Team Editor’s note:  I liked this article because the rapid growing cel phone industry is growing and changing every day. This article provides current statistics on Cel phones for Minors. Anyone interested in the cel phone industry or purchasing a cel phone for your minor will benefit from this article.

 

There's something disquieting about giving a child an expensive piece of technology, and something absurd in the idea that kids need to stay in constant contact.

Firefly Mobile has developed a kid-centric phone. This new device could be a useful tool, providing a convenient way for children to stay in touch with their family. But first the phone is going to have to grow out of its infancy, and adults are going to have to get to the point where they can hear the phrase "cell phone for kids" and not cringe in horror.

 

Cringe if you like, but it's hard to argue with the business case for such a device. Pretty much every adult aged 25 to 55 who wants a mobile phone, about 80% according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association already has one. This fact has made kids the fastest-growing and least-penetrated portion of the wireless marketplace, a wide and growing swath of unconnected consumers. In 2000 only a single-digit percentage of kids had a wireless phone, but that changed by 2003, when some estimate one-third of U.S. kids aged 11 to 17 had one.

 

Firefly Mobile launched in 2002 with the intention of navigating those hurdles. Three years later, they've got a phone on the market: a cute, palm-sized object that looks a bit like it's derived from the original Apple IMAC Computer, all curves and transparent tinted plastic. Instead of a standard keypad, it has just a handful of buttons; kids have to press preprogrammed "Mom" or "Dad" keys to phone home. Parents can program a third button with up to 20 other speed-dial options, and set the device to only accept calls from those numbers.

The Firefly phone is targeted at kids who fall into the "tween" demographic--roughly between the ages of 8 and 12--an age group some may argue is too young for a full-fledged mobile phone, yet old enough to want one. They're also old enough and often just independent enough that a parent may be willing to pay to be able to check in with them whenever they want.

 

Source: www.forbes.com

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