diff --git a/js/jquery.mobile.page.js b/js/jquery.mobile.page.js
index 6289157a..b3918a1e 100644
--- a/js/jquery.mobile.page.js
+++ b/js/jquery.mobile.page.js
@@ -139,8 +139,10 @@ $.widget( "mobile.page", $.mobile.widget, {
 		$elem.fixHeaderFooter();
 	},
 
+	_typeAttributeRegex: /\s+type=["']?\w+['"]?/,
+
 	_enhanceControls: function() {
-		var o = this.options;
+		var o = this.options, self = this;
 
 		// degrade inputs to avoid poorly implemented native functionality
 		this.element.find( "input" ).not(this.keepNative).each(function() {
@@ -150,7 +152,7 @@ $.widget( "mobile.page", $.mobile.widget, {
 			if ( o.degradeInputs[ type ] ) {
 				$( this ).replaceWith(
 					$( "<div>" ).html( $(this).clone() ).html()
-						.replace( / type="?([a-zA-Z]+)"?/, " type=\""+ optType +"\" data-type=\""+type+"\" " ) );
+						.replace( self._typeAttributeRegex, " type=\""+ optType +"\" data-type=\""+type+"\" " ) );
 			}
 		});