Solar_Powered_Cell_Phones

Women see their cell phones as a means of expression and social communication, while men tend to use it as an interactive toy. Some men view the cell phone as a status symbol and even use the cell phone to seduce the opposite sex, competing with other males for the most high tech toy. Cell phones are becoming an integral part of our daily lives. Cell phones give people a newfound personal sense of power, enabling unprecedented mobility and allowing them to conduct their business on the go. Men use more minutes than women. Women use camera phones more than men. Men talk business on cell phones more than women, and matters of home women rule. Convenience remains top reason for wireless phones. The solar powered cell phone will enhance this convenience by allowing easier access to power that charges the phone. The ideal situation for the solar cell phone is to enable the phone to charge from direct sun light, light sources, and even candle light. I choose to focus on the segments which include men between the ages of 18 and 29 because this is the largest segment of cell phone only users. Also, the adult cell phone users over 30 are constantly on the rise. Therefore, I will also target the adults between the ages of 30 and 64. Target market Those who use a cell phone as their only telephone service tend to be younger than the general population. Approximately half of the cell phone users are males between the ages of 18 and 29. This percentage dropped slightly from two years ago. This does not mean that 18 to 29 year olds are less likely than in 2006 to use a cell phone only. In fact, the incidence of cell phone only usage among 18 to 29 year olds actually increase slightly (32% compared to 26% ASSIGNMENT 1 SOLAR POWERED CELL PHONES 3 last year). It simply means that the cell phone only usage also increased among older individuals, resulting in that group now accounting for a greater proportion of the cell phone only population. There are 25,500,000 males between the ages of 18 and 29 currently in the United States. Approximately one-third of them use a cell phone for making calls. This brings the number to 8,662,500 18 to 29 year old males using cell phones. Other characteristics of this segment is that they have some college education, have household income $30,000 or less. The second segment I have chosen to target is the adults ages 30 and 64. There are approximately 124,830,000 adults between the ages of 30 and 64 currently in the United States. One in seven adults use their cell phones only to make calls. This brings the number in this segment to be targeted to 17,476,000. Other characteristics of this group is college educated and household income of $75,000 and over. The technology is becoming increasingly popular among the older populations as well as the widely reported younger segments of the population. The foreign market will be India. With India adding more than six million cell phone subscribers a month, analysts expect that nearly half of India, 1.1 billion people will be connected by cell phone by 2010. Mobile phone rates in India are about one cent a minute, the lowest in the world. Companies have figured out how to stay profitable even selling telecom services at a penny a minute, opening the market to a base of consumers who are often not part of the formal financial system. SWOT analysis Strengths Solar cell phones market is new and wide open for competent providers. Right now everyone is ASSIGNMENT 1 SOLAR POWER CELL PHONES 4 seen as a potential customer. Going wireless has not only become the latest and greatest fad but very critical for business. The ability to incorporate and adjust to the main challenges for the application of solar energy to power cell phones. These are the improvement of the efficiency, the reliability. the safety and the lifetime as well as the reduction of costs. Weaknesses The major weakness is being weak as compared to the competition in a key market segment. There are several cell phone manufacturers already established and well known. It will be a great challenge to sway customers away from them. Operational costs are more than first estimated. Additional capital will be needed. And, finally, the lack of post sales service will be a weakness but not impossibility. Opportunities Increase presence in the solar cell phone market. Solar powered cell phones are not readily available at the moment. This is something consumers want but not yet offered in the United States. New growth markets where solar cell phone adoption has room to go including India and other countries. Another opportunity will be to leverage business to get preference and a stronger position with carriers. Threats The major threat is being the new kid on the block and has risk to be displaced by leaders like Motorola, GE and Nokia. Also, China OEMs are entering the market very aggressively. ASSIGNMENT 1 SOLAR POWERED CELL PHONES 5 Product positioning This solar powered cell phone will offer high quality and convenience for the people on the go who don’t have time to charge their phones. Whether camping, caught in a power outage or just constantly on the go you can stay connected. My product will be in the quadrant where high quality and medium prices will be offered. Due to the quality being offered and the anticipation for the solar powered cell phone higher prices will be warranted and accepted by consumers. As time goes by and the resources needed become less expensive and more consumers began to buy prices may change.