For the week of 4.10.06   

Teenagers have always been eager consumers of new technology, because such ownership has been seen as a marker of greater personal freedom and approaching adulthood. But with the explosion of new technology which has taken place in recent years, this trend has moved far beyond the girl who wants a Princess phone in her bedroom. Increasingly, ever younger children are being targeted by the manufacturers and marketers of technology, particularly cellular telephones.

Owning a cell phone has become a rite of passage for teens. Only 12% of children age 8-12 own a cell phone, but that number increases to a majority, 57% for ages 13-15. By age 18-21, cell phone ownership equals the 80 % average for all adults.

"We've got everything on my phone. I use it mostly for the phone, but I also play video games and use the MP3 player. I pretty much use it all the time." -- Mark Madsen, 24-year-old college student (AP, April 3, 2006)

The tremendous appeal – and economic power – which cell phones have come to have in the lives of young people should not be underestimated. Worldwide, youth spend only $16 billion on music;  they spend $106 billion on mobile phone content. Teens rank cell phones as more desirable than laptop computers, MP3 players and video-game consoles.  Young adults aged 18-24 are more likely than younger teens to take cell phone pictures and purchase ring tones, but for most wireless content and features, young users are the biggest enthusiasts. Cell phone users aged 13-17 are far more likely than other demographic groups to use a broad range of cell phone data services.  They are the biggest users of premium wireless features such as text messaging, downloading games, photo services, sports information and entertainment news.  Teens use cell phone features to find restaurant and movie information at more than twice the national average, and are three times as likely as the average cell phone owner to use their phones to access shopping guides and content from men's and women's magazines. The 13-17 age group shows the greatest interest in emerging offerings like cell phone TV.  About 17% say they are somewhat or very likely to subscribe to a live TV service whereas 13.4% of cell users aged 18-24 expect to do so. Interest falls sharply for older age groups. (AdAge.com, March 21, 2006, April 6, 2006)

"They're crazy for mobile. They see [a phone] as this little digital communicator that they can take with them wherever they go… It's going to be amazing to watch these people grow up. It's going to be a mix of ruling the world and playing videogames." -- Mark Donovan, VP-senior analyst with M:Metrics, a research firm that tracks wireless content and applications (AdAge.com, March 21, 2006)

Disturbingly, the teen-raunch-and-foul-language MTV Network is now the world's largest provider of cell phone content, with access to more than a billion cell phones. In the U.S., it is the first content provider to generate more than 1 million streams in a month on Verizon's V Cast service. And the network is moving to exploit the relationship young consumers have with their cell phones. MTV has announced software which will allow users to access Comedy Central and VH1 programming from their cell phones.  Both networks have also created new made-for-cell phone series: VH1 offers "A Dingo Ate My Video," in which puppets comment on music videos, while Comedy Central shows "The Clip Joint," featuring stand-up comedians. And later this summer, MTV will introduce a new service that will create cell phone "communities," while MTV executives have spoken of using cell phones to extend TV program brands, to air new made-for mobile programming, and to increase teen's spending on music.  (AdAge.com, April 6, 2006)

"The mobile handset is the holy grail of electronic devices." --  MTV Networks Music President Van Toffler, in his keynote address to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's 2006 conference (AdAge.com, April 6, 2006)

So avid is the market for cell phones among teens that merchants have taken the next logical step – that of selling the phones directly to children.

Toy giant Mattel is targeting pre-teen girls with a Barbie cell phone, intended to appeal to 8-to 14-year-old girls. The Barbie phones are slated for release this month, and nationwide chain stores such as Target, Wal-Mart and Toys 'R' Us will have them on shelves starting in July. In a cross-promotional move, a teen actress in a not-yet-named Hollywood movie will brandish a Barbie phone. The phone will come with 30 minutes of airtime, with additional minutes sold in $5 increments, and comes with three stick-on faceplates -- so a girl can dress up her phone with a leopard-colored sticker to match her purse, for example -- nine exclusive wallpapers, and three exclusive ring tones. Child consumers will also be able to buy additional faceplates and ring tones through MySceneMobile.com as a "customization to fit their image," says Bob F. Aniello, director of Mattel Interactive. (BusinessWeek.com, February18, 2005)

"It transcends traditional doll play. It's steeped in entertainment. It allows girls to interact with the brand. " -- Timothy J. Kilpin, Mattel's senior vice-president for girls marketing. (BusinessWeek.com, February 18, 2005)

On April 5, Disney unveiled Disney Mobile, a wireless phone service in cooperation with cell phone industry giant Sprint and in competition with Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless and other major carriers, using Sprint's technology to carry the service. The service will go on sale in June through disneymobile.com and Disney Mobile kiosks in malls. To gain access to the service, a child must own a Disney Mobile phone, which costs $59.99 with a two-year service contract. Other companies aiming cell phone sales at children include Wherify, which sells a phone containing a global positioning system; Hasbro, with a children's cell phone named "Chat Now"; Firefly Mobile, which is sold online and at Target Stores and which has signed up over 100,000 children to its mobile phone service; and LeapFrog's TicTalk, a phone filled with LeapFrog games and typical cell phone features like a stopwatch and speaker phone capability. The TicTalk is specifically aimed at six-year olds. (AdvertisingAge.com, July 27, 2005; New York Times, October 13, 2005; New York Times, April 5, 2006)

Even though cell phones for children are marketed to parents as a tool for children to contact parents in an emergency, in reality the phones allow advertisers of all kinds to better aim their sales pitches directly at children, who are easily swayed and subject to intense peer pressure from their friends.

 "Despite the industry's rhetoric, Disney and the telecommunications companies really want to use children as conduits to their parents' wallets. And marketers want another way to bypass parents and speak directly to the nation's children…The targeting of young children as the next growth market for the telecom industry is one of the worst ideas to appear in the American economy." – letter to Congress by Commercial Alert, a consumer advocacy group, and signed by over 30 child psychologists and advocates for children's welfare  (CommercialAlert.org, July 26th, 2005)

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