What kids actually think about mobile 2
July 18, 2011 14:10 by Claire in Technology
D&AD held one of the last of their Sharp’ner events on Wednesday and had a chat about the future of Blackberry. Joel Veitch suggested hope lies in the youth marker. “[School age kids] all want Blackberries. They don’t want iPhones or Android phones, they all want Blackberry.”
Have a look at the video here.
A few weeks ago I was on a train stuffed with school kids, with a group of boys talking about mobiles. Not known for their ability to talk in hushed and muted voices, I started making some notes. When all but two had left the train, I asked how old they were and we had a chat about mobiles. Apparently, after girls, mobiles are pretty high on the list of things twelve year old boys want to talk about.
Some interesting things came up:
- These kids don’t have apps. Their next phones might.
- They’re more interested in cost of contract over handset.
- They mentioned wanting Nokia, Samsung and Blackberry models. They rarely mentioned models – just manufacturers.
- The phones they do have can’t hold the number of texts they want: “This phone’s rubbish. After 134 texts it says it’s full.”
- Some kids at school have iPads. Or rather, their parents do. “They have them at home – I’ve seen photos!”
- Kids will mock you for buying an iPad 1 now that the iPad 2′s on the market.
- “He could get a Blackberry tablet but he doesn’t want one. They’re £500 – might as well get an iPad for £600.”
- “My Mum works [for Nokia] so I get Nokias from her. But I hate Nokias. I’m getting a Blackberry Curve.
Obviously this is just a group of five 12 year old boys in South East England. It’s not scientific, but it is interesting. And it’s good to talk to people, rather than just do desk research. Blackberry came up a lot and really backs up the point made in the D&AD video.
The best moment was:
- “What’s 3G?”
- “It’s data transfer like bluetooth.”
- “I could swear the iPhone doesn’t have bluetooth.”
- “That’s because they want you to get all your shit from the iTunes store.”
Well, they’re halfway there.
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Comments
Lem
July 28, 2011 15:46
“Apparently, after girls, mobiles are pretty high on the list of things twelve year old boys want to talk about.” – really? like, higher than videogames or gross things?
- i’m surprised that nokia is so low on the list
- completely in agreement with the texts thing. i hate having to constantly delete my texts since i archive my mail/correspondence obsessively.
- that’s right, apple DOESN’T have bluetooth. SHOCKHORROR
all in all sounds like an interesting conversation.
Claire Tayler
July 28, 2011 15:49
Nokia’s been having bad press more recently since Android and iPhones took off. Less surprised by Nokia being low down the list – more surprised at lack of iPhone mention.
They spent some of their time talking about girls but mostly mobiles (the link being texting girls). It was nice talking to kids. It’s easy to forget the youth of today