Hatton+J+Focus+Group+Report

Hatton J

TO: Proximity Mobile Team FROM: James Hatton SUBJECT: Mobile Focus Group Report DATE: March 29, 2010

This is my report on the focus group I held with four college students. One of these students was female and the remaining three were males. I was able to ask all five of our proposed questions and got comprehensive answers for all of them. All four of the participants were Verizon users and most were satisfied with their cell phones and service providers.

U.S. users of smart phones typically buy a subsidized handset from a particular cell phone provider. Consequently they must consider trade-offs between handset features and the price and quality of the cell network. The purpose of our focus groups is to determine what factors influence these decisions, and whether they are driven primarily by the choice of handset or the provider network. This information will let us better advise Proximity clients about which handsets and networks are most attractive to Gen-Y users.
 * Focus Group Rationale**

The 45 minute session was held at my house on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. The participants were:
 * Setting and Participants**


 * Rachel, 20, a University of Maryland Psychology major;
 * Mike, 22, a University of Maryland Business major;
 * Nick, 21, a Virginia Tech Business Information Technology major;
 * Jon, 21, a Towson University Physical Education major.

The following five topics were covered in the session:
 * Session Topics**

__Deciding factors on buying a phone__ When asked why they purchased the phone they did, my participants responded with two general answers. Rachel; who owns a Blackberry Tour, purchased her phone because of it's internet, e-mail and quick text messaging capabilities. She has many advisors for internships and students for student teaching that she has to keep in touch with at all times, and this phone allows her to do that. Nick also has a Tour, but because he //wants// the features, he doesn't //need// them. Jon has the LG Dare because it was " was the newest available model at the time I was up for an upgrade ", and because he has been satisfied with his LG phones in the past. Mike's out-dated Samsung Alias was the top of it's class in text messaging when it came out, but has since become an inferior phone to many others.

__Reputation of service provider__ The reputation of the service provider being a deciding factor was split 50/50 between my participants. Reputation was not a factor for Mike and Rachel because they are both on family plans, and have no say in which provider they use unless they want to pay for it themselves which, at this time, is not a good option for them seeing as how they both have unpaid internships and can't afford it. Jon and Nick both agreed that they are heavily influenced by their family and friends telling them that Verizon is superior in both coverage, reliability, customer service and cost.

__Features and applications__ All but one participant had a smartphone. This topic sparked the most conversation; especially with the more recent Blackberry Tour owners Rachel and Nick. They frequently use e-mail, Pandora (online radio), calendar (which can also sync with Google's calendar), the Weather Channel app, and all the basic features such as camera, text messaging, and making phone calls. Jon's Dare allows him to get on the internet and also provides him with games and the basic features noted above. Mike only uses his phone for text messaging and making phone calls.

__Satisfaction with cell phone and suggested improvements__ Rachel and Nick are completely satisfied with their devices because they are top of the line, whereas Jon feels like he needs a new one because he feels like it's an old phone now, even though it does everything he needs it to do and more. Rachel did have a suggestion about the Blackberry, she would like it to be able to send SMS' with over 160 characters because she sends a lot of lengthy text messages. Mike has the oldest phone which can only do basic features. Even though he used to love his phone, he currently hates it and can't wait until he can switch to a smartphone.

__Satisfaction of cell service provider and loyalty__ All of the participants were satisfied with their providers, but not all planned to stay with them. Rachel planned on staying with Verizon because she loves her Blackberry and wishes to stay on the family plan as long as she can. Jon is getting dropped off the family plan after he graduates but plans on staying with Verizon because he is satisfied with the service. Nick is starting his real job after this semester and plans on switching to whatever phone the Company provides him with. Although he is very satisfied with Verizon, he would rather sacrifice a little quality in service and phones to save some money. Although Mike is happy with Verizon, he wants to switch to AT&T to get an iPhone once his contract is up. However; if the iPhone comes to Verizon he will stay with them.

This focus group showed me that Gen-Y users are:
 * Findings**
 * More concerned about their phone than the quality of service
 * Willing to switch to (what they think is) an inferior provider to get a better device
 * Willing to stay or switch to a certain provider so that they don't have to pay for it themselves

The findings of this focus group report are kind of redundant; which shows why it is so hard to appeal to Gen-Y users. All four participants were on Verizon's network, so maybe the results would have been different if I had found a more diverse group of users. Whatever the case; it seems that the network doesn't matter as much as the phone, and that the user is more willing to switch providers for a phone over service.