Product obsolescence of cellular phone market in Indonesia: A consumer perspective

Obsolescence leads to a shorter lifecycle of electronic products which results in generating more electronic waste (e-waste) and excessive use of natural resources to produce goods. It is basically a wearing out of technical or esthetical appliances. Unfortunately, there are only a few studies and data focused on the issue, especially in developing counties. The objective of this study is to show how the lifespan of cellular phone change overtime and to provide data about consumer behavior in the Indonesia's cellular phone market. A total of 1.030 respondents were recruited from online survey in 13 most populous cities of Indonesia for consumer analysis. Panel regression Common Effect Model (CEM) and Chi-squared independent test were applied as the analytical tools. The result shows that both consumer contribute to the reduction of cellular phone lifecycle. It is confirmed that the lifespan of cellular phone is getting shorter by the year and by the ownership order. In addition, subjective considerations of discarding product significantly reduce cellular phone's lifespan. Obsolescence is not only an issue that should be addressed to the manufacturers, but also as a responsibility for the consumers.