Facts and figures from a recent YouGov survey suggest mobile providers, retailers

and manufacturers may have to work harder to overcome waning demand

Image via cambodia4kids.org on Flickr

Smartphone Mobile Internet eXperience (SMIX)

The most recent results of this quarterly survey by YouGov were released in March 2012, and show that:

although smartphone penetration of the market has doubled over the past 2 years,

smartphone penetration is slowing…

Image via 3 Sverige on Flickr

Between March 2011 and March 2012, 42% of standard mobile phone users switched to smartphones

However, that is only 6% more than the year before

Image via JeanbaptisteM on Flickr

42% of those who currently use a standard mobile phone say they plan to get a smartphone next

Of the rest…

55% say they’re happy with their current mobile phone

32% say smartphones are too expensive

16% say smartphones are too complex to use

47% say they don’t need a smartphone

30% say the tariffs for smartphones are too high

Image via yisris on Flickr

Also, the percentage of standard phone users over the age of 55 has increased to 55%

(up from 38% 2 years ago)

This suggests most younger mobile phone users have switched to smartphones

Images via Soctech and kdinuraj on Flickr

However, previous YouGov research suggests that many older standard mobile users could be persuaded to switch to

smartphones…

…just so they can use Google Maps on the go.

Image via Google Maps

Other survey results show that

64 % of standard mobile users are pay as you go customers

and only 28% are on contracts

Perhaps because of this, only 28% have purchased their phone directly from the mobile service provider (as opposed to 55% of smartphone

owners)

Image via Dominik Syka on Flickr

The most popular sources of standard mobile phones?

Second-hand from friends and family – 12%

Tesco – 10%

Argos – 4%

Image via bfishadow on Flickr

Also, 56% of standard mobile phone users are female – so this is a potential market for smartphones manufacturers and retailers to tap into

Image via Mooganic on Flickr

So what does this mean for smartphone manufacturers and retailers?

Demand for standard mobile phones has been steadily declining, but demand for smartphones is also starting to slow

To increase conversion of standard mobile owners to smartphone users, retailers must adjust their techniques: Russell Feldman, Associate Director in YouGov’s Technology and Telecom’s team points out that

“The ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work in this instance and customer service needs to be tailored to suit the requirements of the customer. The groups that are rejecting smartphones do not usually find empathetic sales staff in the retailers they frequent. This is a matter of salesforce training for operators and retailers.”

Image via digitpedia on Flickr

• Feldman also notes that there is room to convert many standard mobile phone users to lower-end smartphones, given the right approach

• Plus, there are still markets to be tapped among women and older mobile

users

So what do you think – has the demand for smartphones peaked, or will standard mobile phones soon begin to vanish?

Image via francisco_osorio on Flickr