Last week, we surveyed three mobile phone stores in Midtown Manhattan to see what young people—from tween to college students–want from their mobile experience. What kind of phones are they buying? And what plans are powering them?
According to all three stores, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, they want smartphones. These higher-end devices allow them to activate their social lives on the go: snap a picture and load it to flickr, film something and post it on YouTube, check facebook, text with friends, listen to music–even talk to their parents.
Young Verizon customers specifically ask for color choices when purchasing their mobile device. They also want phones that play music and text, and they don’t mind small buttons or touchpads that cause headaches for more thick-fingered folks. Basically, Verizon customers want an individual
experience–from the music they play to the color of the phone.
In addition to a diverse color choice, a QWERTY keyboard is a must at T-Mobile. Their SideKick gives users a full keyboard that lets fingers fly, making it much easier to text and stay connected. Youth feel extraordinary pressure to maintain social contact with friends even if it means driving while distracted or becoming “addicted” to their phone. QWERTY keyboards make staying in touch faster and easier.
Younger AT&T customers also want smartphone models like the BlackBerry and iPhone—both come with a QWERTY keyboard and BlackBerry models usually come in multiple colors. The sales reps we spoke with said they also beg parents for the newest 3G iPhone or the cool new BlackBerry Curve. Sadly for those hoping to be added on to their family plan, a majority of AT&T parents opt to purchase a basic model for their kids like the LG CE110, Nokia 6085, and the Samsung A437. All these models are either free or come with a responsible price tag—under $40–but offer no QWERTY keyboard, don’t play music and have poor picture quality. Bummer.
College students, meanwhile, want a QWERTY not just to text, but for web and email access as well. At AT&T, the BlackBerry Curve was the most popular model last month, even among the young sales reps.
All three stores agreed that twenty-somethings want smartphones too, but more business-like versions. We saw this trend in our Global Youth Survey when a 21-year-old mentioned that a BlackBerry was as much a power play as a phone.
To accompany a smartphone, an all-you-can eat plan is a must. The Verizon sale rep said, “if parents don’t sign up for some sort of texting plan, they end up paying more for individual texts than the entire plan itself costs.” Twenty-somethings are coughing up for unlimited data, which lets them surf sans worry. Both parents and kids agree that it’s better to pay a bit more upfront than get slammed with a hair-raising bill down the road.
