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India has emerged as the fastest growing mobile handset market in the world. The Indian mobile market is primarily dominated by the youngsters who account for 32 percent of the total market. Understanding the youth's preference is a prerequisite for handset manufacturers to sustain or create a competitive advantage in the emerging market. This paper throws light on the factors that motivate the youth to own mobile handsets. The paper mainly explores the functional aspects of owning a handset and focuses on understanding the relative importance of the reasons for the purchase and the attributes that college-going students generally look for while buying a handset. Data were collected from a sample of 208 handset owners aged between 20 and 29. The findings indicate that there is a significant difference in the importance of the reasons (ease of use and physical appearance) for purchase and that of the attributes (SMS, calendar, and calculator) of handset between two groups of youngsters (high group and low group). The study also provides leads for carrying future research in the area.
The mobile phone—"the latest incarnation of the telephone" (Katz and Aakhus, 2002)—has been commercially available in India since the last decade. The reasons behind the ubiquitous acceptance and presence of the device were the favorable policies of the government, development of small handsets, radical fall in handset prices, and the commercialization of prepaid subscriptions. Since then, the device has become an inseparable part of the lives of almost all people irrespective of their gender, class, and age. From being a rich man's accessory to being owned by all and sundry, the mobile handset has really come a long way.
Previously, simple mobile handsets were in vogue. Afterwards manufactures started adding several attributes to the handsets. These attributes were luring the users who wanted more from their mobile handsets. Though many of them have become obsolescent in the western part of the world, they are still new to India. Calling and messaging is a basic feature in contemporary handsets. These days mobile handsets are sold predominantly for their browsing, mailing, storage capabilities, and several other classy attributes such as camera and MP3 players. |
