Cell phone usage and broad feature preferences: A study among Finnish undergraduate students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the cell phone use and broad cell phone feature preferences among high school and undergraduate in Finland. Of particular interest is the issue of gender differences regarding the use of the cell phones and the broad phone feature preferences, and their conceptualization. In this research the female respondents seem to use the calendar, Internet, music, and E-mail significantly more than the male respondents. As far as the feature preferences are concerned the female respondents seem to appreciate more price, aesthetics, design, standard processes and parts used, local language capability, safety in terms of radiation, and ringing tones. Male respondents on the other hand appreciate significantly more the use of business services. Also the broad feature preferences were compared to the actual usage areas of the cell phone. With many of these (parts, process, water, solidity, safety, ease of use, and ringing tones) there were no significant relationship with the actual usage. Interestingly the game feature had a significant correlation with the usage of the games, but the correlation was quite low. Finally the conceptualization of the cell phone by different genders was analyzed, and differences in the conceptualization were discovered. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.