Forty Percent of Smartphone Users Say They Have Completely Stopped Using Landlines for Voice

More than 40 percent of consumer smartphone owners say they have completely replaced their landline calling with mobile calling, says J.D. Power. A lesser percentage of traditional phone users say they have done so.

About 27 percent of mobile phone owners report entirely replacing landline calling with mobile phone calling, according to J.D. Power.

One is tempted to conclude that the findings have a direct bearing on landline voice accounts, but the relationship is indirect and partial in many cases.

Some mobile phone users are not the people who make decisions on wired phone connections, which might be handled by their parents. In that case, the results overstate the degree of landline abandonment.

The findings might also understate the amount of wireless substitution. The question asks whether users have "completely" replaced their landline calling. But many mobile users might use a landline infrequently, meaning the question understates the degree of substitution.

And though the obvious temptation is to credit the results to changing youth preferences, other factors could be at work. It is possible that smartphone users have demographic, psychographic or other behavioral characteristics that could account for the differences in wireline replacement.

The results are based on experiences reported by 12,595 traditional mobile phone and 3,221 smartphone owners who have used their current mobile phone for less than two years, as well as 1,148 smartphone owners who use their smartphone for primarily business purposes. All three studies were fielded between January and June 2009.

The J.D. Power study also shows that satisfaction is increasing rapidly for users of smartphones, while users of traditional mobile phones are becoming less satisfied. That is what one would anticipate if smartphone features now are being seen as integral to the mobile experience, rather than "nice to have."

Over the past six months, satisfaction among consumer smartphone owners has increased by 14 index points (on a 1,000-point scale), whereas among traditional mobile phone owners overall satisfaction has declined by six index points, most likely as a result of “heightened awareness among traditional mobile phone owners of advanced features available on smartphones”, according the J.D. Power.

According to the research, the proportion of consumers who purchase more affordable smartphones (those costing less than $100) has significantly increased among most of the manufacturers included in the rankings, compared with the previous wave of the study six months ago. This indicates that wireless carriers are discounting their devices to attract new customers who are willing to pay for more costly service plans.

J.D. Power also finds that wireless carriers are offering deep discounts on traditional handsets, with 43 percent of traditional mobile phone owners, on average, reporting they received their handset free of charge.

However, satisfaction is significantly lower among owners who receive their handsets for free. Among these owners, satisfaction averages just 693, compared with 713 among owners who pay for their traditional mobile phone.

“Satisfaction is notably lower among owners who receive their handsets for free, because these phones often do not offer the full suite of features that owners desire,” said Parsons (News - Alert). “When fewer features are available, usage rates also decline, which translates into lower brand loyalty.

Offering extensive features that owners can integrate into their daily lives may foster brand loyalty to both the phone manufacturer and wireless carrier, and ultimately result in a more rewarding and satisfying owner experience.”