Overall satisfaction among wireless mobile phone owners has increased 5% over 2003 – the first time a significant increase has been achieved on a year-to-year basis since the report?s inception three years ago – according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 US Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study. The study measures satisfaction of customers who have owned their mobile phones for less than two years based on five key factors that impact overall wireless handset performance. In order of importance, these are: features (27%); durability (23%); physical design (19%); battery function (16%); and operation (15%).
SANYO ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction with wireless cell phones, consistently performing significantly above the industry average across all five factors. SANYO performs particularly well in the areas of features, operation and physical design. Following SANYO in the rankings above the industry average are Samsung and LG, respectively.
Average reported handset purchase price in 2004 is $99 – an increase from $88 in 2003 and the first increase since 1999. Average replacement cycle for a typical handset is 18 months. Camera phone ownership has more than tripled, increasing from 4% in 2003 to 15% in 2004. More than one-half of all handsets purchased in the past year have color display screens (57%) – three times higher than in 2003 (17%). The 2004 US Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study measures customer satisfaction among the eight largest wireless handset manufacturers and is based on responses from 13,458 households.