Bango: iPhone lags on mobile content purchasing

Apple's iPhone is conspicuously absent from a list of the top 20 most popular handsets for mobile content browsing and buying, according to new data issued by mobile web solutions provider Bango. Based on February's Bango Analytics payment data, the Nokia 3110c leads on worldwide content browsing and purchasing, followed by the Samsung M800 and the Nokia 6300 in 3rd.  The iPhone does not turn up on the list until number 24, with spending by users restricted to Apple's App Store virtual storefront. Bango adds that smartphones make up 30 percent of devices in the Top 20. (The complete list is here; check out a slideshow of the phones here.) 

"It's clear that by just focusing your mobile marketing on the iPhone then you are missing out on the mass market," writes Bango CEO Ray Anderson on the firm's blog. "Of course the iPhone has three big benefits as a ‘first choice target': 1. You don't need to do much to optimize a site to iPhone, 2. iPhones users are (today) a homogeneous group and 3. iPhone users are wealthy and well connected--they have to have a broadband PC to make the iPhone work and the ability to spend $50/month or more on a phone. On the other hand, the browsing limitations of the iPhone, especially its inability to download any content such as MP3, videos or apps from your website, may cause problems."

For more on the Bango report:
- read this release
- see a slideshow of the Top 20 phones

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