Ease of use, brand, embedded content top U.S. user demands

Ease of use, brand and embedded content are the top three features U.S. consumers consider when purchasing a new mobile phone, according to a new study conducted by independent mobile applications portal GetJar. The GetJar poll--which spans 1,000 respondents in 130 countries, 75 percent of them male and 79 percent under the age of 25--required users to rank a list of 10 phone features by order of importance: 20 percent of U.S. participants cited user interface as the most important handset feature, with 17 percent pointing to handset brand as the second most important feature. Respondents were also directed to characterize all 10 features on a five-level scale as "unimportant," "less important," "important," "very important" and "extremely important"--60 percent of U.S. subscribers said content embedded on a handset is "extremely important" to them, and 69 percent of worldwide GetJar users said embedded content is "extremely important" or "very important."

GetJar reports that price and phone memory size are the fourth and fifth most important features among U.S. respondents. Additional findings:

• Seventy-one percent of respondents worldwide said they are planning on buying a new phone this year, and 26 percent said they plan to purchase a new phone in the next 10 days.
• Across all 130 countries polled, the number one purchase consideration for a new phone was brand, ranked as the top feature by 28 percent of respondents. The U.S. was the lone country where brand was not the most popular consideration (17 percent).
• User interface was the number two factor worldwide, cited as the top feature by 17 percent of respondents.
• Only 4 percent ranked touchscreens as the most important phone feature.

For more on the GetJar poll:
- read this release

Related articles:
GetJar adds mobile advertising program
GetJar: Subscribers looking to trim mobile spending