Thrifty shoppers? Not necessarily in the smartphone market.
In a trend that seems to run counter to high unemployment rates and rising gas prices, people bought more $200 phones than cheap or free phones in the third quarter, according to NPD Group. Only one of the top five fastest-selling phones in the U.S. was a "dumb" phone.
In the past, promotional prices as low as $0 on simple flip phones or messaging phones were usually the big drivers of sales, with cheap models outselling more expensive devices by a mile.
Not so this past quarter as more people jumped on the superphone trend.Leading the way, of course was the iconic Apple iPhone, which was introduced in June and suffered little in the ensuing antenna-gate controversy. Apple sold 14.1 million phones in the most recent quarter.
But the big surprise was Research In Motion. BlackBerries were expected to be crushed by the rise of Apple's iPhone and a host of Google Android phones. But the BlackBerry Curve managed to grab the No. 2 spot for most popular phones.
Pictured above, the Curve was a big hit not just with the usual BlackBerry crowd, but also among so-called prepaid customers who didn't lock into contracts, instead preferring to pay on a month-by-month basis. Outfits like MetroPCS and Sprint's Boost Mobile were big sellers of the typist-friendly BlackBerry Curve.
Landing at No. 3 was LG's Cosmos phone. This is the only messaging phone (read: non-smartphone) on the list and a big seller at Verizon and Sprint's Virgin Mobile.
Google Android phones round out the list with Motorola's Droid X at No. 4 and Verizon and Sprint's HTC EVO at fifth.
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