My niece was caught in a rainstorm last week while at an out-of-town cheerleading camp. The torrential rain soaked her to the skin and drowned the wireless handset in her pocket. After the rain stopped, the phone would not work. My brother loaned her his phone as a temporary fix. Having her dad’s phone meant she could keep in touch with her parents, but none of her friends had that number, and none of her friends’ numbers were stored in that phone. It was a small consolation.
To a 15-year-old girl, a phone loss can be worse than losing a wallet. Her personal connection to the people and things she cared about was gone in an instant. Her phone is really an extension of who she is.
The popularity of the ringtone market alone proves this fact. Whenever I hear the Harry Potter theme song, it is undeniably my friend Missy’s phone ringing. She is a bit of a Harry fanatic. For the youth market especially, it goes even further than that to face plates, charms, holders and a variety of other accessories.
And as with my niece, who carried a pink phone with a Kelly Clarkson ringtone, it is not just about looks. What was inside her phone was very personal and actually more important than the physical device itself.
Research from Merlin Mobile Media supports this: “Mobile phones are an extension of the consumer’s personality, externally and internally,” said Richard Reece, chief executive officer of Merlin. “It is well known that consumers use phone design and ringtones to broadcast their external identity. Merlin’s research shows that this personalization is internal as well. The mobile phone has become a repository for the consumer’s internal identity and memories.”
It is an important fact to note. Though content and entertainment apps are far sexier to talk about, they currently account for only 6.4 percent of wireless user-initiated activity. Communication functions including voice, e-mail and messaging take 38.3 percent of the pie, with personal content creation and management a close second with 36.3 percent of user initiations.
Granted, as Colin Gibbs points out in our youth markets focus this week, content is so important to 25 percent of the 13- to 24-year old set that they would be willing to switch carriers to get it. A pack of MVNOs is preparing to capitalize on that fact with a plethora of offerings. But even though a ringtone, wallpaper or game might tell the world a little bit about a wireless user, it is the contact list, calendar and camera that make the phone truly personal. Just ask Paris Hilton.
