5.5 Million UK School Children Will Own A Mobile Phone


-/12 Jan, 2005 - Wi-Fi Technology News/-New data from research consultancy "mobileYouth", whose clients include Vodafone, Nokia, Orange and Disney, cites the number of under 16s in the UK owning a mobile phone will grow to 5.5 million (an increase of nearly half a million from the previous year)

Whilst the growth in the numbers of youngsters owning mobile phones slowed down in 2004 as the market reached maturity, growth in 2004 was driven by primary school (5-10yr old) children getting their first phone.

Amid the current controversy surrounding mobile ownership by the very young, mobileYouth data shows that the driving force behind young children owning mobile phones is not the mobile industry, but the parents. Most have cited security concerns as one of the main reasons why their children should own a mobile phone.


The mobile industry still has a long way to go to satisfy the growing need for "mobile parenting". One of the key growth application areas focused on the very young in 2005 will be the emergent mobile tracking sector that allows parents to track the whereabouts of their children at any given time.

mobileYouth recommends that the mobile industry take measures to demonstrate they are catering for the needs of the parents rather than the pester power of children during 2005 by educating guardians as to the potential advantages and disadvantages of these technologies.


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