Smartphones More Likely Purchase Than PCs

U.S. consumers are more likely to buy a smartphone in 2011 than PCs, mobile phones, e-readers, media tablets and gaming products, according to a recent Gartner survey. Smartphone sales are expected to grow from 67 million in 2010 to 95 million this year while PC's increase only from 45.6 million to 50.9 million.

Smartphones were followed by laptop computers and desktop computers in rankings of U.S. consumers' average intent to purchase in 2011. Regular mobile phones ranked fourth, followed by e-book readers in the fifth position, and tablet computers ranking sixth.

The findings were based on a survey of 1,557 U.S. mobile users in December. Gartner advised wireless operators not to ignore the middle and lower tiers of smartphones, which will be a source of growth in 2011.

"Communication service providers should expand tiered data pricing to make open OS devices more affordable to the mass market. Introductory limited data plans of $10 to $15 a month will expand the market greatly for these devices, and in many cases, consumers will upgrade to higher-priced data plans over time once they get hooked on these services," said Hugues de la Vergne, principal research analyst at Gartner.

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