In fact, it seems that the $200 price tag and the monthly fees of $70 minimum don’t seem that scary to consumers with lower incoms. According to comScore, the iPhone adoption grew 48% among consumers with earnings placed between $25,000 and $50,000 per year.
In the $25,000 to $75,000 per year category things went at the same pace, with a growth of 46%.
In the mean time, the growth in the “more than $100,000 per year” category only went as high as 16%. Still that’s much better than for the $75,000 to $99,999 group, with a growth of only 3%.
The 50% price drop for the device would justify such good results, but only up to a certain point. From there on, it seems that the iPhone caught on simply because it proved to be a substitute for multiple devices:
“These data indicate that lower-income mobile subscribers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to access the Internet, e-mail and their music collections,” observed Mark Donovan, senior analyst, comScore. “Smartphones, and the iPhone in particular, are appealing to a new demographic and satisfying demand for a single device for communication and entertainment, even as consumers weather the economy by cutting back on gadgets.”
In the $25,000 to $75,000 per year category things went at the same pace, with a growth of 46%.
In the mean time, the growth in the “more than $100,000 per year” category only went as high as 16%. Still that’s much better than for the $75,000 to $99,999 group, with a growth of only 3%.
The 50% price drop for the device would justify such good results, but only up to a certain point. From there on, it seems that the iPhone caught on simply because it proved to be a substitute for multiple devices:
“These data indicate that lower-income mobile subscribers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to access the Internet, e-mail and their music collections,” observed Mark Donovan, senior analyst, comScore. “Smartphones, and the iPhone in particular, are appealing to a new demographic and satisfying demand for a single device for communication and entertainment, even as consumers weather the economy by cutting back on gadgets.”