Consumer Confusion Over 4G Found in Study; 34% of iPhone Users Think They Have 4G

[dgstorm]

A new study from the Retrevo.com blog claims consumer confusion could impeded the rate at which customers adopt 4G. In their recent study, they found that less than 25% of smartphone users plan to upgrade to 4G in the near future. Furthermore, it appears that one of the biggest problems isn't just that consumers think that 4G service is too pricey. Apparently, many smartphone users, especially iPhone users, mistakenly believe that they already have 4G service when they don't. Almost comically, 34% of survey respondents that use the iPhone believe they have 4G service, despite the fact that Apple doesn't even make a phone with 4G yet. Additionally, RIM users are falling for the same assumption as well. Twenty-four percent of RIM users are under the delusion that they have 4G service, although RIM also doesn't offer a 4G phone. Interestingly, 29% of Android users believe the same thing, although it is entirely possible that many of them actually do have 4G service, since it is available on several Android phones.

The study also shared that between 19-30% of users across RIM, Android, and Apple believe that 4G is simply too expensive at this time. *cough - Verizon tiered data plans - cough* This too could hinder early adoption of the technology. In fact, between the pricing confusion and general confusion over just what the technology is, there is actually legislation making its way through congress right now, that would require service providers to be more clear about the technology. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo has introduced a bill called the "Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act" that means to force broadband service providers to fully disclose the particulars of 4G service, and clearly spell out the quality of these services and the fees associated with them.

Obviously, 4G technology will probably be fully implemented and available in the eventual future. The various carriers that are rapidly deploying 4G networks globally are banking on it. Unfortunately, it appears that the speed at which customers actually dive into the service will likely be slowed in the interim by industry wide confusion and expensive pricing. It remains to be seen what the various carriers will do to address these issues, and how quickly it makes a difference. Who knows, if the technology isn't adopted quickly enough, it could be "leap-frogged" by newer faster technology like the 600-900Mbps Advanced LTE being tested in Sweden and South Korea right now.

Here's the description of the Retrevo Study:

The Retrevo Gadgetology Report is an ongoing study of people and electronics from the consumer electronics shopping and review site Retrevo.com. The data for this report came from a study of online individuals conducted exclusively for Retrevo in June of 2011, by an independent panel. The sample size was over 1,000 distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. Most responses have a confidence interval of 4% at a 95% confidence level.

Source: BGR and Retrevo.com

[bplewis24]

This isn't surprising at all. Considering the latest iPhone is the iPhone4, the carriers are all pushing their "4G" marketing campaigns, and the typical naivety that follows Apple users who always assume (whether true or not) that the most recent Apple product is ALWAYS the best product on the market, I actually would have expected it to be a bit higher.

The Android thing is interesting, because with LTE phones and HSPA+ phones on the market, there probably is a significant (meaning >10%) amount of consumers currently with 4G phones, but I wonder how many?

This reminds me exactly of about 3-5 years ago when people thought they were watching high definition television despite not having HD sources (cable or blu-ray, etc) or people that had flat screen tvs at non-HD resolutions assuming that they were watching stuff in HD.

People just need to be educated on this stuff. Yesterday I had a fellow football coach tell me that his iPad2 has 4G. I said, "oh yeah you got one of the 3G models?" He said, "no, it has 4G." I just said okay and moved on. *shrug*

Brandon

[debdroid1a]

Part of the problem is that on AT&T it's called iPhone4G. Meaning Generation. When it came to Verizon they left off the G and that was even more confusing (confused me at first).
And I could see how other people with other phones, in a 4G area, thinking they're phone is 4G without it being a 4G phone. They might think it "upgrades" automatically to 4G.

I also see with 4G the price of phones (me) and tiered plans putting people off. I know some who didn't want new phones because the best phones required data plans in the first place and didn't want to pay that extra cost.

[sqchram]

iPhone. The smartphone for dumb people. ...can't wait for the iPhone 5. Its on 5G ya know..

[jroc]

When the iPhone 4 first came out I assumed it was called 4G going by previous models. Yea like bplewis said, if they are thinking that NOW, ppl just need to get educated on this stuff.

It also doesnt help that iPhones on AT&T had faster speeds than Android phones on AT&T at one point last year. Even with the Atrix and Inspire, before updates came out it was as fast or faster.

[alboboy10]

Lol I argue with the att people every time I go in the store for my gf, they talk about 4g and I always tell them they don't have it, that they have 3 and a half g's. Haha

Once one of them told me I didn't have LTE, I showed them the little 4g LTE on my phone.

[johnomaz]

Its not the worst thing. The iPhone 3G was named because it introduced 3G service to the phone. The iPhone 2G is called that becasue of the edge service. There was no true iPhone 1 or plainly iPhone. To see this and get an iPhone 4, non tech people could only assume its a 4G phone. More than likely they don't even know what 4G means in relation to the data access of a mobile network. As for Android users, thats just shameful.

[DroidXDoes4G]

Its not the worst thing. The iPhone 3G was named because it introduced 3G service to the phone. The iPhone 2G is called that becasue of the edge service. There was no true iPhone 1 or plainly iPhone. To see this and get an iPhone 4, non tech people could only assume its a 4G phone. More than likely they don't even know what 4G means in relation to the data access of a mobile network. As for Android users, thats just shameful.

I don't think there was ever an iPhone 2G...\

It went

iPhone
iPhone 3G
iPhone 3Gs
iPhone 4

[CoFoltman84]

i sell cell phones as my 2nd job. ive been doing so for about 4months. it still disgusts me how many people have no idea what they are buying, but they want it because it looks expensive or someone told them it was great.

[CoFoltman84]

(I work for RadioShack in a Target store, at a kiosk) on June 6th, i had a guy come in wanting to upgrade to a smartphone for the unlimited data. he wasnt sure he had any use for it other than checking email once or twice a day. but wanted to be locked into unlimited data. i told him, most users dont come close to 2gb. few go over it and very few exceed 5gb..... i know this is slightly off topic, but its still on the point that most consumers know nothing about what they buy.