveyed indicated that the integration of an MP3 player into their cell phone is a valuable feature for them when they are comparing cell phones for purchase. Apple has a strong presence in both the cell phone and MP3 market. Along with their iphone, they also hold 62 percent of the market share for cell phones according to the press release based on the referred dollars statistic.

Even though Apple has a strong hold on the market, however AT&T which is the network carrier for iPhone has not had quite the same success. AT&T was only named by 26 percent of survey respondents as the company they have cellular service with. First place in the cellular service category according to the survey was Verizon Wireless which served 31 percent of those that participated in the survey. Sprint was a distant third place with just 12 percent of those that responded in the survey using Spring for cellular service.