Youth-powered Industry: Wireless Report

By Allan Pulga

“The average 10-year-old will spend almost $30,000 on mobile services in a lifetime and the youth market is shaping mobile technology markets, according to an annual study recently released by Wireless World Forum,” reports K.C. Jones of TechWeb.

The U.K.-based company argues, in its 2006 Mobile Youth report, that the relationship between young people and mobile technology is critical but often overlooked. The report states that youth spending on mobile services passed the $100 billion mark in 2006.

“Young consumers are driving innovations like text messaging, mobile music and mobile radio and the study states that new data services are the most important factor in reversing long-term declines in mature mobile markets like North American and Northeast Asia,” writes Jones.

Wireless World Forum notes that young people currently spend less on wireless services than high-income earners and early adopters, but they represent high value segments in their lifetimes.

“By the time today’s 10-year-old turns 35, the consumer will have spent more than half of the $30,000 worth of mobiles services purchased in a lifetime, according to the study, which labels the 25-year period ‘the window of mobile opportunity,’” writes Jones.

Unrelated industries must accommodate mobile growth into existing product development and marketing or risk losing out on $10 billion annual growth in mobile spending, the report warns. Companies can capture youth by enhancing the social utility of mobile phones, it adds.

Youth spending on data services represents almost 50 percent of all mobile spending in most mature markets, according to Wireless World Forum.