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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

New cell phones for younger kids keep them close, limit their reach

Janet Kornblum USA Today

When 9-year-old Trey Chapman went on a recent overnight school trip, his parents handed him a cell phone so they could keep in touch.

Trey’s dad, James Chapman, 38, a salesman from Greensboro, N.C., liked the idea so much that he wanted to get Trey his own phone, mostly to help with daily logistics, such as picking up his son when he was done with basketball practice. But Chapman was wary of an adult cell phone that would give his son entree to the world – and vice versa.

Then he saw a new kind of cell phone being sold in the Southeast.

The phone, to be announced nationwide Wednesday, is designed just for kids Trey’s age. It’s plastic and has a cool design, flashing lights and big buttons so kids can call their parents – or 911 – with a single touch. Best of all, as far as Chapman is concerned, it has lots of controls that allow parents to limit whom kids can talk to.

He bought it a month ago, and Trey has been using it ever since.

Little did Chapman know that he had jumped on an emerging national trend. Cell phones, practically de rigueur for teenagers, are now finding their ways into the even smaller hands of preteens.

Only 1 percent of kids under age 9 owned cell phones in 2004, according to the Boston-based Yankee Group. But that didn’t include the kids who carried adult cell phones on an as-needed basis.

Chapman purchased the preteen phone from a new Linconshire, Ill., company called Firefly Mobile. The phone has no keypad, so all phone numbers must be preprogrammed.

“I’ve got control,” Chapman says.

The phone is available now through SunCom Wireless in the Southeast. In May, parents elsewhere can buy it on the Web from Firefly (fireflymobile.com) for $100, including 30 minutes of talk time. In July, the phones will be available at Target, though price is not set.

Mattel, partnering with Single Touch, this summer plans to introduce a Barbie cell phone for girls 8 to 14. Parents will be able to control the phone through a Web site. The $50 phone comes with 30 minutes of talk time.

And Hasbro is introducing a walkie-talkie system for kids called ChatNow, which looks and feels like a cell phone and allows kids to chat within a two-mile radius.

Expect more options by the end of the year, says technology analyst Rob Enderle, with the Enderle Group in San Jose. “Kids want phones. Parents want the kids to have phones so they can call for help or call for a pickup.” But “an adult phone opens itself up to certain challenges and risks the parents are not willing to take.”

Some parents would say no to preteen phones under any circumstances. But others are more concerned about safety – and cost. They don’t want their preteens running up huge bills.

Plans for Firefly will be determined by cell phone providers. For instance, Chapman says he pays $20 a month through SunCom Wireless for Trey’s phone. The phones to be sold at Target will come with prepaid plans.

“What parents told us is they want to know who their kids are talking to – and probably even more important, who’s talking to their kids,” says Firefly CEO Robin Abrams, formerly of Apple and Palm. She says phones come with a clip to prevent loss, but Firefly will sell separate phone leashes and child-size headsets.

But not everyone is cheering the idea.

“This isn’t a cell phone,” says Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, Calif. “This is a dog leash. This is a sucker purchase for every paranoid parent.”

After the novelty wears off, kids will find ways to lose their phones or tell their parents they’re “out of range,” he predicts.

“The parents are going to think they’re saving money by buying this brain-damaged phone for their kids. But all it’s going to do is cause the kids to want a real cell phone that much earlier. As if they don’t want it already.”

Trey, who has had the phone for a few months, says he likes the features, especially the easy-to-use buttons – one for mom and one for dad.

Whether the phones take off or not, the pressure is on.

“Parents may as well just resign themselves that just as soon as their child is old enough to type and hold a phone that they’re going to demand one,” Saffo says. “It won’t be long before no self-respecting kindergartner is going to start school without a cell phone.”