Barely one in 10 is interested in multimedia bells and whistles

Mobile phones with built-in multimedia support are failing to excite consumers, according to a new study by market research firm In-Stat.

All major vendors last year started shipping multimedia phones such as Motorola's Rokr, Nokia's 3250 and Sony Ericsson's W800i Walkman.

In-Stat expects this trend to continue, with the total number of multimedia phones set to double in the next two years.

But in a survey, only nine per cent of US consumers expressed interest in a multimedia phone. Sales of regular MP3 players in 2005 dwarfed sales of mobile phones with built-in music players by nearly two to one.

"Subscribers in some global markets will slowly and grudgingly adopt the limitations of the current wireless multimedia marketplace, while others will mirror the Japanese market where not having multimedia capability is the exception," said In-Stat analyst Bill Hughes.

"Wider adoption of multimedia could come from giving users a taste of the service."