Smartphone Gender Gap: Women Pine for iPhone, Men Want Android
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Does the name "Android" have a whiff of manly musk to it?
A new Nielsen Company study found that women looking to upgrade to a smartphone prefer Apple's iPhone iOS over other operating systems, while men go for Google's Android more.
Nielsen's survey data for the month of October based on 9200 respondents showed that 30.9 percent of women wanted iOS and 22.8 wanted Android ; third place went to Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry at 12.5 percent.
In men, a less marked differential turned up, with 28.6 percent craving iOS and 32.6 percent wishing for Android; 12.8 percent of men expressed a preference for RIM, similar to the females polled.
Overall, iOS and Android systems ranked as the top two "most desired" operating systems, both for people who already own smartphones and those looking to upgrade.
Smartphones continue their rise, with almost three out of 10 cell phone owners in the United States now having the devices as of October 2010. Whether the name is testosterone-loaded or not, Android is also soaring: almost half of smartphones sold in the third quarter this year were powered by Android, up from a measly three percent just a year ago.
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