Hi-tech phone features fall flat with consumers

Many consumers are unimpressed by whiz-bang features increasingly being included with mobile phones such as internet access and music streaming and don’t often use them, a new report has found.

Two thirds of people who own mobile phones with snazzy 3G capabilities don’t use them, according to an Australian Communications and Media Authority survey reported by The Age.

Half of those people say they don’t use the hi-tech features because they have no interest in them, while the remainder say they either don’t know how to use them or don’t want to pay additional costs associated with them.

Just over a third of all mobile phone owners have 3G phones, with 18 and 24 year olds the demographic most likely to own one (43% have 3G) and people over 61 least likely (12% have 3G).