Consumers in the US are more likely to buy a smartphone in 2011 than PCs, mobile phones, e-readers, media tablets and gaming products, according to a survey by Gartner, which indicated that US smartphone sales to grow from 67 million units in 2010 to 95 million units in 2011.
The survey also stated that the US mobile PC shipments would reach 50.9 million in 2011, up from 45.6 million from 2010.
According to Gartner, smartphones were followed by laptops and desktops in rankings of US consumers’ average intent to purchase in 2011.
Mobile phones ranked fourth, followed by e-book readers in the fifth position, and tablet computers ranking sixth.
The research firm said that though demand is strong at the high end of the smartphone market, vendors should not ignore the middle and lower tiers of smartphones, which will be a source of growth in 2011 as operators look for prepaid smartphones that require no subsidy.
Gartner principal research analyst Hugues de la Vergne said the continued low retail pricing and widespread adoption of applications like Web browsing, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, GPS and games will continue to stimulate consumer demand.
"In 2010, smartphones benefited from aggressive operator device subsidies and lower-cost monthly data plans and as more consumers adopt smartphones, the market will shift from the more technically astute tech savants toward less tech-savvy comfortable conformists," Vergne said.
