While most U.S. consumers still see a mobile phone as, well, a phone, young wireless users increasingly view it as a way to meet new friends, share pictures and maybe, to find love.
The rise of community-based Internet sites and services has been as well-documented as it has been lucrative. High-profile sites like YouTube and MySpace have sold out for vast sums, while lesser-known destinations such as Flickr, Facebook and Snapfish continue to attract attention from both Web surfers and investors.
Community-based mobile Web services also are showing remarkable uptake among users between the ages of 13 and 17, according to figures from M:Metrics. The Seattle-based market research firm found that youth users are nearly twice as likely to upload both photos and videos to the Internet from their handsets, with nearly 9 million kids posting a cell-phone picture in the last month.
And in these early days of 3G, it appears the U.S. market for such services is virtually untapped. A recent study from Telephia found that 15 percent of Spanish subscribers use their phones to capture video clips-five times the rate of U.S. users.
But youth-focused wireless applications needn’t be high-tech to be popular. Young subscribers are far more likely than the average user to access instant-messaging services, and-unlike most other consumers-are more likely to use IM on their phones than to access e-mail. Mobile chat services like those from Match.com are also appealing, drawing more than 7 percent of youth users.
While young users may need to take out the trash or mow the lawn to afford a couple of ringtones, their appetite for mobile content and services is huge, according to the Wireless World Forum. Youth spending accounts for nearly 50 percent of all wireless data revenues in many mature markets, the market research group said in a recent report, and the average 10-year-old will spend nearly $30,000 on mobile services over a lifetime.
Just as importantly, half of that sum will be spent by the time that kid hits the age of 35.
To attract those young users, though, would-be suitors should stop hyping whiz-bang technology and instead focus on the practical, community-building qualities of mobile applications, the organization said. Even mobile music offerings, which are a natural fit for teens accustomed to taking an iPod everywhere they go, should encourage users to listen to samples of their friends’ favorites and recommend tunes to like-minded teens.
“Rather than being a handset, a games console, technology or a gadget, think about the mobile phone as a tool to facilitate social interaction,” the Wireless World Forum urged. “For youth, the mobile phone is a tool to connect, to express, reinforce and make new friendships.”
Of course, there’s no shortage of Internet-based companies moving into mobile. Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. continue to crash the gates of wireless, and MySpace and its fellow community sites seem to be adding mobile functionality by the day.
Pure plays have traction
As the traditional Internet collides with wireless, though, it may be the mobile-first players that have an edge. Youth-focused, community-based startups like AirG and Jumbuck Entertainment Ltd. have cultivated impressive followings and already have both the carrier relationships and technological expertise-two substantial hurdles for anyone looking to mobilize their application.
FunMobility Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif.-based wireless developer of community applications like America’s Best Mobile Pix, said it is gaining cross-traction by offering special features to the subscribers who log on via a PC as well as their phone. While users still have to go through carrier decks to buy the application, they can use a computer to perform sophisticated tasks like inputting information and manipulating photos.
The cross-platform functionality also helps users cross the bridge of the fixed-line Internet-where so much content is free-to wireless, where they’re accustomed to paying for extras, said Adam Lavine, FunMobility’s chief executive officer.
“It’s a bit of a delicate dance integrating the two, but if you can successfully integrate the Web and mobile, we think, it’s a huge opportunity,” Lavine said. “We see a pretty big opportunity to build a lot of revenue for ourselves and our carrier partners by doing this.”
* * *
Multimedia and messaging use among teen mobile users (ages 13-17)
8.8% of teens used their phone to upload a photo to the Web, compared to 4.8% of all U.S. wireless users
11.5% of teens used their phone to access e-mail, compared to 9.9% of all U.S. wireless users
13.4% of teens used their phone for a major instant messaging service, compared to 7.4% of all U.S. wireless users
4.5% of teens used their phone to upload a video to the Web, compared to 2.4% of all U.S. wireless users
56.7% of teens own an MP3 player, compared to 30.6% of all U.S. wireless users
Source: M:Metrics
