Market is warming up for touch screen technology

The soon to be launched Apple's iPhone is already creating enthusiasm in the customers to use the touch screen technology, making the use of mobile much more comfortable and user friendly. A third of the respondents in a survey conducted by Canalys from its recent consumer mobility survey among European consumers, indicated that having a touch screen on their mobile phone would be a good idea if it meant they got a large display, but without increasing the overall size of the phone. When asked about their personal phone preferences, a further 10% were prepared to make a trade-off by ending up with a larger phone in return for a large touch screen or a good keyboard. Only 28% said categorically that they just wanted a traditional numeric keypad while another 24% said that having a small phone was the priority regardless of input method used. Acceptance of touch screen phones was up to 50% higher among those who had high interest in having mobile TV services, mobile e-mail or handset-based GPS navigation, or who already used most of the features on their current phones. But the requirement that the larger screen did not result in a larger phone remained strong across all these groups.

"Following Apple’s iPhone launch, several handset vendors have announced their own finger touch-screen devices, for example the LG Prada phone and the HTC Touch. Vendors going down the touch screen route face some big challenges, in gaining user acceptance, in winning over operators who have strong content and branding aspirations themselves, and not least in building an interface that actually works well all the time", says the report.

Summary of Canalys Report - Consumers warm to the touch screen phone