Personality and self-concept in relation to mobile phones: what does your phone say about you?

Abstract

Blackberry, Iphone, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, flip, slide, touch screen, MP3 player, QWERTTY keypad, video calling, Wi-Fi, camera, speakerphone, ringtones, wallpapers, phone skins, clip on accessories are just some of the phones and features a consumer is faced with when walking into a phone outlet or visiting a phone website. The individual consumer is faced with an array of choice; possibly, for some, too overwhelming to choose from. To narrow down the phone selection process, increasingly phone outlets are using psychographic segmentation processes, where the consumer's individual profile is mapped and matched against a smaller selection of phones and phone accessories. For example, CNET has six profiles, which includes the basic user, the busy executive, gear head, fashion, weekend warrior and multimedia. These profiles are based on personal charactoristics, the self-concept, and external influences such as cultural norms, friends and family.