Some things warrant further discussion.
This, then, is a collection of things that don't.
This, then, is a collection of things that don't.
Britain's Mobile-Scarred Youth
Posted 22nd August 2008 at 05:34 PM by Ben
"stop"
"please cancel my subscription"
"sorry I did not mean to subscribe to this please stop"
"if I use this do I have to pay you back?"
"when I use this will you take the money from my phone when I top up?"
My company launched a new consumer service recently that gives people in over 200 countries access to text messages for between about 1p and 5p (2p UK). Of course, with pricing like that the take-up has been fantastic, but what has interested me is some of the support requests submitted by predominantly young Brits.
FishText gives new users 20p or 30eurocents of free credit when they join up so they can put the service through its paces without spending any money. This seems to be one of the things that has set alarm bells ringing in the minds of boys and girls across the country who no longer seem able to believe that free really can mean free.
Panic stricken, after having sent several text messages and watching their 20p start to go down, some lunge for the support contact form and send in the sorts of messages I started this posting with.
But some don't even get that far - some open accounts, verifying their mobile number by receiving a code and entering it on the screen, and then contact support right away.
Now what, do you think, could have possibly made Britain's youth so cynical? Do you think it could have anything to do with them being ripped off by Crazy-Frog-like premium rate rip-offs and flat-out-blatant premium rate scams? Nah, 'course not
One thing's for sure. Some of Britain's youth will happily give out their mobile number and even take steps to verify it without making any attempt to understand what they're doing, only to plead ignorance moments, or even some time, later. And yet, at the same time as being naive, they're also cynical and take significant convincing that free really can mean free without strings attached.
The mobile industry never really had much in the way of ethics, which is why you have to be extremely careful who you deal with. The overwhelming greed, particularly surrounding premium rate, has clearly had an effect on consumers.
"please cancel my subscription"
"sorry I did not mean to subscribe to this please stop"
"if I use this do I have to pay you back?"
"when I use this will you take the money from my phone when I top up?"
My company launched a new consumer service recently that gives people in over 200 countries access to text messages for between about 1p and 5p (2p UK). Of course, with pricing like that the take-up has been fantastic, but what has interested me is some of the support requests submitted by predominantly young Brits.
FishText gives new users 20p or 30eurocents of free credit when they join up so they can put the service through its paces without spending any money. This seems to be one of the things that has set alarm bells ringing in the minds of boys and girls across the country who no longer seem able to believe that free really can mean free.
Panic stricken, after having sent several text messages and watching their 20p start to go down, some lunge for the support contact form and send in the sorts of messages I started this posting with.
But some don't even get that far - some open accounts, verifying their mobile number by receiving a code and entering it on the screen, and then contact support right away.
Now what, do you think, could have possibly made Britain's youth so cynical? Do you think it could have anything to do with them being ripped off by Crazy-Frog-like premium rate rip-offs and flat-out-blatant premium rate scams? Nah, 'course not
One thing's for sure. Some of Britain's youth will happily give out their mobile number and even take steps to verify it without making any attempt to understand what they're doing, only to plead ignorance moments, or even some time, later. And yet, at the same time as being naive, they're also cynical and take significant convincing that free really can mean free without strings attached.
The mobile industry never really had much in the way of ethics, which is why you have to be extremely careful who you deal with. The overwhelming greed, particularly surrounding premium rate, has clearly had an effect on consumers.
Comments 0
Total Comments 0
Comments
Recent Blog Entries by Ben
- I bought Vodafone (10th December 2008)
- Getting into the fast lane (5th December 2008)
- Evangelism (15th November 2008)
- We must ask questions (28th October 2008)
- ADSL: Last mile, or last foot? (26th September 2008)
