In a not-too distant past, the automobile was the ultimate symbol of coming of age: a way out from parents (and friends' parents), from siblings' prying eyes, from geographical constraints. No longer: for hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide, 'The Cell Phone is the New Car' (as the Economist cleverly stated earlier this year). Consider these similarities between the automotive and wireless/handheld industries:
• Model and customization define the owner
• Replacement is frequent
• Choice is massive
• Branding and design are key
• Competition is global
• Anticipation of new models is enormous
FREEDOM, MOBILITY and INDEPENDENCE rule, and the cell phone delivers these benefits to the youngest of generations. Want (staggering) numbers? The worldwide number of mobile cell phone users is estimated at 1.6 billion people in 2004 (from 1.3 billion in 2003). A staggering 320 million of these users can be found in China. The global number will rise to 2.1 billion in 2009 (source: Ovum, July 2004). Close to 30% of all tweens (age 6-15) in Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and Singapore own a cell phone. This number is 50% for most European nations. Germany and Sweden, with 65%, have the highest score. In The Netherlands and Japan, close to 100% of all 14 year olds possess a cell phone. No wonder that in the UK, a group of teens who recently agreed to go without their phones for two weeks as an experiment (Manning Gottlieb OMD), told researchers that their social lives had fallen apart
from Masters of the YOUniverse
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