Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:08PM EDT
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I've featured many phones here on Yahoo! Tech, most of them created to appeal to a younger, style-conscious generation that wants both form and function packaged in a good looking phone. After all, phones are an extension of our personality and the reason we pay a lot of moolah to have them covered in Swarovski crystals. That's not to say we solely judge a phone by its cover. This generation of tech-savvy consumers has all the shopping comparison tools they need to make an informed decision. Add tech blogs, forums, and techie friends to the mix, and young consumers will have enough reasons to think twice before plunking down $300 on a phone, just because it's cute.
A recent survey conducted by Nielsen Media Research confirms what we long suspected: cell phones do say a lot about our personality. According to Nielsen Media Research associate director Mr. Jody Loughlin, "The type of mobile you're seen with could even be more important than whether you're with...one of the other major carriers." Most of us know that mobile phone companies will do anything to get their phones into celebrity hands as a tactic to make them more desirable. Forbes recently shed some light on a practice called "celebrity seeding" where companies gift actors with their products hoping to garner media attention in return. Nothing new here, but lately I've seen celebs pictured with more than two gadgets in their hands, sometimes even three. Blogs like Geeksugar never fail at keeping us guessing what phones celebs are sporting on their regular column called "Match The Celeb with the Cell Phone."
So I've combined what Nielsen Media Research and Dawn Bratton say about phone stereotypes, and added a little celebrity phone sightings to find out if what they say is true. What do you think?
Do you fall into any of these categories:
Motorola Magenta RAZR: Fashion conscious, under 24, fun seekers, individualistic.The "It" girls must have phone.
Celebrities who have one: Maria Sharapova, Paris Hilton, Denise Richards, Nicole Richie, Rachael Bilson, and Mischa Barton.
Dolce & Gabbana V3i RAZR: Only 1,000 of these were made so this phone screams "I'm One of a Kind."
Celebrities who have one: Sharon Stone, Hillary Duff, Reese Witherspoon
Chocolate LG Pink: Favorite with moms/stay-at-home parents, success driven, harmony seekers.
Celebrities who have one: Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Jessica Alba, Snoop Dog, Hugh Hefner, Girls Next Door.
Sidekick 3: You can be exclusive and you like to have people wonder what you are doing at all times.
Celebrities who have one: Hillary Duff, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan
Nokia: Family-minded, middle aged managers, balance seekers, health conscious.
Celebrities who have one: Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige
Sony Ericsson: Ambitious young men, professionals, success driven, individualistic
Celebrities who have one: Robbie Williams, Helena Christensen
Samsung: Young women, career focused, success driven, fun seekers
Celebrities who have one: Leonardo DiCaprio, Allison Janney
Blackberry: You are into all of the tech things and like new things. Carrying a PDA also means you may be demanding but only because you are a multi-tasker. You are extremely organized.
Celebrities who have one: Jaime Fox, Britney Spears, Lauren Conrad, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Simpson, Adrian Grenier, and Tina Fey.
Treo: You are into all of the tech things and like new things. Carrying a PDA also means you may be demanding but only because you are a multi-tasker. You are extremely organized.
Celebrities who have one: Mathew Broderick, Peter Gabriel
Could the stereotypes be true? What phone do you have?
Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.
Posted by mscynsin om Sun 4-1-07 My phone says one thing about me "Catch me if you can"(:
ok, I have a kyocera pay-as-you-go phone. That means I'm cheap ;)
Love my Treo!!!!! It replaced my cell phone and my Palm E2. (My daughter uses them now!) We are busy educators who like to both make ourselves accessable to our students and maintain controll of our free time. With these tools, we can be busy, productive, and still have our own privacy and relaxation, in scheduled productive amounts.
This article needs some more research. They are waaaaay off. Especially on the LG Pink Chocolate. My friends and I all have one and we are working twenty somethings who like to have fun...no where close to stay at home moms!! And actually the one girl I know with the pink RAZR IS a stay at home mom, not the under 24 it girl.
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1 Posted by dadchamp1@sbcglobal.net on Sun Apr 1, 2007 5:12PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm a techie ... I have a Kyocera433 that is 4 years old and does everything I want it to ... it takes calls and allows me to make calls. Period! That's all a cellphone should do.