No.1 Seller Mobile phone in U.S.

“Apple’s iPhone 3G surpassed the Motorola Razr as the leading handset purchased by adult consumers in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2008,” the researcher reported Monday. For the past 3 years, the once-market dominating Razr has been ranked by NPD as the top-selling consumer handset, but the hot spot now belongs to the sleek iPhone 3G, ahead of Razrs and BlackBerrys, respectively in second and third position. “The displacement of the Razr by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD in the report. Quite a formidable achievement given that the Razr is given away for free with a two-year contract and the iPhone’s cheapest modele costs $199. Phones enhanced with multimedia capabilities prove again that they are the new trend. “Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features,” said Mr. Rubin in the report. The only non-smartphone on the list was the Razr. According to the report, U.S. consumers are looking for enhanced features when buying a cell phone, with 43 percent citing the need for a camera, and 36 percent looking for text-messaging options--sales of cell phones with a keyboard rose 30 percent compared with 11 percent last year. Also, 83 percent of phones purchased this quarter were Bluetooth-enabled compared with 72 percent last year, and 68 percent of phones were music enabled, versus 49 percent last year. Consumers are looking for cell phones that can double as mini computers, which explains the rapid shift to high-end, 3G smartphones. “3G smartphones now constitute the majority of handsets mentioned most as top sellers at carrier retail outlets,” said analyst James Faucett in a Pacific Crest note to client last week. But despite a reported 6.9 million iPhone handsets sold during the third quarter alone, overall domestic handset sales declined 15 percent since last year to 32 million. Consumer handset sales revenue fell 10 percent to $2.9 billion, even as the average selling price rose 6 percent to $88.