Amazon Fire Phone Gets Students Excited, But They’re Not Ready to Switch

U.S. college students react to Amazon’s new phone, features and brand

June 26, 2014 – Last week, Amazon introduced its first smartphone, so we asked students to tell us what (if any) buzz the Fire Phone is generating on campus.

Most impressive for Amazon: Before the Fire announcement, only 1% of students considered Amazon to be the most innovative mobile electronics maker.  After the announcement, that number shot up to 23%, primarily at the expense of Apple and Samsung.

Overall, students expressed their excitement and surprise at the news, with half telling us they’d consider buying the phone.  Their number one feature, by a landslide, was Firefly technology, which allows users to identify phone numbers, QR/bar codes, movies & TV episodes, music, products and more with a dedicated image-capturing button.  Women were more likely than men to say they’re excited by Firefly, and men were more likely to say they were interested in MayDay than women.  MayDay is the company’s free, on-demand customer service offering on the Fire Phone. 

But, the new product didn’t sway customer loyalty in the phone market.  Forty-five percent of students, while excited about Amazon’s news, told us that the iPhone is the next phone they’re most likely to purchase next.  Samsung follows at 22%, then Amazon at 15%.

For more information, see our infographic below.

Introducing Cheggheads: A 15,000 Student-Strong Insight Community

High School & College Students React to Apple’s Purchase of Beats Music & Beats Electronics

As a student-first company, it’s our prerogative to keep a constant pulse on the collective nationwide student mindset – from the brands they like, to the trends they follow, and even the differing views they have on the most recent news. While we pride ourselves on delivering tools and services to help this group be successful in their education, it’s paramount we also understand the other elements that make up the full student experience, because that matters just as much to them and contributes to their long-term success.

The rate of innovation and change is faster than ever, and within the student sphere, trends, opinions and reactions can change by the day. So, we recruited 15,000 high school and college students across the nation who – via survey, live chat, quick polls or interviews – provide us with their up-to-date reactions. This means we (and you) will understand the collective student mindset on a particular topic as well as the breakdown of differing opinions, and why that matters – right away.

In the wake of Apple’s prominently covered acquisition of Beats Music & Beats Electronics, we reached out to the Cheggheads to understand their thoughts on the merger, how it affected both brands and if this move by the tech giant would change students’ purchasing behavior.

This is what they said:

Students know about the Beats brand, but don’t overwhelmingly use it.
• 99% of students know of Beats Electronics (presumably Beats by Dre headphones), but only 15% claim to currently use the brand.
• 3 out of 5 students (61%) have heard of Beats Music, but only 3% claim to use it.

The merger matters at a macro level, but doesn’t necessarily affect most students on a personal or micro level.
• 50% of students think the merger will make Apple more popular with students overall but only 18% believe it makes Apple more appealing to them personally.
• 38% of students think the merger will make Apple more “stylish” and 23% of students think it makes Apple more “cool”.

Most students think Apple bought Beats Music & Beats Electronics because of the company’s name recognition.
• 72% of students believe Apple bought Beats primarily because of its brand popularity; and 35% believe it was an “act of desperation”.
• Only one in five students (20%) believe Apple bought Beats for the company’s technology.

And while it’s hard to anticipate purchasing impact this early, students don’t think the merger is going to make them change their purchasing behavior:
• Headphones (17% more, 15% less)
• iPhones (9% more, 9% less)
• Mac (6% more, 8% less)

The positive impact seems to be in the streaming music space, where 17% said they’d be more likely to use iTunes or Beats Music versus 10%, who said they’d be less likely to do so.

Students know the Apple brand. They know the Beats brand. And they knew about the news, and had an opinion on how it impacted their lives. As news like this continues to break and trends change, we’ll provide regular student opinions via the Chegghead community because it’s our goal to be on top of the student pulse for you.

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Methodology: Chegg surveyed 1,450 members of the Cheggheads student feedback community between May 30 and June 1. The community is recruited from Chegg’s audience of more than 13 million high school and college students, then balanced and weighted to national norms on gender, school type, and region. With a sample size of 1,400, estimates are accurate +/- 2.6% at the 95% confidence level.