NPD Group

Smartphones have undergone a fascinating evolution in the past year or so. High-powered executives are no longer satisfied with a black and white screen displaying their latest e-mails. The smartphone has quickly evolved from a no-frills wireless e-mail inbox to …

The third quarter saw consumer handset sales in the United States valued at $3.2 billion, a 47% jump over the year-ago quarter, according to new data from NPD Group. Those numbers are based on 38 million units sold to consumers.Smartphones …

In Verizon’s third-quarter results last week, the company tallied its wireless customers at 63.7 million-that number includes 1.8 million new ones. Though the marketer didn’t specify whether the gains came from first-time cellphone buyers or by luring existing ones from …

The handset market in the United States in the first quarter grew 12% over the year-ago quarter, with the sale of about 39 million units valued at nearly $3 billion, according to The NPD Group. That growth is roughly similar …

Teens and young adults may dominate the console gaming space, but U.S. consumers between 25 and 34 years old represent the largest group of mobile gamers, according to new figures from The NPD Group.The market research firm found that in …

It’s still all about the flip when it comes to mobile phones.A new report from research firm NPD Group concluded that while many factors are at play in a buyer’s decision on a new cellphone, what remains most important is …

One well-worn mantra has it that long-awaited growth in data-driven revenue depends on smart phone uptake, a notion that keeps this market segment under the microscope. Thus, when NPD Group detected more than 4-percent growth in smart-phone sales in the …

OK, so online shoppers safely ensconced in their comfy chairs at home don’t actually drop to the ground so much as they maybe nod off after another frenzied session of online purchasing. But wireless carriers continued to tinker with handset …

This was supposed to be the year of the music phone, but as the holiday season approaches the home stretch, on-the-go music lovers are still hoping to find dedicated MP3 players in their stockings.U.S. sales of portable digital music players …

More than one-third of wireless customers have some sort of data plan as part of their wireless subscription, according to research by The NPD Group. However, the retail and consumer information company concluded that “consumer adoption of most data services …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—American consumers spent about $4.4 billion on 67 million mobile phones in the first half of the year, according to The NPD Group. Motorola Inc. captured 32 percent market share, or nearly one-third of those sales, double the …

Mobile-phone penetration rates are surpassing 90 percent in markets around the world, reaching the saturation point in Hong Kong, South Korea and Western Europe. Meanwhile, handset manufacturers continue to gain ground. Worldwide mobile-phone shipments in the second quarter fell just …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—As multimedia-enabled handsets flood the market, so are external memory options, according to a new report from The NPD Group. The number of handsets equipped with removable media slots increased more than 250 percent to 2 million phones …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—Text-savvy Southerners may help explain why all five “American Idol” winners hail from south of the Mason Dixon line, according to figures from The NPD Group. Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which sponsors Fox TV’s hit reality show, is based …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.-The handset market in the United States continues to run hot, with new figures from The NPD Group reflecting an 11-percent growth in sales for the first quarter over the year-ago quarter. The biggest beneficiary in the United …

Two recent studies reflect that while consumers are snapping up camera phones-and snapping pictures-they are not sending them wirelessly and, therefore, carriers are missing out on a potentially vast revenue source. This is particularly true of major public events, such …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—The handset market in the United States continues to run hot, with new figures from The NPD Group reflecting an 11-percent growth in sales for the first quarter over the year-ago quarter. The biggest beneficiary in the United …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.-Carriers may not be earning the additional revenue they expected from the popularity of camera phones, according to new research from The NPD Group Inc. In less than four years, camera phones have found their way into the …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—Carriers may not be earning the additional revenue they expected from the popularity of camera phones, according to new research from The NPD Group Inc. In less than four years, camera phones have found their way into the …

Sprint Nextel Corp. may have gotten a jump-at least in the rhetorical game of crafting perceptions-over its arch-rival and fellow CDMA carrier Verizon Wireless with its announced plans to implement CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A and its intent to be …

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Even as Sprint Nextel Corp. continues to build out its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network, the carrier has announced a plan to make its network even faster using EV-DO Revision A. According to Sprint Nextel, the company will concurrently …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.—Wireless operators are doing well at retaining customers, and only 7 percent of cellular customers say they plan to switch providers when their contracts are up, according to a survey by consumer and retail information company NPD Group. …

By Bradley Johnson A majority—57 percent—of teens age 13-17 now have a cell phone, but that’s far below the 80 percent of adults 18-plus who own a phone. Still, for a glimpse of the future, look no further than Generation …

Mort Rosenthal sees a gaping whole in the wireless retail industry, and he’s hoping to fill it with IMO. An entrepreneur with a background in software distribution, Rosenthal founded IMO-short for `independent mobile”-in 2004 after growing frustrated shopping for a …

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.-New research shows Japan continues to house the most gung-ho of wireless data users. According to a new report from The NPD Group, Japanese consumers use the wireless Web, mobile e-mail, ringtones, personal digital assistants, graphics and screensavers, …