Brief story. As freshman in high school (2002) I didn’t have a cell phone, but as a three sport athlete I often stayed late for practice/workouts and would need a ride home from school. Well I would from time to time take one of my parent’s cell phones in order to call them for a ride home.
No big deal right? Well, when you’re an absent-minded, 6’4 freshman nothing is impossible. Not even losing a cell phone in the 10 minutes between you calling your mom for a ride, and her arriving. As punishment, I didn’t get a cell phone until the summer before my senior year.
My how times change. According to a new Piper Jaffray study one-third of high school students own an iPhone. Yes, more kids own an iPhone now, than kids had phones six years ago.
The extensive study included a survey of 5,600 U.S. high school students, with 34% reporting they own an iPhone, which is double the percentage seen in last year’s study. Piper Jaffray attributed the massive increase in iPhone ownership amongst high schoolers to new lower cost Apple products. Apple offered the iPhone 3GS for $49 back in January 2011, and then offering it for free with a new contract after the iPhone 4S release.
In our most recent survey the percentage of teens that own an iPhone came in at 34%, up from 23% in the Fall and 17% last Spring. We believe the meaningful uptick in iPhone ownership among teens may be driven by the cheaper $49 iPhone 3GS (in some cases free). Interest in purchasing an iPhone in the next 6 months rose to 40% (another all-time high vs. our previous surveys). Purchase intent was at 38% in our last survey in the Fall.
Tablet wise, Apple’s iPad dominated the high school sector. With 34% of students reporting they owned some sort of tablet device, nearly 70% claimed they had an iPad. Amazingly 53% of those who owned an iPad reported owning an iPhone as well. Amazingly, Apple’s market share could increase based on the data. According to the study 19% of students indicated they plan to purchase a tablet within the next six months, and 80% of them plan to purchase an iPad.
Since when did so many kids become so spoiled?*
*Still not sure what the methodology for the study was, and how they obtained their sample size.
Source: MacRumors
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