Wirefly Cell Phone Christmas Shopping Guide

Thinking of buying a loved one a cell phone for Christmas? Looking for surefire ideas about what’s hot and will make a great gift? Wirefly has just released its top cell phone picks for the 2006 Christmas shopping season, in anticipation of what will be a sizzling Cyber Monday—the online-shopping equivalent of Black Friday.

Wirefly’s list includes traditional bestsellers such as the popular RAZR cell phone as well as an array of 3G devices that feature 1+ Megapixel digital cameras, video and MP3 music capabilities. The versatility and gadget-rich nature of a lot of this year’s cell phones promise brisk Christmas sales. “We expect this year’s holiday season to be strong, driven largely by consumer demand for converging technologies such as MP3 capable cell phones. More and more, people want to use one cell phone for multiple applications,” said David Steinberg, former CEO of InPhonic (former name of Simplexity), the company that operates Wirefly.com.

Online Cell Phone Christmas Shopping Hot in 2006

Thanks to the many cell phone promotions offered just after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday will most likely be one of Wirefly’s hottest shopping days of 2006. Cyber Monday has become known as the Web’s shopping equivalent to Black Friday when retailers launch major sales and discounts to drive traffic. Industry analyst comScore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, predicts $599 million in online Cyber Monday sales, a 24% increase from last year.

“With more shoppers turning online to fulfill their Christmas shopping needs, we’re excited to offer them our picks of today’s most desirable cell phones, cell phone accessories and other devices,” said Wirefly President Brian Westrick. “Wirefly has seen a considerable rise in traffic on Cyber Monday over the last few years. In 2005, tens of thousands of holiday shoppers used Wirefly.com for their cell phone needs, and this year, we’re excited to offer shoppers our new Christmas list of the hottest wireless phones and PDAs on the market.”

Wirefly Survey Supports Optimism for Holiday Sales

The anticipation of a great Cyber Monday and Christmas season is also a result of a Wirefly survey* released on November 26, 2006. The survey found that online holiday discounts and promotions make consumers 67% more likely to purchase the goods and services being advertised. With nearly half of survey respondents saying that they shop at least a couple of times a month online, Christmas 2006 could set a record for the busiest online shopping season in years.

The same survey revealed that Cyber Monday is likely to be one of the busiest online shopping days of 2006. One in ten respondents say that they have shopped on the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday because of online seasonal promotions

Wirefly’s Top Cell Phone Picks List

Here is the list of the hottest cell phones on which Wirefly has great Christmas deals:

In anticipation of high demand for these popular cell phone models, Wirefly is offering exclusive online deals for each of them. “We wanted to ensure that we picked some of the most desirable and cutting-edge models for each carrier, so as to make sure that our customers would get the hottest model with their favorite wireless provider,” said Brian Westrick.

And in order to facilitate choice of wireless plan to go with these cell phones, Wirefly offers the Wireless Wizard which allows shoppers to compare prices and plans from every major cell phone manufacturer and carrier in every zip code, free of charge and without any commitment. A few simple key strokes enables users to confirm whether they’re getting the best deal available, or if they could achieve significant savings with another plan.

So stay with Wirefly.com to shop for a cool new cell phone for a loved one or for yourself this Christmas season. You will find unbeatable online deals on cutting-edge models from every major carrier, as well as a great shopping experience that will allow you to make a confident and no-hassle purchase from the comfort of your own home.

*About the Survey

The U.S based online survey was conducted from November 7 to November 26, 2006 from a pool of individuals who purchased new wireless phones and new service plans. The sample of 1,021 respondents was 56% female and 44% male. 40% of respondents were between the ages of 31-44, 32% were 45 and above, 16% were between the ages of 25-30, and 12% were 18-24. The margin of error was 2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

About Wirefly

Wirefly (www.wirefly.com) is the online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for cell phones, wireless service plans and wireless accessories. Wirefly is an authorized dealer for every major cellular carrier in the U.S. Wirefly also offers discounts and services not available in retail wireless stores, including real-time online order status and tracking, and the guaranteed lowest price – online or anywhere else -- on cell phone devices from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry and many other cell phone handset manufacturers. Wirefly.com has been named Best of the Web by Forbes magazine as the “best all-around number portability portal” and “Best in Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Performance Systems. For more information on Wirefly, its wireless products and its services, visit www.wirefly.com.