Price and service are more important than features such as music and video to young U.S. mobile-phone customers, according to a study.
Price and coverage ranked first and second for customers aged 12 to 21 who are considering switching providers, Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc. said in the study out this month. A faster network came in sixth and downloadable music and sports ranked seventh. The young are less loyal, take more pictures and send more text messages than their parents, it said.
The data suggests new providers such as Amp’d Mobile Inc., which target a younger crowd with unique, pricy features, may not capture significant market share from the biggest carriers. The top four service providers, including Cingular Wireless LLC and Verizon Wireless, together hold 76 percent of the younger market, the same share they have of adult households, the study said.
“The youth audience is not interested in mobile phones because of all the fancy content; it’s still primarily a communication device,” said Charles Golvin, a Forrester wireless analyst in an interview. The number of young people with the money to use the advanced services is “very limited,” he said.
