米国におけるスマートフォンの定着と専用ハンドヘルドへのインパクト

米国ワイヤレス市場においてスマートフォンが劇的な成長を続けている。2011年1月、Nielsen Researchは、米国の携帯電話加入者のうち31%がスマートフォンを使用しており、過去6か月に新しく携帯端末を入手した加入者のうち45%がスマートフォンを購入したとの調査結果を発表した。スマートフォン加入者のARPUが高いことは、最近のAT&TのポストペイドARPUの上昇でも示されており、米事業者各社がスマートフォンの販売促進に熱心なのもこのためである。
本レポートでは、スマートフォンに押され気味のナビゲージョンデバイス、デジカメ、またゲーム機への影響を探る。スマートフォンが、それぞれのデバイスカテゴリーにおける高機能化に拍車をかけたようである。

Smartphones continue their rapid growth in the US wireless market. As of January 2011, Nielsen Research estimated that 31% of US wireless subscribers use smartphones, and that 45% of subscribers purchasing mobile phones in the previous six months purchased smartphones. Smartphones’ beneficial impact on ARPU can be seen in the growth in AT&T’s postpaid ARPU, and this is one reason US wireless operators are promoting smartphones to their subscribers.
Smartphones are generally defined as mobile phones having a non-proprietary OS that allows users to add applications after purchase. In addition to voice, they also have data and email functionality, and are multifunctional devices containing many of the same features as notebook PCs. According to Nielsen Research, the most frequently downloaded applications across all major smartphone OS are Facebook, Google Maps, and Weather.com, and the most popular category is games. Pandora, YouTube, and Twitter are examples of other frequently used applications, and music, video and location services are all popular application categories.
Thus, smartphones can be seen as a substitute for dedicated devices, such as gaming handhelds like the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP; navigation devices like those from Garmin, TomTom, or Mitac; or for digital cameras. This report looks at the impact of smartphones on such dedicated devices. Smartphones appear to have accelerated the adding of greater functionality to such dedicated device categories.