Cameras, not music, top mobile Xmas lists

With the latest raft of mobile phones targeting the Christmas market, Web data firm Hitwise has released a report on which models are proving most popular with consumers.

Up to a third of all new phone purchases are made in the run-up to Christmas, and mobile operators are busy ramping up activity during this critical sales period.

Hitwise reveals that ‘samsung d600’ is currently the most popular model, with Motorola V3 and Nokia 8800 in second and third position.

Although all three models do have an integrated MP3 music player, they are essentially camera phones – the Samsung d600 has a 2 megapixel camera - indicating that this particular feature is the one consumers are most interested in.

By contrast, the Motorola iPod phone (Rokr) and Sony Walkman phone (Sony Ericsson w800i) are receiving substantially fewer searches, suggesting demand for music phones is currently much lower than for camera phones and does not immediately threaten the standalone MP3 player.

Motorola’s latest offering, the “hot pink Razr” phone, is receiving significant interest in the run-up to Christmas – with searches up 174% since the limited edition of the Razr v3 was announced 3 weeks ago.

Targeting the fashion conscious female, the phone is being sold exclusively by the Carphone Warehouse from 1 November.

And despite recent research which suggests that young people will spend an average of £4,000 downloading ringtones over the next 15 years, Hitwise Search Intelligence indicates that the popularity of ringtones may well be past its peak – with searches down by 48% since the same period last year.

Mobile content destination www.ringtonesgalore.co.uk is currently the top site receiving traffic from searches on the term.

Top 10 most popular handsets searched-for, 4 weeks ending 22/10/05

Rank  Handset

1        samsung d600

2        motorola v3

3        nokia 8800

4        samsung e530

5        nokia 6230i

6        sony ericsson w800i

7        nokia n70

8        samsung d500

9        sony ericsson k750i

10      nokia 6101 

Source: Hitwise, October 2005