Extensive study across 16 cities in India reveals the digital lives of kids (9-11 years), tweens (12-15 years) and teens (16-18 years) in India, a group called Generation Z Around 30 million of 69 million urban Generation Z consumers own mobile phones, and 3 million of these use mobile broadband on their phones Kids explore new technology and use the mobile phone in the same way as their older counterparts Parents using mobile broadband are more likely to introduce their children to the technology. For more reports from the ConsumerLab visit: http://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead/consumerlab

1. consumerlab
Generation Z
Understanding the digital lives
of India’s young mobile users
An Ericsson Consumer Insight Summary Report
October 2012

2. METHODOLODY
AND COVERAGE
chandigarh
DELHI
LUCKNOW
guwahati
KOTA
ahmedabad PATNA
UJJAIN
KOLKATA Quantitative module
> 7,785 urban
MUMBAI CUTTACK households contacted
Qualitative module > 3,421 face-to-face interviews
PUNE with 9-18 year old mobile
> 24 in-depth interviews phone users across
HYDERABAD with 9-18 year old girls 16 cities in India
BELGAUM
and boys 1,000 face-to-face interviews
4 focus groups with parents with parents
CHENNAI Spread across four centers: 2,000 face-to-face interviews
Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore with 9-18 year old mobile
bangalore
and Hyderabad internet users.
Permission of a parent, guardian or other person on whom the parent has conferred
responsibility for the child was obtained before the child was approached for an
interview. Parents were present during the interviews with 9-11 year olds.
Ericsson consumerlab
the voice of the consumer
Ericsson ConsumerLab has more than 15 years’ experience Both quantitative and qualitative methods are
of studying people’s behaviors and values, including the way used, and hundreds of hours are spent with consumers
they act and think about ICT products and services. Ericsson from different cultures.
ConsumerLab provides unique insights on market and
consumer trends. To be close to the market and consumers, Ericsson
ConsumerLab has analysts in all regions where Ericsson is
Ericsson ConsumerLab gains its knowledge through a present, which gives a thorough global understanding of the
global consumer research program based on interviews with ICT market and business models.
100,000 individuals each year, in more than 40 countries
and 15 megacities – statistically representing the views of All ConsumerLab reports can be found at:
1.1 billion people. www.ericsson.com/consumerlab
2 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z

3. GENERATION Z
India’s young
digital natives
According to industry estimates, India has roughly
200 million children under the age of 18, and 69
million of them reside in urban areas. These young
people have a very different childhood to the one their
parents experienced. According to this ConsumerLab
study, 40% of urban children from metropolitan towns
regularly dine out at expensive restaurants and 23 percent
use their parents’ credit cards to buy new things.
This is Generation Z. Different sources define
Generation Z according to varying dates, but for the
purpose of this report we will define them as those
who were born between 1994 and 2004. For many of
them life is all about shopping, seeking comfort and
materialism. They are both ambitious and competitive
in nature. It is therefore surprising that Generation Z is often
overlooked in communications research reports.
While Generations X and Y (those born between This report uncovers the very specific needs of this
1965 and 1979, and 1980 and 1995, respectively) Generation and finds that most 9-11 year olds are
have watched the digital revolution unfold before their highly likely to explore new technology – in fact by the
eyes, Generation Z has never known anything else. time they are 18, it is already a major part of their lives.
Key findings
onnectivity forms part of
C
amily dynamics need to be
F eneration Z understands
G
Generation Z’s digital lives considered when it comes to what constitutes a good
from an early age – mobile broadband – parents mobile experience – factors
mobile phones are using mobile broadband are such as network availability,
indispensable among more likely to introduce competitive tariffs, service
Generation Z. 30 million their children to the support and mobile internet
personally own a handset technology earlier. speeds have a positive effect
and 11 million share one with on how they perceive
arents wish to have more
P
other household members. telecom services.
control – they would like
ids and tweens are
K
mutually beneficial plans oung people want to be
Y
beginning to mirror their and services that enable engaged through a social
older counterparts’ usage – security, monitoring and form of customer care –
21 percent of kids and control of their children’s Generation Z turns to social
tweens show usage patterns communication activities. media first to complain or
similar to 16-18 year olds. share a bad experience.
ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z 3

