Mobile operators and content companies are keen to get the youth using their services for obvious reasons…they have a strong desire for most forms of mobile content and they’re not put off by a complicated process. There’s also a high usage of mobile phones in the segment: “According to a recent survey by Carrick James Market Research, a British agency that focuses on the youth market, 63 percent of Britons aged 7 to 19 own mobile phones; among 7- to 9-year-olds alone, that ratio is one out of every four, and for 17- to 19-year-olds it is almost nine out of 10. Thirty percent of these kids have downloaded free ring tones, 19 percent have paid for them, and 10 percent have paid for games.”
There’re two issues the industry has to worry about, both blaringly obvious. First, parents must be comfortable with their childrens mobile phone usage. Second, companies need to offer content at a price young people can afford. This also applies to the way content is charged for — European kids are usually on prepaid plans so “it would make a lot more sense if operators charged an arcade-style, per-play fee to play games, rather than hitting kids with a
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