fyi only<br><br><a href="http://lists.fiercemarkets.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=69l,zpnd,8mg,hcdq,bs0p,ljt3,7cks" target="_blank">Handset sales slowing in U.S. amid worsening economy</a>
<p style="font-size: 9px; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 22px; margin-bottom: 2px; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">By Lynnette Luna</p>
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<p>There is good and bad news for the U.S. mobile wireless industry
when it comes to the worsening economy. The bad news: Consumers'
purchases of new mobile devices declined in the first quarter for the
first time in many years. The good news: The decline tended to
concentrate around customers
using prepaid and among the middle class. The higher end market that
features higher ARPU customers that heavily use the more sophisticated
devices continued to grow.</p>
<p><em>The Wall Street Journal</em> cites two new studies that
indicate falling handset sales in the first quarter. Strategy Analytics
reported a 5 percent decline in the quarter compared with the previous
year, while NPD Group reported a 22-percent drop in the purchase of new
devices in the
first quarter. Also, Bernstein Research estimates that U.S. mobile
operators added 23 percent fewer subscribers in the first quarter
compared with the first quarter in 2007. The firm is anticipating that
growth will continue to slow and said that the segment experiencing the
most slowdown is new
subscriptions for children under 12 and for "deeply sub prime users,
and it's reasonable to think that in a weak economy, that both of these
populations would be strapped," said analyst Craig Moffett. <a href="http://lists.fiercemarkets.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=69l,zpnd,8mg,164l,935n,ljt3,7cks" target="_blank">Prepaid MVNO Virgin Mobile is being squeezed by the
economy</a>.</p>
<p>However, NPD estimates that high-end devices made up 17 percent of
all mobile-phone sales in the first quarter, in increase of 10
percentage points since the first quarter 2007.</p>
<p>To read more about the economy's impact on the U.S. mobile-phone market:<br>
- check out this <a href="http://lists.fiercemarkets.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=69l,zpnd,8mg,ffut,18ss,ljt3,7cks" target="_blank">article</a> from <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> (sub. req.)<br>
<br>
Related articles:<br>
- Virgin Mobile's growing troubles <a href="http://lists.fiercemarkets.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=69l,zpnd,8mg,164l,935n,ljt3,7cks" target="_blank">Editorial on Virgin Mobile's slowing net additions</a><br>
- Virgin Mobile USA: <a href="http://lists.fiercemarkets.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=69l,zpnd,8mg,ehf1,h547,ljt3,7cks" target="_blank">Poor earnings economy's fault</a></p><p><br></p>
</div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Ron K. Jeffries<br>Twitter @RonKJeffries<br>mobile 805 567 4670<br><a href="http://blog.eronj.com">http://blog.eronj.com</a><br><br><br><br>