Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate the existence of
inter-market market segments in the adolescents' and young adults' cell
phone product-market in Finland, United Arab Emirates, Canada, China,
and New Zealand. Drawing upon cell phone feature preferences criteria
cited by Isiklar and Buyuközkan, the existence of inter-market market
segments using these feature preferences as the cluster variate was
examined. Design/methodology/approach - Using a survey questionnaire,
data was gathered from 403 high school and 892 undergraduate students in
Finland, UAE, China, Canada and New Zealand. Findings - The results of
the study suggest the inter-market market segments do exist in the
countries of this study, but their existence varies to some degree by
country. Originality/value - An important implication of the research is
the existence of the five inter-market segments among the adolescents
and young adults in the five countries was established. Consequently,
the inter-market segments extend over the borders. The five inter-market
segments exist in all country markets except in New Zealand, which
included only four segments. These five segments also appear to be
unique and large enough in size, which are the key requirements in terms
of successful segmentation, and thus warrant the development of unique
products, services and marketing programs for the segments.