Teenagers Crave Gadgets

Teens crave gadgets, but the most important aspect of this craving is what type of gadgets. Over the past few years there have been many “fads” that have popped up. Some of the BIG examples are, iPod’s..Texting..Video Games(Wii and Xbox in particular) and social networking. If you ask anyone between the ages of 13-19, they know all of the above gadgets. So I am going to ask a question, Why are these things so popular with today’s youth, and why have some of the sales in certain areas of this market fallen?

In the case of iPods, I am not going to pay 299-399 for an iPod touch no matter how cool they may be, and I think thats the case for most Teens. I go to a upper middle class school and a lot of the kids are somewhat “well off” per se. Yet in everyone’s hand i don’t see an iPod touch, or even the very popular iPhone. I see cell phones and about 80% of the time they are cell phones with qwerty keyboards.

So why are these kids ignoring such things at iPods and moving to cell phones instead? Just like most businessmen and women, kids also like to be mobile and have everything at their fingertips with the push of a button. So why don’t they have iPhones then? It’s the total package, the answer is because its too pricey and possibly a lack of physical keyboard. Most of these phones have social networking,text messaging and possibly music storage built right in which adds to the mobility. Facebook and Twitter are already second nature to Teens, so in order to maintain that sense of community with their friends they need to constantly update their status or tweet what they are eating for lunch. The reason that I am mentioning qwerty keyboards is because it may be possible to type quickly on  a touch screen phone, it cant be matched with a physical keyboard. This comes in handy when doing what just about every Teen in the entire planet has done one time or another…text during class. Not to give out tips on how not to get caught, but about 90% of the time the girls/guys with the touch screen phones are the ones who get caught and the people with the physical keyboards keep their phones for yet another day.

For my final topic which is video games, This may be the second most important market apart from cell phones, this is because though it may not seem apparent always; Kids like a challenge and video games delivers that challenge for them. The Wii and Xbox are the most popular in the video game dept crushing the PS3 (the trend is shown again with Teens buying the cheaper product) most likely because of price reasons but also because it delivers a different type of gaming experience in the case of the Wii, and in the case of the Xbox its because its a cheaper product (compared to the PS3). Xbox/Wii Buyers are willing to spring extra for such features as online multiplayer gaming or watching TV shows/movies because in their mind its a pittance to pay for entertainment and the sense of community that exists even within an online multiplayer environment. Sony has recently lowered the PS3’s price, but i think it may take a while for the general public to catch on.

So a recap of what gadgets teens crave:

Price Matters!
Physical keyboards are important
Teens want to be mobile
Video Games are an essential part of the Teen market
Social Networking is a must have for any gadget that wishes to become popular with teens.