Ron Rakow had a cell phone but never owned a smart phone until a holiday promotion at U.S. Cellular caught his eye. He took the plunge in late December.
“It’s a computer,” Rakow, 44, said of his new HTC Desire. “I was thinking of going home and canceling my Internet service.”
Rakow recently went to a workshop at a U.S. Cellular store to get more comfortable with his phone and learn how to customize it. During the free one-on-one session, store employees walked him through using a navigation application, setting up a screen of speed-dial contacts and downloading an app that syncs with Apple’s iTunes on his home computer.
“This is a smart phone for dumb people,” Rakow joked.
Four years after Apple’s iPhone showed the world the potential of a powerful, fun-to-use mobile computer, wireless operators are looking to bring smart phones to consumers outside of the early adopter crowd.
At stake is the growing pot of data revenue that smart phones generate. Wireless data revenues totaled $46 billion in 2010, up from $41.5 billion in 2009 and $32.3 billion in 2008, according to industry association CTIA.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas early last month, T-Mobile USA Chief Executive Philipp Humm said smart phone penetration in the U.S. is just 31 percent of mobile consumers, leaving a wide playing field for carriers.
But catering to the mainstream requires different strategies than those used to woo early adopters, who are willing to pay premium prices and work out the kinks of a new product. Carriers are now offering smart phones at lower prices. These devices may lack the full processing power of the priciest gadgets, but they are positioned as entry-level products for younger users or customers who may be upgrading to a smart phone for the first time.
“Affordability is really critical to making…