How do UK and US mobile consumers compare?

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Milanesi said it would be interesting to see changes in subsidy levels in Europe, like what was seen with the iPad. In this case nonsubsidised hardware was sold at a fairly high cost but consumers still purchased it as there wasn’t a two year contract or high monthly plan tied to it.

She said when operators in other countries cut the level of subsidy, sales dropped in the short term, but then picked up again and sales went back to normal.

“That would allow carriers to lower their cost and may be a truer marker of who really the consumers are going after as far as brand, and who they like, rather than unnecessarily going with a brand that gets the highest subsidy from the carrier,” Milanesi added.

Mobile phone innovation

Rob Bamforth, principal communications analyst at Quocirca, said the market is headed not only toward devices, but also toward applications.

“After all, most people talk about having an Android device, not a Samsung Android device,” Bamforth told IT PRO. “That’s because that’s an app platform.”

He said those involved in the market are trying to capture and understand the mobile application market and development stores.

This could ultimately weaken the carrier and device brand, he added.

“Despite the strength of the brands, I think people are typically looking to the devices,” Bamforth added. “The iPhone reinforces that and the counter-marketing that’s going on from the other manufacturers is also reinforcing that.”

Fogg said, specifically in the smartphone area and in the arrival of mobile internet, North American companies – RIM with the BlackBerry, Google with the Android and Apple with the iPhone – have been the most innovative.

“Those three firms have really driven the smartphone market for the past two or three years,” he said.

European handset makers like Nokia and the smartphone platform Symbian have been on the back end, fighting against the new wave of innovation coming from North America, he added.

As for the iPhone, Milanesi said the difference occurring in the UK, US and beyond is that it has generated an attention to user interfaces and intuitiveness.

“This is what Apple has done to the industry, moving away basically from focusing just on the hardware features and looking at the overall experience that a high end device should be able to deliver,” Milanesi concluded.

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