Cordless Phone Slump Continues In Feb.

By Greg Scoblete On Apr 7 2008 - 6:00am

The cordless phone category declined sharply in both units and dollars in February, according to The NPD Group's retail tracking service.

Unit sales for the month of February dropped 27 percent vs. the same period in 2006, while dollars dropped 20 percent.

Sales of 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz suffered at the hands of DECT; 2.4 GHz models accounted for 8 percent of the market in dollar sales, a decline of 74 percent from the year-ago month. Phones in the 5.8GHz frequency retained the majority share with 60 percent of the market in dollars, a decline of 30 percent.

Both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz phones dropped in units as well, with 2.4GHz models dropping 69 percent to account for 17 percent of the market, and 5.8GHz phones slipping 21 percent to account for 60 percent of the market.

DECT phones were the only technology to enjoy growth in the month of February. The technology accounted for 22 percent of unit sales for February, up 383 percent from the year ago month.