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Kids love wireless
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February 14, 2001: 5:03 p.m. ET
Mobile-phone providers look to the under-18 crowd for a rich market
By Dan Briody
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SAN FRANCISCO (www.redherring.com) - I can remember the day I got my first electronic device: a portable cassette player that was roughly the size of a mailbox. It weighed almost as much as I did, and I wore it with a strap around my shoulder while I delivered papers around my neighborhood. Man, we had it rough back then.
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Only about 25 percent of 13- to 18-year-olds regularly use wireless phones, according to the Yankee Group. That number is expected to climb to 68 percent by 2005. In other words, this market is just about to hit puberty.
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But times have changed, and kids these days walk around with multiple devices, dangling from oversized backpacks and shoved into cargo-pant pockets. And why not? Today's cell phones and other portable devices are smaller, cheaper, and more fun than the monolithic cassette players of yore. And let's face it: They're way more fun than schoolwork.
I suppose that's why wireless service providers, handset makers, and game makers have all turned in earnest to the under-18 market for their hot new source of revenue. And there are some serious numbers to back up that presumption. Teenage Research Unlimited claims that teens between the ages of 12 and 19 spend close to $82 a week on entertainment, fashion, food, and technology. That's almost as much as I spend a week on those things, so I'm thinking of asking my boss to up my allowance.
In addition, only about 25 percent of 13- to 18-year-olds regularly use wireless phones, according to the Yankee Group. That number is expected to climb to 68 percent by 2005. In other words, this market is just about to hit puberty.
Already Sprint PCS (PCS: Research, Estimates), AT&T Wireless (AWE: Research, Estimates) and Verizon Wireless (VZ: Research, Estimates) are introducing services aimed squarely at this market. Two-way short messaging and instant messaging are the current applications of choice. But Sprint's new Uproar handset, made by Samsung, combines cell phone functionality with email, a personal information manager, and an MP3 player for a cool $399. You know how many papers you have to deliver to make that kind of dough?
Starting them young
All of this is teaching the United States what Europe already knows: Kids can't help themselves when it comes to these devices. In Britain, almost half of the children ages 7 to 16 own mobile phones. And each phone accounts for about three text messages a day. With that many kids getting hooked that young, these phones should come with warnings. Something like, "Caution: text messaging with friends can be habit-forming and has been known to cause random giggling during class in laboratory rats."
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There are uses of wireless technology designed to aid in the education process. Wireless LANs in schools have been hyped quite a bit, mostly by the corporations that supply them. But the real educational advantages of these networks, particularly when seen in relation to the costs, are dubious at best.
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It's not hard to see where this is all going, of course. Actual conversation is only going to hold kids' attention for so long, even if it is a clever means of distraction during school. Nope, for the really long lectures you need more substance, excitement, and staying power. You need games.
Earlier this month, Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates) announced a deal with Japan's NTT DoCoMo (NTT: Research, Estimates) to bring PlayStation games to i-Mode phones. Not to be outdone, Nintendo signed a deal with DoCoMo rival KDDI to wireless-enable Game Boys. With a $50 adapter kit, you can hook your Game Boy up to a cell phone and play what Nintendo executives call "networked game entertainment."
Teacher's pet peeve
Believe it or not, there are also uses of wireless technology designed to aid in the education process. These, not surprisingly, are much smaller markets. Wireless LANs in schools have been hyped quite a bit, mostly by the corporations that supply them in an attempt to seed future, more lucrative markets. But the real educational advantages of these networks, particularly when seen in relation to the costs, are dubious at best.
The following article illustrates an example of a school in California that was able to save thousands of dollars by wirelessly hooking itself up to the Internet. Though it is hard to argue that learning about computers is not a good thing, it's also hard to imagine that the money spent on 50 iMacs and six Apple (AAPL: Research, Estimates) AirPort bases couldn't have been spent on something better. With so many schools in need of textbooks, classrooms, and teachers, isn't there something better to spend your budget on than wireless LANs?
These so-called "donations" from technology companies to schools are upsetting because although they seem altruistic on the surface, there is a very good reason to want to get children using a given operating system early or a particular brand of software. And while the schools may get a good deal on some cutting-edge technology, who will be there when this stuff breaks down? Have you ever seen school teachers try to set up a slide projector? It isn't pretty. 
© 1997-2000 Red Herring Communications. All Rights Reserved
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