Young mobile users: radical and individual – not Arho Suominen a , Sami Hyrynsalmi b , Timo Knuutila c a VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, It¨ ainen Pitk ¨ akatu 4, Turku, P.O. Box 106, 20521 Turku, Finland b Deparment of Management, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland c Business and Innovation Development, University of Turku, FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland Abstract The use of mobile phones by youth has stirred a plethora of research in different fields. Literature has analyzed in length the changes and adoption patterns related to the evolving telecommunications industry. This body of knowledge often makes assumptions on the changes in consumer profiles and the value of different features. In this study we take an longitudinal approach by analysing the results of 1 928 responses to an online questionnaire conducted in Finland to students of a university in the Spring 2012 and on against the reanalysis of the responses of the Finnish students of upper secondary schools in the Spring 2001 and study on undergraduate students in 2006–2007. The results indicate that the youth and young adults of Finland, often argued to be an advanced country for mobile services, are surprisingly conservative towards new mobile devices and services. The changes in technology and service offering in a decade, has had a limited impact in attitudes and feature valuation, which sets significant implications to increasing adoption and usage. Keywords: Mobile phone, Young users, Finland, Smart phones 1. Introduction Mobile phone technology has evolved significantly since their invention. The device has evolved from a means of voice communication to a multimedia centre and a hub for accessing social networks — depictively called the “a kind of Swiss Army knife, which holds a number of useful tools—even if people almost always tend to use the same ones” (Stald, 2008). Increasing global penetration of mobile devices and more significantly the penetration of devices offering an abundance of features (e.g. feature and smart phones) have changed the nature of the devices. Recently introduced application ecosystems, which offers content for new smart phones, have yet again changed the value proposition of the mobile phone. Mobile communication has attracted attention by the scientific community and industry. For example, previous studies have described the role of pre-adolescents (Davie et al., 2004), adolescents (Wilska, 2003; Oksman and Rauti- ainen, 2003) and effort has been invested in studying young adults (Kimiloglu et al., 2010), and quite often in a more narrow subset of young adults, that is, the university students (Economides and Grousopoulou, 2009; Khang et al., 2012; Haverila, 2013). Studies have often focused on different features of mobile phones (Economides and Grousopoulou, 2009; Haverila, 2013) or on identifying consumer groups (Wilska, 2003; Kimiloglu et al., 2010) while some studies have also taken a broader psychosocial viewpoint (Walsh et al., 2011). Our research is focused on un- derstanding the rapid technological change and its impact to human behaviour. (Kock, 2004) Specifically we focus on if there is a visible cultural lag, or maladjustment, between the technological and non-material culture. (Brinkman and Brinkman, 1997). With the rapid development of the mobile device, scientific studies are challenged with the pace of development in the telecommunication industry. For example, when Wilska (2003) published results on the mobile phone as a part of young people consumption styles, the devices had just settled in being a mass market product. Later, when e.g., Economides and Grousopoulou (2009) published results on the value of different features of mobile devices for Email addresses: arho.suominen@utu.fi (Arho Suominen), sthyry@utu.fi (Sami Hyrynsalmi), knuutila@utu.fi (Timo Knuutila) Preprint submitted to Elsevier December 3, 2013