| Mintel last reported on the UK market for domestic telephones and telephone answering machines (TAMs) in 2003, and the market has continued to evolve in the two years that have followed. Key to the changing size and shape of the market has been the mass appeal of mobile telephones, the introduction and wide take-up of broadband Internet connections in the home and consumers' desire to have the latest electronic equipment.
To establish consumer attitudes towards and habits in using domestic telephones and telephone answering machines, Mintel instructed the British Market Research Bureau to conduct a survey of 976 adults aged 15+ in December 2004. Respondents were asked a series of questions that elicited information highlighting potential avenues for manufacturers and distributors of these products to pursue.
This report considers the hypothesis that: "The telephone and answering machine market has reached a crossroads. It must either seize the initiative, placing itself at the forefront of technological developments and so re-capture the public's interest, or accept a subservient role, simply adding features and functions that have proved popular with mobile phones. This latter positioning may result in the answering machine becoming seen as arcane, and phased out of most homes in favour of voicemail. The former position will rely on innovations being seen as affordable and useful.
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