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Your gadgets may reveal who you are

The device that you are using might be communicating something about your identity and wealth.
Written by David Worthington, Contributor

The device that you are using might be communicating something about your identity and wealth.

Earlier this week, the folks at Live Science published an analysis of users of popular smartphone brands, PCs and Macs. Personally, I was most surprised by its description of Android users.

Let's get the most obvious comparison out of the way first: Apple vs Android. Live Science found that iPhone users tend to be over 35, female, educated, liberal, and earning an income of more than US$200,000 per year. They may or may not be tech savvy, but don't have time to "tinker" with menus. The iPhone may also be regarded as a status symbol with a reputation for being the highest end product sold.

Android users live in more rural areas, are more politically conservative and are much more likely to be male. Many have never traveled outside of their home country, love pets, Comedy Central, and for whatever reason, Yahoo Mail. A university professor told Live Science that Android users may be forming an iPhone counter culture as a backlash against the people that they perceive to be Apple users aka city living limousine liberals.

That's not my perception, but I live in Manhattan and am only occasionally visiting rural areas. My friends tend to be young professionals, educated, and a few are well off. The Android users that I know are either cost conscious and don't think they should pay for iPhones or techies that don't want to live within Apple's walled garden.

The Live Science report noted that Blackberry users tend to be highly introverted urban dwellers and are equally distributed across the sexes; