Young users will account for more than 40 per cent of the market for mobile phone handsets and will spend over 13 per cent of their disposable incomes on mobile products in the next few years, a global survey has revealed.
Approximately 41 per cent of young adults were likely to upgrade their handsets in the next few years.
As the average percentage of users who upgrade every year is about one-third, the figure for young adults indicates that the youth will be major drivers of growth.
These findings, released by Telephia Inc, are consistent with a 2003 research by Wireless World Forum, indicating that global youth (5-24-year olds) will spend 13.5 per cent of their disposable incomes on mobile products.
The data, based on information from 20 of the leading markets worldwide, found that the youth segment will spend Euro 13.4 billion on mobile data services in 2003, increasing to over Euro 20 billion in 2006.
"We have seen a tangible shift in subscriber behavior over the last year, particularly among younger users, toward SMS and other text messaging services," said Mick Mullagh, president and chief executive officer of Telephia, in a report on the survey released through Cyberatlas.
The report predicts that text messaging will account for 85 per cent of all youth spending on value added services in 2006, followed by ringtones.
Youth spending on ringtones will amount to Euro 2.3 billion by 2006, with Japan, Korea, USA, Germany and UK as the largest markets.
According to Telephia, new mobile phone subscribers in 2003 are more likely to be young adults and they will probably lead growth in use of SMS (short message service). Even at present, young adults account for the largest chunk of mobile communication revenues.
In 2002 in joint surveys with Harris Interactive, Telephia found that 35 per cent of young adult users (18-24-year olds) used more than 500 wireless phone minutes per month, compared to 20 per cent of all users.
Additionally, 62 per cent of young adults accounted for 5 or more calls per day, versus 37 per cent of all users.
The domination extended to the SMS market. Around 35 percent of young adults were SMS users, compared to 20 per cent of all users, with 38 per cent of young adults sending/receiving messages at least once daily.
The figures were up from 2001 when 32 per cent of young adults considered themselves to be SMS users, versus 12 per cent of the overall population.