Gadgets Are A Girl's Best Friend

True or False? You visit electronic stores more often than shopping malls.

If you think this statement is somewhat true, you're not alone. USA Today investigates the results of an Oxygen Network survey that indicates more women would choose electronics, such as iPods, TVs, or cell phones, over silly things like diamond necklaces or designer shoes. Not only do girls want their high-tech toys, but they want the top-of-the-line models.

The survey aimed to compared tech attitudes between men and women, so they interviewed over 1,400 women and 700 men, ages 15-49. Findings suggest that advertisers need to address a broader audience, and not talk down to women.

By talking down to women, I suppose they mean that literally as well as to say, "don't make a pink version of every gadget out there to get my attention." There's a lot of mixed feelings among women in regards to pink gadgets. While young women love their pink handsets, mature women prefer theirs in a more subdued shade, yet a recent survey indicates that a large number of women want to have some sort of color choice. Personalization is huge, not only because it's fun, but also because they want to differentiate their items.

I personally don't think manufacturers introduce pink gadgets to antagonize women, I think they understand there's a massive market for pink gadgets, and being the business brains that they are, they will cater to that segment of the population. The pink RAZR alone alone sold over 600,000 units last Christmas.

It was also clear that women want to learn about the benefits of technology with less focus on specifications, and the majority clearly understands that they don't give themselves enough credit when it comes to their tech savviness. 

While specifications are good to know, not everyone understands their meaning in real world terms. How do you explain megapixels, gigabytes or bandwidth to your grandma or someone who didn't grow up with technology?  Technology is complicated, so companies should make every effort to translate these terms for non-techies. I'd love to see more tech-translations on websites and in stores. Apple is one of the few companies that tells its customers that a 4GB iPod will fit over 1,000 songs. Now that works for me, and the rest of the world who has to explain how many songs fit in 4GB iPods.

One thing is for sure, women do influence buying decisions in the house. So if women are spending more than $65 billion dollars on electronics each year, they surely must have a good understanding of technology.

Women, do you agree with this survey? Tell me what you think.