Youth Market Represents Large Opportunity for Wireless

With an estimated 25 to 35 million potential customers, the youth market in the United States could represent an extremely lucrative opportunity for the wireless industry. In-Stat/MDR reports that opportunities exist not just for wireless carriers, though they stand to reap the largest share, but for handset manufacturers, wireless application developers and publishers as well.

"To successfully tap this customer segment, the wireless industry will need to focus on developing innovative services that appeal to youth, but that also fit parents' buying habits," said Ken Hyers, a senior analyst with In-Stat/MDR. "This will call for a multiphased product and service offering from carriers. A combination of plans, including a mix of post-paid and pre-paid, family plans, and youth-oriented sub-brands should all be considered by carriers interested in this customer segment. Service offerings, particularly data services, are of interest to younger wireless customers -- the wireless industry should ensure that their product mix in this category is wide and complete enough to appeal to younger users."

Over the last couple of years, this market has not gone unnoticed by the wireless industry. Carriers, such as the industry giants Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular, have all rolled out pre-paid services specifically targeted at kids and young adults. Just last year, Sprint, in partnership with Virgin Mobile of the UK, rolled out a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), called Virgin Mobile USA, tailored to appeal to the "MTV Generation." These services have had varying levels of success in penetrating this target market and, collectively, have millions of subscribers in this age group. Boost Mobile, however, may have hit on a formula that will give them the edge over other companies in reaching what is viewed as a highly fickle customer segment.

In a recent survey of both parents and young adults, In-Stat/MDR found that the average age of a child whose parent supplied the mobile phone was most likely to be 19 or above, indicating that parents provide their children with their own phones as a safety tool when the children begin to move out of the house for the first time. Youths were, by a substantial margin, more likely to be customers of Verizon Wireless, then any other single wireless carrier and youths, and particularly young adults, were highly likely to use wireless data services regularly."

Posted to the site on 5th February 2004