In my post today I want to focus on what the market wants. What a crazy idea!

Perhaps with me being just one person I can't speak for the entire market. I can, however, speak for those customers I have worked with the past three years, which is a more accurate representation of what the market wants.

When a customer comes in looking for a new phone, one of the most common inquiries is: "what is your most durable phone? I'm pretty hard on my phones."

Everyone needs a durable phone -- who doesn't?

My first impression is - that's because we tend to treat our phones according to the price we pay for it. We get a new phone for free or super-cheap, kick the living trash out of it, and yet expect it to survive for 2 years. And when it doesn't, we complain that the cell phone provider sold us a piece of junk. Truth is, we get what we pay (or don't pay) for.

Sadly, even those who are extremely careful with their phones and take good care of them are susceptible to bad things happening -- putting it in the wash, being pushed into a pool with phone in pocket, children treating the phone as an action figure.

In a previous post I discussed pros and cons of insurance. Such scenarios I just described would be survivable with insurance. Without that insurance, however, we have to grit our teeth and buy a new phone for a much larger sum of money than we paid for it originally.

The market is tired of this. We want a phone that can handle the extremes. The ability is out there; in fact, two phones with such a capability just landed in Verizon stores, the G'zOne Boulder and the Motorola Adventure. We will discuss these in a later post.

Why aren't durable phones more popular, then?

But the question becomes -- are we willing to pay the extra cost of these hefty and rugged phones? The Boulder is $130 after $50 mail-in rebate, while the Adventure is $100 after rebates. These are the discount prices when signing contracts. If you want the durable phones that will last 2 years, don't be looking in the free section.

In addition to being pricey, most of the durable phones are HUGE. Nextel phones, for instance, have the distinction of being the least stylish phones on the market. But that's because they are made to last, not made to be pretty.

Everyone wants pretty phones, though. That's the problem! Nobody wants the awkward-looking phones that will actually make it the 2 years (if not a lot longer). The market desires the cake and eat it too. That's what it really boils down to.

A free, fashionable phone with great reception that will last the whole 2 years? I don't think such a phone even exists!

So does the market it want it THAT bad?

Perhaps the market doesn't desire it enough after all. The general population isn't willing to make the sacrifice necessary to get it. Obviously if there were enough demand for these phones, they would be sold in more stores and provided by more carriers. Since they aren't sold everywhere, it can then be assumed only a small group of people truly buy these types of phones.

When customers ask me to point them to the durable phones, I show them and explain why they are durable; but when the customer looks at the price tag they shudder and move on to a less expensive and more breakable phone. They decline insurance. And five months later, with broken phone in hand, they yell at me because I won't provide them with a new phone for free. "But we're under contract," they say. "Why don't you provide us with phones that will last the whole time?"

I use Dish Network and have a contract with them. If I were to poke around with my satellite dish and break it, they will not come fix it for free. They will not provide me with a new one to get through the rest of the contract unless I pay for a new one. Same concept with phones. You break it, you accept the consequences. It doesn't matter if it was on purpose or on accident. I empathize with you because I've been there. But there's nothing I can do.

Buy a durable phone. Pay the extra cost for a phone that's more likely to last the entire term of the contract. You get what you pay for.

The market doesn't desire a durable phone enough. But it really should.