Show us your phone!

Show us your phone!

In today's global economy, the global population is 6,854,000,000 covering over 168 countries. More than 61% of the global population own a mobile phone to which there are around 4,180,000,000 mobile phones in use today. What about your old phones, you may ask? Around 140,000,000 of your mobile phones just end up in land fill sites or to make math easier, four phones a second are dumped in landfill sites. However, if these phones were to be recycled, 515 recycled phones could provide one home with full running electricity for a whole year.

In this article, I will look at the rising trend for smartphones such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones with the fall of standard phones used previously such as Nokia, Sony Erricson and Samsung who had the typical mobile features of SMS, calling and camera features. In 2008, Nokia had over 39% of the market with Samsung following second with 17% of the market and Sony Erricson holding 9% of the market. Since then the mobile industry has changed dramatically with the development of new technology for phones such as touch screen and mobile apps to access on the go using the mobile web.

Since the rise in smartphones and fall in basic phones, iPhone has conquered the UK with the market share being over 42% for the beginning of 2011 with Blackberry in second with 36% and Android with the market share of 12%. Using already established facts and using my own finds, I wanted to find out why people had these mobile phones and whether it was the phone itself they were interested in or more the offer that the network was offering with the mobile phone.

I interviewed many mobile phone owners and conducted a survey to find out why they had the phone and whether they were interested in the phone or the network and if they were or pay monthly contracts or pay as you go services. Also I asked for a rating of their experience with the phone and if they would recommend the phone to friends and family.

I found that over half the interviewees owned a Blackberry or a Samsung which many loved. An interviewee called Mae said 'I Love my phone as it has a qwerty keyboard and has cool apps for every mood'.  A minor percentage owned who owned a Nokia said that the phones alright but had nothing good to say and an interviewee called Lee could only say 'It's okay I guess but I never use it as it never turns on and it's just a rubbish mobile brand. I want a Blackberry'.

When finding out what phone they had, I also tried to find out if they were on a monthly contract or pay as you go where I found out that almost all of the smartphone users were on a monthly contract and the basic phone users were on pay as you go but their network service also came with perks. Upon finding out what service they used for their mobile phones, I then discovered that many of the smartphone users only had the phone because the network provider was offering a good monthly deal with the phone and the users were only interested in the network service than the phone brand itself.

From finding this information out, I have come to believe in my own opinion, that the only reason these smartphones are selling so well, is due to the fact that many of the phones are coming with package deals when with the network provider, so the only way the mobile users can get this network service is by purchasing the smartphone with network service when less interested in the phone but more so the network deal provided with the phone.

Nicole Barker

Statistical data for help- http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/02/mobile-operating-system-market-share-feb-2011-infographic.php