Mobile phones still being used primarily for conversations

Montreal, Aug 18 : Mobile phones are primarily used for conversations, despite also being equipped to let people watch videos, listen to music, surf the Internet and check e-mail.

"I look at a lot of Joe and Jane consumers on main street anywhere and a lot of them are pretty content with just a regular cellphone," said Ramon Llamas of the global research firm IDC, which tracks consumer technology markets.

"It does what they need it to do and basically that is just to make a phone call," he added.

He said that despite the growth of smartphones, such as the BlackBerry by Research in Motion (TSX:RIM) and Apple's iPhone, those aren't going to be at the top of the mobile phone market.

"They're still going to remain in the minority mainly because these devices, basically, just aren't for everyone," the Canadian Press quoted Llamas, as saying.

"I think some companies will say blasphemy to this, but not everyone is going to need a BlackBerry, not everyone is going to need an iPhone, not everyone is going to need a Palm Treo," he added.

Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's mobile devices technology and trends team, said that data services, such as video, will be a "cash cow" but voice "resonates" with just about every single mobile phone and smartphone user.

"If a smart phone or a regular cellphone didn't make phone calls or didn't make phone calls well, people would just switch their phones and say:'I am getting something else,' mainly because that's the intended purpose," he said.

Llamas said that the surveys he has done have repeatedly shown that the No. 1 use for mobile phones is to make calls and not to do such things as look at photos, listen to music or read e-mails.

Canadians also spend a big part of their time talking on cellphones.

Marc Choma of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, said that they were spending more than 400 minutes a month yakking on their mobiles, finishing second to the Americans who were spending double that amount of time.

"Obviously, because Canadians are such high users of voice, it's a pretty good indicator that we do like to talk," Choma said.

Choma said that Canada has 20.5 million cellphone subscribers.

Llamas said that talking and texting are 'real time communication' while doing things like downloading music on cellphone is 'information transmission.'

"Voice and text are certainly very popular because, you know what, they're forms of communication and that's what people want to do," he said.

ANI