Men vs. Women on the Smartphone

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus in affairs of the heart. But are they on different planets in their smartphone usage too?

As both sexes spend more time on their phone, their difference in approach to this now ubiquitous device is revealing. There are no scientific studies to consider just yet, but a casual survey of iPhone and BlackBerry junkies discovered some surprising facts.

In Linsey Knerl’s article on lifestyle and technology website LifeScoop, “How Men and Women Use Their Smartphones Differently,” she shares some of those facts about gender phone habits.

Both men and women are spending increasingly more time playing games on their phones, admitting that they find gaming “addictive” when able to access it anytime and anywhere on their smartphones. While both genders enjoy gaming, word games seem to appeal more to women while men like games with a long-tem goal in mind, like role-playing games.

Knerl also found that the gender of the app developer could influence who downloaded it and how high it rates. An app designed to help women count contractions during labor recently incurred the wrath of female users who complained it only counted contractions from the end of one to the beginning of another (not from the beginning of one to the beginning of another). While the developer’s gender was not obvious, many peeved users assumed it was an uneducated male and swore off any other apps by the same developer.

There is also a growing demand for smartphone tools that meet women’s personal needs, like iPeriod and various pregnancy apps, as well as apps that echo what they look for in magazine, newspaper and television features, e.g. horoscope, celebrity gossip and music news apps.  These women say they have replaced many traditional forms of entertainment with these easy-to-access and very affordable application.

With men, shopping for apps is like shopping for a car.  The men Knerl talked to admitted to relying heavily on the recommendation of a blog, a friend, or peer reviews from the app store itself for making a purchasing decision.

Happy kids make happy parents. So it’s not surprising that both men and women keep their smartphones stocked with educational games, fun stories, cool music, and family-friendly tools to keep their kids occupied and, well, happy. The bottom line is that while there are differences in the way men and women use their smart phone, in most cases app use reflects the person and not the gender.

Source: http://mylifescoop.com