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February 26, 2014

Clean Master: Men Are from Android, Women Are from Apple

The eternal dichotomy of men and women has been fertile ground, so to speak, for discussion in the past. This was perhaps best given form with the 1992 release of “Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus,” a book which examined the relationships of men and women as essentially coming from two different angles. Such a look isn't new to that book, nor has such a view stopped with that book's release. In fact, a new study from Clean Master suggests that it might be time to reconsider the planets and instead use operating systems, as men, it turns out, are from Android, whilst women are from Apple.

The results of said study, focused on a poll involving 1,000 adults in the United States and for the most part found that Americans preferred Apple at 39 percent, followed not too far behind by Samsung at 29 percent. LG held 10 percent of the total, while HTC garnered four percent and Nokia a comparatively meager three percent. BlackBerry hit the list at two percent, Microsoft at a full one percent, and Sony Ericsson garnered just under one entire percent.

That alone is fairly telling, but when the demographics were further broken down by gender, location and age, still more telling results emerged. Women favored Apple devices in fully 45 percent of cases, almost a pure majority, while men favored Samsung devices 33 percent of the time. Apple had nearly every region of the United States as a favorite, as 40 percent of respondents in the South, Northeast and North Central gave the nod to Apple gear. Only the West differed, as 37 percent went to Samsung. Apple also had most of the age groups in its camp, though amounts varied. 44 percent of the under-30 market went to Apple, and 43 percent of the 30-39 year old camp did likewise. 34 percent of the 50-59 camp called Apple a favorite and for 60 and up, 36 percent did too. Only the 40-49 year old bracket bucked the trend, turning 36 percent to Samsung.

Yet Clean Master—who specializes in an app boosting the performance of smartphones—didn't stop there. The study also noted that one in 10 smartphone owners, which accounts for around 59 percent of the United States, runs into some kind of performance problem within the first three months of owning the device. Women are also more likely than men—13 percent for the ladies versus nine percent of the gents—to have problems in the first year.

The implications here are surprising; retailers may be able to take away some useful information here in that advertising on a particular platform may be more effective depending on the overall demographics of the target market desired. Retailers who want to reach more women have a great opportunity in advertising using more Apple-centered devices, while reaching men might be more likely on Samsung. Beyond advertising there are issues of app development and shopping; apps for the ladies may do better on Apple, and vice versa. Of course, given that the numbers were comparatively close together—these didn't seem to be majorities so much as pluralities—trying to second-guess the market by platform may not be that useful.

Still, it's a consideration to keep in mind as the great principles of the marketing mix—product, price, place and promotion—are established and given form. While it may not be a silver bullet to advertise on Apple to get the ladies, it may be enough of a help to turn a business around.




Edited by Cassandra Tucker


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