Is Android Just For Men?

Tweet

I know what you’re thinking. This is like one of those market surveys that found that iPhone users have more sex or that webOS users like alternative rock or something. Well, there’s a bit of that in this story, but that’s not the main point. There’s an upcoming “Droidcon” conference coming in late October, and speaker Belinda Parmar believes that the Android platform has ignored women – and mainly appeals to men. Does Android have “a dude problem”?

Parmar, founder of “Lady Geek” writes in a prepared statement that preludes her talk at Droidcon, that very few women know, or care about Android. A scientific survey of 78,835 women in the United Kingdom found that just 5% of women aged 25-39 would pick an Android phone as their next device. Compare that to 11% of men in the same age group.

Parmar says:

Android provides a perfect example of how not to market a platform to women, and so the Android experience has become irrelevant to more than half of the population. It is true that Android has a ‘dude’ problem.

I’d argue that women may well receive Android a little bit further in the United States, where Verizon’s marketing campaign as made “DROOOOIIIIDDD” a household name (sort of). We’ve also seen some “women friendly” devices like the Motorola Backflip and Motorola Flipout introduced in the last few months that could help the platform spread with women. Back to the US, Motorola is allegedly working on a small Android phone for Verizon that will be marketed specifically towards women. In South Korea, tech giant Samsung has started selling hot pink Galaxy S phones (not that men couldn’t enjoy a hot pink phone – no, nothing wrong with that at all).

Parmar will be talking at DroidCon, as mentioned, with the talk titled “Android has a ‘Dude’ Problem”. Do you think Android is unappealing to women? Tell us your take in the comments section.