Grown Up Thinking

Concerned parents of teenage drivers can now breath a little easier as Ford gets ready to launch their new MyKey Technology which will allow Mom and Dad to limit the speed and audio volume of their kids car as well as encourage teens to drive safer and improve fuel efficiency. Parents will be able to program a MyKey through the vehicles message center which will help to curb some of the reckless behavior associated with teen drivers. It’s a ground-breaking step for Ford who has made its’ Sync Technology standard in all new models and plans on doing the same with MyKey in the next couple years.

Though the main trend of the automotive industry in recent times has been to “go green” (and for good reason) it’s good to see that Ford is also addressing the justified worries that parents of teenage drivers have had since the birth of the Model-T. Until now, they have had to rely on simply trusting their kids to obey the rules of the road and we all know how that can turn out.

No word yet on the development of GrandMyKey, an innovation I just thought of, that would increase the speed limit and Talk Radio bandwidth for older drivers along with removing the moth ball smell that has haunted my Grandmothers 1978 Lincoln Continental since she got it.

Though the price of an average mobile phone call keeps dropping, as does the number of land lines, the phone industry has seen no shortage of income thanks to the purchasing ferocity of their youngest market segment .  A recent study released showed that by the age of 17 at least 91 percent of girls and 78 percent of boys own a mobile phone, the majority of which use it for more than just making and receiving phone calls.  Mobile providers are embracing teenagers in every possible way, through youth centric promotions, applications and model designs.   Like any brand, the goal is to win consumers early, and create an affinity that will continue on, even after their parents stop paying the bill.  They have done this by constantly adding or offering more to each device and mobile plan, placing a higher importance on features over functionality, quickly phasing out the traditional cell phone and cell user in the process.

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