U.S. Cell Phones Sales Decline

An economic slowdown and increased competition affected U.S. mobile phone sales in the second quarter, according to a report by NPD Research.

The report said mobile handset sales to consumers totaled 28 million units in the quarter, a 13% decline from the same period last year. Overall, the sales totaled about $2.4 billion, down 2% from the previous year.

...The report did not specifically report on sales of the iPhone, but Apple is increasingly becoming a player in the handset market. While Apple has not released U.S. sales figures, the company did say the iPhone 3Gsold one million units worldwide in its debut weekend. While overall cell phone sales slipped, the average selling price increased 14% from last year to $84. Customers are also seeking out more sophisticated devices, as smartphones comprised 19% of all mobile phone sales for the quarter, an increase of 9% from the previous year.

[Read the whole article at Information Week]

Not much of a surprise. When times are tough people will cut out whatever they can.

I imagine a huge factor is that the US market has finally been tapped out of new customers.  This article in USA Today suggests that it's a huge part of the problem.  It says that 83% of US consumers now own at least one cell phone.  Talk about market penetration.  It also claims that the US market is predicted to be completely saturated by 2010.  Then who knows what the carriers will do for growth/sales.

The good news is that if sales are slowing, I bet there will be some great deals to be had.

Hopefully this pushes them towards innovation. We could use better phones here in the US.