4. Phone or no phone?
Figure 1: Ownership of mobile phones among 9-18 year olds a handset at all. The remaining 11 million do
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012. have access, but share mobile phones owned
Study Base: 9-18 year old children in urban India. by parents or older siblings.
28 million
Today, the age at which children in India own a
mobile phone is dropping, with some now acquiring
have no access to mobile phones handsets as young as aged 6. Over half of parents
in urban metropolitan cities say that they are open
30 million
to providing children aged 9-11 with a mobile phone,
and more say they could not stop them from getting
own mobile phones one whether they allowed it or not.
11 million Pocket money in India is increasing and the average
monthly allowance for children aged 9-18 in urban
areas is INR 2,253. However, some teenagers get
share mobile phones
significantly more, with 1 in 4 of the upper quartile
Figure 1 shows mobile phone ownership amongst receiving up to INR 4,000. Of this allowance, eight
the 69 million 9-18 year olds in Indian urban areas. percent is spent on mobile phone-related costs,
It shows that 39 million do not yet personally own a while four percent goes on gadgets.
mobile phone. Of these, 28 million have no access to
Generation Z owns more gadgets than an entire The amount of time which Generation Z spends using
family would have a generation ago, with 2 in 5 of mobile phones per day has already begun to overtake
those studied having more than five devices in their the amount of time they spend watching TV. In fact,
bedroom. What’s more, kids today are spending a children are more likely to use mobile phones before
greater amount of time on these devices. Figure 2 school than watch TV. 58 percent of Generation Z
shows that Generation Z spends half of its waking is now willing to give up watching TV to use internet
life using mobile phones, watching TV and gaming. on a mobile phone.
Adoption of smartphones is also increasing within
Figure 2: Average time spent on this age group, with 7 percent of Generation Z
activities daily (hours, minutes) owning a smartphone today. Of these, 20 percent
are under 11 years of age.
CONSOLE GAMES 1:31
1:32
26%
MOBILE PHONEs
Spend 90-100% of
their internet time
INTERNET (MOBILE PHONE/PC) 2:18 on mobile phones
WATCH TV 2:20
Figure 3: Share of total internet time spent on mobile phones
OUTDOOR PLAY 1:09 over other devices
100% on my mobile
OUTSIDE WITH FRIENDS 1:32 90% phone and 0%
on other devices
80%
INDOOR PLAY 1:36 70%
60%
STUDY/HOMEWORK 2:13 50% on my mobile
phone and 50%
40% on other devices
TUITIONS/CLASSES 2:20 30%
20%
TIME WITH FAMILY 3:20 10%
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012. Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India. Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India.
4 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z

5. Figure 3 shows the amount of internet time Generation Mobile devices have become an important utility for parents,
Z spends across all devices. For 26 percent, almost all who have started to use their phones to entertain their
of their internet time is on the mobile phone. While it’s children. A growing number of parents are exposing kids
believed that small towns will drive mobile-only internet to apps at an early age. 26 percent of those studied were
usage, Figure 4 indicates that megacities such as Delhi, downloading a phone app for their kids at least weekly.
Bangalore and Mumbai collectively share 45 percent Younger parents are more likely to display such behavior.
of all Generation Z mobile-only internet users. Children
are acquiring phones quicker than they are getting PCs When it comes to chat and social media, those members
or laptops – while 79 percent of children in the survey of Generation Z who hail from small towns are now
personally own mobile phones, only 10 percent have PCs starting to catch up with the mobile internet usage seen
at home. With PCs often located in a common room, the in metropolitan cities. However, usage of more advanced
need for personal connectivity away from the watchful services such as apps, maps and navigation, Twitter and
eyes of parents is what makes mobile phones the online shopping is being driven by Generation Z mobile
preferred means to access the internet. internet users from the bigger cities.
Younger kids mirror teens Mobile broadband take-up influenced by family
Even the youngest members of Generation Z show Broadband usage behavior develops at a young age
advanced behavior in their internet use. Teens are and is influenced by family members. Those children in
most likely to explore new services and use them more households where parents use mobile broadband are
frequently. However, a growing number of kids and more likely to use it themselves from a young age.
tweens are setting the trend amongst their peers and 3 million Indian mobile broadband users are under 18.
mirroring their older counterparts’ usage. In fact, kids A further 3 million of Generation Z in urban areas own
and tweens are more likely than teens to stream videos 3G-capable handsets but have not activated the service.
on YouTube at least once a week. However, there is strong interest in mobile broadband,
with 35 percent of those that do not have the technology
These explorative kids are now getting onto Facebook at claiming that they will switch to it in the next 3 months.
an earlier age. 80 percent of 9-11 year olds involved in this Of these, most are likely to be teens from the top four
study are already on social networking sites, whereas many cities across India.
teenagers said that they had signed up to social media later,
at around 12 years of age. A majority of these kids were not
even aware of any age limitations to sign up on Facebook.
3 million Indian mobile broadband
9-11 year old kids now spend 1 hour 7 minutes daily on users are under 18. A further 3 million
Facebook, of which 40 minutes are spent on a mobile of Generation Z in urban areas own
phone. They are also moving beyond social media and
3G-capable handsets but have not
chat, with some downloading apps and using maps and
navigation. A small number have even begun to check activated the service.
out shopping deals via mobile phones.
23% Figure 4: Share of mobile-only internet users among 9-18 year olds
12%
10%
7% 7% 6% 6% 6%
5% 5% 4%
3% 3%
1% 1% 1%
ng i
M re
i
ta
Lu ck
w
ne
ai
Be in
m
Ko d
a
nd d
h
G tna
i
Ba elh
ba
at
H lkat
ar
a
a
no
nn
jja
o
Ko
Ah lgau
ta
ah
Pu
ab
ab
um
Pa
al
ig
D
U
he
ck
ut
uw
ed
er
C
C
yd
ha
m
C
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old urban mobile-only internet users in India.
ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z 5

