Cell Phones: From Gadget to Lifeline
Updated: Fri, Sep 14 5:47 PM EDT
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer
Until Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Diane Brandon didn't see a real need to replace her broken cell phone, dismissing it as too expensive and "too intrusive."
But listening to the harrowing stories of passengers on hijacked planes calling their loved ones minutes before they crashed has drastically changed her mind. So have reports of trapped victims calling for help amid the rubble of what had been the World Trade Center.
Hours after the news broke, Brandon, who only Monday had put her AT&T wireless service on hold, was on the phone with the carrier to reactivate her account. The next day, she bought a new cell phone.
"I was trying to tighten my belt because of the economy. Also, although a cell phone is an extraordinary convenience, it is also intrusive," said Brandon, 40, from Irving, Texas. "But I changed my mind quickly after hearing about the people in the rubble and the people on the planes. I can tighten my belt another way. I need peace of mind."
In the aftermath of this national crisis, a growing number of Americans are now looking at cell phones as more than just convenient communications gadgets. They are now being viewed as essential security measures.
"Cell phones are no longer being seen as a frivolous expense, but as something very important for security," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, a trend consulting firm in Charleston, S.C. "I think most parents who were resistant on giving their kids cell phones will now change their mind."
Ann Crespo, a New York City publicist who typically used her cell phone just to call her daughter when she was stuck on the train, said she now considers it a "lifeline."
Wendy Hendry, who had been poking around in stores for a year to replace an obsolete phone she keeps in her car, headed out Friday to buy a replacement.
"I am going to bring this new one with me everywhere I go," said Hendry, 56, from Augusta, Ga.
Retailers and wireless service centers across the country have not reported a surge in sales this week. Rather, they've seen a slowdown in business, given that consumers are staying away from shopping centers and instead remaining glued to their TV sets, watching the crisis unfold.
But Beemer and others expect to see an uptick in business once consumers head back to the malls.
"I expect to see a surge in demand," said Peter Skarzynski, a spokesman for Samsung Telecommunications. "People are now seeing cell phones as more of a necessity, rather than a luxury. It will be like your wallet. You can't leave home without it."
Officials at wireless communication services such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint carefully point out that they don't want to take advantage of a national tragedy. Sprint has attempted to pull ads in the local New York papers this week, while Verizon is downplaying its ads and beefing up public service announcements.
Still, the accounts of emotional last words from doomed victims resonates.
"I might have died in that crash," said Nancy Price, of Kansas City as she shopped for a new phone and service plan, "but at least somebody would have gotten last words from me." |
