Mobile-Phone Spending in U.S. Rises to Record After New IPhone

According to Bloomberg, U.S. customers shelled out 40 percent more for handsets last quarter than a year earlier.
"Americans, previously hard-pressed to pay $50 for a phone, are now more like their European and Asian counterparts and paying $300 to $400 for the top devices. That will translate into higher sales for Apple and may bolster rivals Nokia and Sony Ericsson which tried for years to promote camera and music phones to U.S. buyers.
"The iPhone has made the U.S. consumer appreciate the value of the mobile phone,'' said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner Inc.

[source : textually.org]