Interview with Best Buy Mobile VP Scott Moore

Brighthand's Ed Hardy recently spoke with a senior executive at Best Buy Mobile about shopping for mobile phones in the U.S.

He talked with Scott Moore, the Vice President of Marketing, about the challenges that face phone buyers, and what his company is doing to alleviate them.

2008 Mobile Life Survey

A subtext in this interview is the results of the latest Mobile Life Survey, which Best Buy Mobile conducts annually.

Key Findings:

• Despite the fact that Americans are relying more and more on technology gadgets, the relative importance of them is different by generation. In particular, the mobile phone is considered an essential item by the younger generation.
  • When asked what one item they would keep, the Millennial Generation was twice as likely to say their cell phone versus their TV. Older consumers, particularly Baby Boomers, had the opposite reaction – they were nearly three times as likely to say they would keep their TV over their cell phone.
  • On average, adults 18+ most often selected TV as the item they would keep, but children ages 11-18 listed mobile phones as their top item.
  • Millennials are more likely than average to make 6-10 calls on their mobile phone daily, and while only 7% of the total sample sends over 16 texts daily, 1 in 5 Millennials does.
• Millennials have adopted the mobile phone as a tool for providing, enhancing and expanding social connections – and rely on it to stay connected to friends and family.
  • Millennials are nearly twice as likely as older generations to say that calls via a mobile phone are the most important way they stay connected to friends and family.
  • Millennials also use their mobile phone to send texts to friends and family
• When asked about their ideal mobile phone, preferences for features, functionality and ease of use fell across generational lines.
  • Millennials want more functionality (“It would have to include as many high quality functions as possible, such as a camera, a portable radio, and an MP3 player.”)
  • Boomers want simplicity (“I would prefer it to be as simple as possible, and only include functions for talking, texting and pictures.”)
  • Gen Xers fell somewhere in the middle – wanting some fun features, but not seeing them as a “must-have” (“It would be good if it had other high quality functions such as a camera, a portable radio, and an MP3 player, but it’s not vital.”)