September 22, 2003
Wireless carriers embrace truism: Youth are the future
MSNBC has an upbeaut article on the growing potential of cell phone sales thanks to pre-teens, as children using mobile phones are getting younger and younger, as their parents feel more secure in being able to keep tabs on them through their handsets.
-- "Only 28 percent of 13- to 19-year-olds have a mobile device, according to IDC, a researcher based in Framingham, Mass.; penetration exceeds 50 percent in older groups. In addition, this group of teens and preteens -- part of a demographic echo made of baby boomer offspring -- is a population bubble on par with baby boomers themselves.
Just as the Happy Meal created a generation of fast-food eaters, the camera phone with customized ringers and two-way text messaging aims to create a generation of heavy wireless users.
-- According to Telephia Inc., a San Francisco-based market research firm, 57 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use two-way text messaging on their phones; more than double the number of baby boomers (37- to 55-year-olds) who text-message".
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