Are Women Gadget-Impaired?

On July 12 I read an interesting article at Gizmodo.com. Comet, a UK electronics retailer, reports that its survey of 1,000 consumers revealed that women and gadgets don’t mix. Specifically, 75% of the women they talked to don’t know how to fully use their mobile devices, including phones and mp3 players. 70% of them ask their children or spouses for help. One of the things they ask for help with is downloading music.

But wait, there’s more. Comet adds that men spend hours reading instructions to learn how to use their gadgets. Women try to figure things out without the manual and then complain when they have problems.

Men read manuals? Since when? I read this article with a great deal of skepticism and concluded that either the survey was flawed (the intent of the survey was to justify Comet’s Gadget Angels team), or men and women in UK are different from those in the United States regarding both gadgets and use of instructional materials.

Interestingly, the next day Solutions Research Group released a study showing that iPod usage tripled for women in 2006. This is the same group of people that Comet’s survey said have trouble with gadgets.

I suppose both surveys could be right. Just because women are purchasing iPods doesn’t mean they know how to use them. Maybe after buying an iPod, the typical female lets somebody else put the music on it.

Then again, the Solutions Research Group survey only spoke to Americans. Comet only surveyed UK consumers. Maybe American women are different from those in the UK.

There is one other possibility. Solutions Research Group says that women prefer iPods because they just don’t have the time to fool with less simple systems. Maybe women can only work well with technology that doesn’t need a manual to work well.

It speaks well for virtually any piece of equipment when it is designed well enough to make a manual unnecessary. Still, the women I know don’t shy away from technology. In fact, in our family our female teen adapts to technology the easiest, followed closely by me. My husband is learning, but the females of the household take to technology more naturally. My husband even relies on me to fill his mp3 player.

I read a lot of comments from internet users regarding the apparent inability of women to work with gadgets. From what I read, our household is not unusual. Then again, maybe the type of person who would read that report tends to be more technologically oriented in the first place.

The Solutions Research Group study reported a number of other interesting statistics. One that shows why so many companies want to create some real competition for iPods/ITMS is the number of people paying for downloads. In 2005 approximately 8% of internet users downloaded music that they paid for. In 2006 the number of consumers paying for music increased to 23%, translating to approximately 39 million people. (This does not mean that all others pirated music, it only means they didn’t download from a paid site. 45% of American internet users have downloaded music from paid or free sites in the past.)

Here’s a number sure to please Apple Computer. Last year Solutions Research Group showed a 53% market share for iPods when compared with all digital music players. This year the survey showed them at 68%. Creative Labs was in second place with 6% of the market.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on genders and technology. Do women really find it more difficult to learn? Do men actually read manuals? Maybe it’s all a cultural difference.

Tell us what technological gadget use is like in your home.