I was recently reading a Nielsen report and it has some very interesting facts that really make me ask my self when will the mobile telcos figure out what young people want and offer them plans that reflect their needs.

Did you know that the average US consumer now uses their mobile phone fore texting more often then making a phone call?  I’m not surprised but I figured it was still the other way around.

Teens aged 13-17 send average 1,742 texts/month and only average 231 calls/month

Young people aged 18-24 average 790 texts/month to only 265 calls/month

The opposite is true for folks aged 45-54 who only average 128 texts/month but make 193 calls/month

Notice how the 13-17 year olds send more then double the amount of texts but only make a few less calls then the 18-24 year olds.

After having a nice chat with an AT&T “high-up” last week I’m learning that AT&T sees these trends and is doing something about them.  They have 3 handsets priced to move into young peoples hands and guess what all 3 handsets have QWERTY keyboards on them.  This says something very important to me, AT&T is listening and making actual moves to embrace these numbers.  I’d personally like to see a very competitive new set of pricing for people that text more then talk but that may still be a ways off.  I’m just happy for AT&Ts current moves.

I’m most excited to get to report that AT&T my provider of choice will start selling the extremely popular Nokia E71 in the next few weeks.  I still won’t bet the farm on it but it seems to be true.  I’ve also heard rumors that it will run you $99 with a new 2 year contract.

UPDATE: I got to play with the Nokia E71x as it’s being referred to during CTIA.  It is a beautiful piece of gadgetry and I have high hopes it will be a stepping stone and an in road for Nokia and S60 to have a stronger presence in the US.