What consumers want in their handsets varies by age, income, survey says

Consumer preferences for mobile handsets vary widely and are heavily influenced by demographic factors, particularly age and income, according to a recent iSuppli study. Based on a survey of more than two million US consumers, the results indicated that while price and brand trumps all else, there is a generational divide in how and why consumers use their wireless handsets.

Consumers in the 18 to 24 and 40 to 44 groups agreed that brand and price are the main factors they consider when purchasing a new handset. This was, however, their only consensual criterion. For younger users, wireless phones are primarily used for entertainment and to make a fashion statement, the study found. As such, multimedia features like the camera and styling are more important than the phone’s capabilities in deciding what to buy. For the older demographic, those age 40 to 44, handsets serve a more utilitarian function of basic communications for work and personal use.

The relative importance of price was also reflected in the income levels of the respondents. iSuppli’s survey indicated that almost 32% of US consumers making less than $25,000 per year named price as their top buying criteria. However, only about 15% of those earning more than $200,000 named price as a deal-breaker. That being said, 19.7% to 17.8% of consumers at each income level ranked brand as even more important than price.

Text messaging was another area of dissention between the generations. Users 18 and under spend 23% of their time text messaging, with that percent declining with age, falling to 11% for those ages 35 to 39 and, not surprisingly, just 1% for those over 65. Younger users were also responsible for the most social networking done via mobile handsets.

As smart phones have increased in market share from 10% to 16% year on year, emailing has become more popular as well, especially amongst the 18-to-24 year-old group, with 8% of their time spent on this task. Those younger than 18 spent just 4% of their time e-mailing, and consumers age 25 to 39 e-mailed 6% of the time. The difference in email usage reflects the fact that 96% of consumers surveyed bought handsets for personal use, while only 4% were enterprise users.

Considering that iSuppli predicts 1.29 billion mobile phones will be shipped in 2008, variety is the operator’s most reliable way to capitalize on the varying tastes of each demographic. Greg Sheppard, Chief Development Officer at iSuppli, said that the survey indicates that mobile-phone makers and wireless operators that can successfully gauge and capitalize on user preferences are likely to be the most successful players in the future mobile-handset market.

Another survey, released this week by Pew Internet Project, indicated that regardless of one’s age or income level, Americans would rather give up their TV, Internet access or wireless email than hand over their cell phones. While the phone is a must, choice remains an important criterion.

“There are people who today won’t accept any phone that doesn’t have a QWERTY keyboard, and there are people today that don’t want a QWERTY keyboard,” said Avi Greengart, research director, mobile devices at Current Analysis in an interview this week. “The only message you can get is that there is no ideal phone and there will always be someone who is looking for a different combination of features or has different priority.”