Teens and cell phones: a saturated market
Posted
Jul 21 2008, 12:42 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Talk about a saturated market: 91% of 17-year-old girls had cell phones last year. That compares to 78% of 17-year-old boys, according to a research study mentioned in the New York Times.
The teen segment is hugely important to cell phone companies, but the study's author says growth is going to slow simply because 100% penetration isn't realistic. That could be problematic for companies zeroed in on this market.
Educational company LeapFrog gets 'em young with a phone called the TicTalk that lets parents control which numbers are called and when the phone can ring. By age 13, 57% of teens had cell phones, according to the study.
Saturation creeps in during the older years, and cell phone companies are fighting this by turning to a still-unexplored area for teens: the smartphone. Only about 20% of teens own a smartphone like Apple's iPhone, according to News.com, but the industry is betting on fast growth among the age group. More teens want an iPhone than a new car, according to a study out last year.
While mobile carriers are trying hard to lure teens with music, games and video features, experts say tech giants like Apple and Google will have more success at "side-loading" applications into cell phones.
