Buying Behavior of Cell Phone Users

2.1 Definition of Cellular/ Mobile Phones The Cellular telephone (commonly "mobile phone" or "cell phone" or "hand phone") is a long-range, portable electronic device used for mobile communication. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, e mail, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception is satellite phones. Cellular telephone is also defined as a type of short-wave analog or digital telecommunication in which a subscriber has a wireless connection from a mobile telephone to a relatively nearby transmitter. The transmitter's span of coverage is called a cell. Generally, cellular telephone service is available in urban areas and along major highways. As the cellular telephone user moves from one cell or area of coverage to another, the telephone is effectively passed on to the local cell transmitter. A cellular telephone is not to be confused with a cordless telephone (which is simply a phone with a very short wireless connection to a local phone outlet). A newer service similar to cellular is personal communications services (PCS).

2.2 Brand preferences and advertisement

Students leant about cellular phone from many sources, mainly from friends and families, through advertisement and from their own experience. Whether a promotion and advertising hurt or help a brand is under-researched (Mela, Gupta & Lehman, 1997). In the long-run, advertisement help brands by making consumer less price sensitive and more loyal. Exposure of an ad is crucial to be effective in changing consumer knowledge, attitude and behavior (Evans,Moutinho & Van Raaj, 1996). And for the ad to be seen, it must grab the