6. PARENTS WISH TO
SEEK MORE CONTROL
Many parents set ground rules for their children’s Generation Z from big metropolitan cities were
device usage, such as a mobile phone curfew, more against such monitoring.
allowing themselves access to their kid’s phones
and ensuring that factors such as sleep and Figure 5 shows which services parents require in
homework come before online socialization. order to manage and monitor their children’s
mobile and internet usage.
However, in this new digital age, ensuring adherence
to these ground rules is a challenge, especially as In order to keep up with the generation gap, parents
parents simply do not have time to monitor and are becoming more savvy in mobile media. Nearly
engage with kids across all communication mediums. half of parents interviewed said that they follow new
products on the market, so they understand the
Only one third of parents are able to keep track of their technology their children use.
children’s communications activities. Even fewer claim
to regularly check browser history. To further compound The needs of Generation Z
this lack of control, many children know how to hide
In the qualitative part of the study, children highlighted
their online activities from their parents.
signal bars as a way of understanding what they could
and could not do. They understood, for example, that
A growing number of parents monitor their children’s
signal bars are related to dropped calls or the ability
SMS conversations but 30 percent of 9-18 year olds
to send SMS. Other factors that influence how they
use a privacy screen to prevent others from seeing
perceive telecom services include competitive tariffs,
their phone. When asked whether they would be willing
service and support and mobile internet speeds, rather
to have their mobile usage monitored, half of kids
than branding and advertising or freebies. Figure 6
agreed that they would be willing to install a mobile app
shows the importance of some of these factors.
enabling their parents to do this. Those members of
Figure 5: Services that parents expect from service providers Figure 6: What Generation Z considers important
Device with mobile learning material 58% Relatively more important
Mobile internet webguard app 63%
Enable/disable mobile internet 62%
Network AVAILABILITY
Remote phone locking 59% competitive Tariffs
Spend control 56% Faster Mobile Internet Speeds
Customer Service
Call/message log details 76%
Usage time tracker 60%
New contacts viewer 60% Free SMS bundles or
app downloads
Phone locator 66% Rewards and Loyalty programs
Premium handset insurance 71% Branding and Advertising
Safe driving app 59%
Smartphone antivirus package 55% Relatively less important
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012. Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: Urban Indian parents of 9-18 year olds. Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India.
6 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z

7. Figure 7: The needs of Generation Z by age group
9Yrs 10yrs 11yrs 12yrs 13yrs 14yrs 15yrs 16yrs 17yrs 18yrs
KIDS TWEENS TEENS
Generation Z WANTS
Network availability Stable and reliable Responsive and
Customized info on new mobile internet connection competent customer care
plans and services via Innovative talk time plans Transparent billing/charging
SMS or calls
Easy activation/deactivation Network coverage/quality
Easy access to of services
customer service
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India.
Only one in five of Generation Z has changed operator As part of social customer care, Generation Z
since they first got a mobile phone. This suggests high would like to be able to use social media to:
brand loyalty in the group. 64 percent say they would
recommend their service provider. However, this leaves Track grievances and receive prompt
32 percent that are indifferent and the remainder are customer service
just not satisfied with their operators. Give feedback and suggestions on services
Figure 7 breaks Generation Z down into life stages Gain loyalty rewards
and shows that each group has very specific needs. Find out about new services and plans
Generation Z wants social media to evolve Preparing for the future
There is a growing demand among Generation Z Generation Z’s needs cannot be ignored
for greater integration of customer care with social – these people are tomorrow’s adults and
networks. Doing this will require a new type of their communication patterns are indicative
service – a kind of social customer care. Most already of future demands.
go online to seek recommendations before
buying a new service or plan. As Generation Z grow up and their behavior
becomes commonplace, new technologies will
A majority go online to voice their opinions, while 77 emerge that will further advance social interaction
percent use social networking specifically for venting and enable our lives to be connected in new
their frustration about poor service. This leads them to and exciting ways. By studying their behavior, we
expect an instant resolution of their issues and queries not only understand the needs of this generation,
and constant feedback via social media. but also the needs of tomorrow.
ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z 7

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