Segmentation Matters: An Exploratory Study of Mobile Service Users

Despite the penetration of mobile phones in the world the number of mobile services in actual use is-besides voice calls and SMS-rather few. In the study at hand, the authors describe users of mobile phones and mobile services and build the basis for segmentation of the consumer market based on a large random sample of the population. Selecting the correct segmentation base is one of the key steps in any segmentation procedure. The authors carried out life-style segmentation and found five segments-the skillful, the efficient, the trendy, the basic and the social-which offer a systematic description of the mobile consumers, and gives insight on how different users make use of mobile services. The findings are potentially important as mobile service providers do not appear to pay enough attention to consumer segments and the needs of the mobile service users.