KEY POINTS:
Take away our MP3 players, our DVD recorders and even our broadband connection - but don't try to part us from our cellphones.
Nearly half (48 per cent) of the 1003 people in a Herald-DigiPoll survey say they could not live without their cellphones. By comparison, only 19 per cent could not do without their MP3 players, 30 per cent without their DVD recorders and 32 per cent without broadband.
The news was not a surprise for retailer Noel Leeming Group, which runs the Noel Leeming and Bond & Bond stores.
"It's certainly going to be a big cellphone December," said Jason Bell, general manager of merchandise.
He said December was tracking to be the best in its cellphone sales history.
Although sales of mobiles had always been strong, they had been helped even more by "price erosion".
"We're selling phones this Christmas that are less than half the price of what they were last Christmas. Certainly the technology has become a lot more affordable."
Mr Bell said cellphones were also being replaced a lot more quickly than other products. The average Kiwi changes phones every 20 months.
"We're still not as strong as some other countries such as Singapore that have an average of six months," he said.
"Phones have become a fashion item as well as a necessity. People like to upgrade with the latest technology. Especially with the youth market, having the right phone is like having the right pair of jeans."
There's also been an increase in people buying phones with 3G services and photo-taking capability - aided in part by a drop in price.
"There's more integration. People aren't only just using phones as a phone now - the quality of the inbuilt cameras is becoming a lot stronger, the ability to transfer photos from your phone to your computer to email is a lot easier and most 3G phones now have a good-quality MP3 player built in," Mr Bell said.
"It's really becoming a one-stop device for a lot of different appliances."
