Grow Up Cingular and Verizon

Implications: Many tweeners think these phones are uncool - and probably can find better options at similar or lower prices.

These phones need to support wireless data services that can be turned on or off by the parent.

In such a competitive market, carriers need to make sure every SKU they offer in retail is a strong seller - if it isn't popular enough then it gets pulled.  Internet distribution won't drive much sales of these devices as people still want to touch the product before purchasing. 

Analysis: Wireless carriers are always looking for the next big target market, so with U.S. wireless penetration hovering around 75% they look to add subscribers by offering handsets that would appeal to younger kids. Unfortunately, these phones are only attractive to "very" young kids, I'm talking about 5-6 year olds as most tweens think they aren't cool.

This isn't necessarily my opinion, but that of my 8 and 11 year old kids (both who carry Virgin Mobile cell phones). Parents want security and often purchase phones so that kids can get a hold of them in an emergency - it also comes in handy after baseball, piano, horseback riding lessons and so on.

As most parents can attest, if your kid doesn't think its cool, they won't carry it. Carriers want to increase their subscriber base, but more importantly they want to acquire "quality" subscribers. If these handsets don't support the latest data features, then they are missing a golden opportunity to "train" young users into being mobile data savvy users.  A better option would be to offer these data services, but provide a way for parents to turn on or off these services.

As handset prices continue to decline and you can purchase a pretty good handset for under $50, why not give your kids a handset they can grow into versus one that will get tossed out with all the other things they will outgrow.