LAS VEGAS--Even more than the enterprise user pushing data limits or early adopter downloading cutting-edge applications, it is the 10-year-old text message fanatic and the video game–obsessed 16-year-old who are driving the demand for handsets that can truly do anything. At a Motorola roundtable discussion at CTIA, Lewis Ward, research manager of wireless communications research for IDC, defined this category of users as the millennial generation: those born after 1980 who grew up with information technology and have an innate trust of the Internet. These young'uns don't have the same level of acceptance as their parents do for slow Internet speeds and poor-quality video or sound on their mobile handsets. And they have a right to their opinions — while overall mobile video penetration, for example, is only 4.5%, Ward said teens' use is three times that. Similar statistics hold true for most other mobile apps, including text messaging, gaming and music. The millennials' question is: Why can't I do everything and anything on my mobile phone? Their expectation is that they can, and they aren't thinking about bandwidth requirements, the backhaul or the walled garden when they demand it.

As the only actual (barely) millennial in the room at Motorola's roundtable, I was happy to hear our generation given some credit. I didn't get a cell phone until I was 18, but I was in the minority of my peers. Today, the average wireless user gets his or her first cell phone between the ages of eight and 12, and IDC predicts that 31 million new young users will join the market from 2005 to 2010. A lot of parents buy cell phones for the safety benefits of a ubiquitous means of contact or for GPS-tracking their children, but for a lot of young users, the phone is actually most desirable as a platform for entertainment.

One particular market segment that millennials are driving is mobile advertising — targeted mobile ads in particular. With a desire for "anything you want on your cell phone" and the reality of "no income to speak of," young cell phone users often are the most willing candidates to accept mobile advertising in exchange for free or cheaper services. Perhaps banking on this fact, several companies at CTIA announced plans to increase mobile ad presence. Action Engine launched a mobile ad extension platform, allowing mobile operators, manufacturers and app developers to extend mobile ads beyond Web sites into the offline pages found within downloadable applications and device idle screens. Marketing pioneer Pontis announced a delivery platform enabling carriers to target customers with personalized marketing offers based on their profiles and real-time use. Similarly, ChangingWorlds introduced a new ad personalization platform for targeting ads based on behavioral and contextual factors, as well as the content preferences of the individual subscriber.

To capitalize on accessing this willing wireless market in any way possible, Comverse is dreaming up new means of reaching customers through advertisements, according to James Colby, vice president and chief marketing officer. Why not include a banner ad on one bar of the increasingly popular visual voicemail? How about replacing callback tones with advertisements? Other options include having an ad take the place of a blank screen as browsers load or using word spotting for text messages to send relevant ads, much like Google does in its GMail service. The possibilities are seemingly endless. While some methods, especially those involving targeting customers based on location, are still under scrutiny, the younger generation is welcoming such ad-related innovations.

When the experience is right, millennials will come to it in droves, said Ed Sawma, a product-marketing manager for Motorola. This is already starting to prove true with mobile TV and video, social networking and applications — mobile advertising is likely to be no different. And if history repeats itself, the rest of the approaching three billion cell phone users are sure to follow the millennials — eventually.

Email me at sreedy@telephonyonline.com.