Smartphones: Grandpa Likes Them, Too!

By Marisa Torrieri, TMCnet Editor

It used to be when you thought of iPhones and BlackBerry (News - Alert) Storms, images of young, well-dressed urbanites came to mind. But you may be replacing those images with ones of grandma or gramps sooner than you think.  

Older Americans aren’t afraid of high-tech smartphones anymore – and now they’re even having fun with them.

New market research from NPD Group (News - Alert) revealed that not only did smartphones made up 31 percent of the mobile device market in the fourth quarter – a big increase from 23 the same time period in 2008 – but that growth can be attributed to older consumers, CNBC reported.  

And most of the growth in smartphone penetration can be attributed to an older consumer, said Ross Rubin (News - Alert), executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at NPD.

NPD’s “Smartphone Market Update” also revealed when it comes to purchase motivators for smartphones, consumers relied primarily on recommendations from family and friends (29 percent) or chose handsets owned by people they know (18 percent). This finding was especially prevalent among iPhone (News - Alert) and BlackBerry Curve buyers.

Consumers also mentioned high consumer-service ratings as more important in the decision making process for smartphones (17 percent) than for feature phones (6 percent).

When compared with smartphone buyers, feature-phone buyers focused more on ease of use, as a key purchase criterion. Smartphone buyers tend to care more about their phone’s available capabilities, the fact that it leverages the latest technology, and that it is considered to be a “cool phone,” according to NPD researchers.

(source: http://fixed-mobile-convergence.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-communications/articles/78991-smartphones-grandpa-likes-them-too.htm)