Abstract

Mobile phones may be desired presents for children, but how mature and older people react when they get one from their spouses or children. This paper studies how the use of mobile phone functionalities and services are impacted if the purchase decision is exogenous, not by the end users themselves. Two surveys about mobile phone use was conducted in Japan with respondents (n=82) older than 55 years. The quantitative data was analyzed with t-tests and some of research hypothesis were rejected. This study suggests that the use frequencies of internet, mail and camera are smaller among older users, who have not bought the phone themselves, although the use frequencies of those functions are very low in the first place. However, this decision making has no influence on the frequency of making phone calls, using calendar and alarm functions nor pedometer. The study also shows that informants of this study appreciate more utilitarian than hedonic services; tangible benefits are more important than entertainment.

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