T-Mobile's New Google Phone Aims to Grab a Teen Audience Burned by the Sidekick
The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide is one of the umpteen Google (GOOG) phones coming out this year. However, unlike the Droid or the Incredible, it isn't geared towards fanboys, but the tween and teen set. The good news is that T-Mobile captured this group before with its million-selling Sidekick series.
The question is how T-Mobile can remind them its products are still necessary.
The eager tween and teen market will like the specs:
- Slide out QWERTY keyboard:
- Music player compatible with AAC, MP3, OGG, and other formats
- Pre-installed 8 GB memory card
- 5 megapixel video camera
After surveying some 800 teens ages 12 to 17, Pew found that 54 percent were daily texters, up drastically from just 38 percent in 2008, and now far outpacing actually talking to each another, which rests at a measly 33 percent.
Just as staggering is the sheer volume of texting being done by today's teens. The study found that half of all those it surveyed send upwards of 50 text messages a day, for a total of 1,500 a month. One in three sent more than 100 a day.
With that kind of use, a virtual keyboard simply won't cut it.Regarding the half-dozen music choices, MP3 and AAC are standard, but OGG is a pretty hardcore format. The phone is geared towards audiophiles. Furthermore, the 8GB memory onboard is savvy marketing -- it's encouraging tweens and teens to fill up the phone with data. Other Google phones have had notoriously little memory out of the box.
Finally, the 5 megapixel video camera falls right in line with the new generation of camera-ready smartphones. As I noted earlier this week, these smartphones are quickly making the point-and-shoot genre both redundant and obsolete.
This is all well and good, but, in teen and tween years, the Sidekick is a relic of the past. Let's look at the past nine months:
- In October 2009 T-Mobile lost all the Sidekick user data
- A week later, T-Mobile put Sidekick sales on hold
- In November 2009 T-Mobile brings back the Sidekicks with a small $25 discount
- In April 2010 Microsoft (MSFT) announces the youth-targeted KIN One and Two
The worst thing T-Mobile could do rely on the Sidekick legacy to sell the Slide. Tweens and teens have already moved on.