Mobile Trends: Phone, PDA and Fashion
A recently completed IDC study confirms that mobile users perceive they derive one of the following sets of benefits from using mobile phones – safety and security, productivity and convenience, or style and status. IDC also found that young adult males are more likely than females to purchase tech as a fashion statement.
While some people relish the increased productivity and convenience of having a mobile phone, others are merely satisfied with their heightened sense of safety and security when carrying these devices. Fortunately for mobile phone vendors and wireless service providers offering emerging value-added feature sets and services, a full constituency of mobile users thrive on the style and status associated with owning the latest full-featured phones.
The IDC study also reveals a number of other corollaries about mobile phone users' perceptions about their phones, such as:
- Overall, productivity and convenience benefits are paramount to more users compared to other fundamental benefits, such as safety and security or style and status.
- The imperatives of style - and status-conscious mobile phone users are more numerous than other types of users – overall, style and status seekers want the latest devices with new features and services.
- Safety and security seekers are minimalists – that is, they are more typically price-conscious users who prefer easy-to-use phones with few enhancements.
- Males, more than females, rate style and status as important mobile phone benefits while females regard safety and security as more valuable.
"To capitalize on market voids, mobile phone vendors and wireless service providers must sustain technological innovations and creative marketing programs," says Dana Thorat, senior research analyst in IDC's Mobile User program. "However, in doing so, marketers must attempt to gain a better understanding of what makes mobile users tick – that is, identifying and satisfying ever-changing user demands in order to serve increasingly diverse and fragmented markets shaped by differing values, beliefs, needs, wants, and expectations."
IDC’s recently released study, What Makes Mobile Users Tick? The Underlying Factors of Mobile Phone Usage and Purchase Criteria (IDC #32439), examines the fundamental reasons people use their mobile phones. The data source used for this study is from IDC's Mobile Usage Patterns 2004 survey conducted in September 2004 among 1,795 members of IDC's Mobile Advisory Council. This council is part of IDC's International Technology Advisory Council, a global community of more than 28,000 buyers and users of mobile device (mobile phones, smart handheld devices, and notebook PCs), consumer electronics, and personal computing products and services around the world.
Thanks to Engadget for the tip.
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RE: Nagel Promises More Innovation
PalmOne needs some competition to make them innovate. Lets hope tapwave forces palmone to think.
The world will end in 2006. Just as it was predicted in the bible along with the release of Microsoft Longhorn.... :p
The next PDA i am looking forward to
TT5 sucks for several reasons: PLASTIC CASE, no recharging light indicator, NO CRADLE, reset button requiring unscrewing the stylus, SOFTWARE INCOMPATIBILITY (Tarascon pharmacopea, Tealscript), graffiti2, NO REPLACEABLE BATTARY.
I don't really care about wifi or bluetooth because I never used them. But having a fast processor, metal case, last screen without slider design and long battery life are important for me. The only positive points of TT5 over TT3 are battery life and large screen. But considering it also has so many down sides, I will not buy it to replace my TT3
RE: The next PDA i am looking forward to
TT5 sucks for several reasons: PLASTIC CASE, no recharging light indicator, NO CRADLE, reset button requiring unscrewing the stylus, SOFTWARE INCOMPATIBILITY (Tarascon pharmacopea, Tealscript), graffiti2, NO REPLACEABLE BATTARY.
"
AFAIK, ALL P1 PDAs require unscrewing your stylus to access the reset hole with a reset pin. For those of us with cheap plastic stylii, (like the one that came with the z71), we're forced to carry a small paper clip everywhere we go.
"Tungsten" is just a more professional sounding name for a line of busieness PDAs. I don't think any1 could expect a metal case for the TE. And then there's the T5 ........
[signature0]the secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that's even worse[/signature0]
[signature1]My PDAs: Visor --> Visor Neo (blue) --> Zire 71.... so ends the "marathon", for now[/signature1]
RE: The next PDA i am looking forward to
RE: The next PDA i am looking forward to
Reality, it's a such a minor annoyance that I'm surprised you think it a logical argument as to why "the T5 Sux...rock on, Dude!". Grow up.
This goes for the other arguments in that vein also. Plastic Case makes it suck? Please. By that logic you never liked your PalmPilot, PalmIII/VII, Handera, or any PPC that was out on the market, right? Oh wait you loved those? Did they suck? Apparently you think so, meaning you love stuff that sucks, right? No cradle? Does the cradle make the PDA? Heh.
And how many times does your thick skull need to be penetrated to make you understand that many of the software problems are NOT due to the T5, but shoddy 3rd party development?! Admittedly, there are some bugs in the OS version used on the T5. That being said, they would be on any other PDA that used the same OS. Most applications work without issue now.
The problems with the T5 are too little value associated with too high a price of admission. Yes, it should have had a cradle, or it should have cost less. It should have added more (and more useful) features than it did instead of trading off some minor features for less useful ones, or should have cost less. The PDA itself is a solid machine, just overpriced, and THAT is the issue.
Learn how to see clearly (and objectively), and how to formulate a logical, well reasoned argument.
_________________
Sean
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
RE: The next PDA i am looking forward to
Of course, by that logic they should all be made of... Tungsten, right?
Hey, it would be expensive, and serve no real practical purpose, but at least it would be armour-piercing! =P
(For those that don't know, Tungsten is commonly used as an alternative to depleted uranium for making armor piercing rounds)
_________________
Sean
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
RE: The next PDA i am looking forward to
Good thing P1 came along with a PDA that shows everyone how badly their programs are written.
You are kidding, right?
Younger Crowd
How much of a role does fashion play in your device choices?
-Ryan
RE: Younger Crowd
_________________
Sean
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
RE: Younger Crowd
[signature0]the secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that's even worse[/signature0]
[signature1]My PDAs: Visor --> Visor Neo (blue) --> Zire 71.... so ends the "marathon", for now[/signature1]
RE: Younger Crowd
With the emphasis on "this article". Funny how we get a flame war no matter what the topic!
Anyway, style (sounds more masculine than fashion) does play an important part with teens. My son complains that my wife's cell phone looks like a remote control, and he wants something else. Me, I place more weight on function and performance, but will pick the device that looks cooler or sexier if all else is nearly equal. Of course, if something looks particularly dorky, I'll skip it regardless of performance. I really admire the new HP's, but the Darth Vader look is so dated... Some designs look good for a long time. For example, the h1910 series will look slick for years, and the T3 still draws stares and comments after more than a year on the market. Others look somewhat professional but cheap, like some of the Axims and h2215's, along with the M1xx series. Some are low performers, but maintain an apperance of quality, even when nothing could be further from the truth. The M505 being a case in point.
PS: My wife had a good M505, and it is still in the family, but that was one of the exceptions ;)
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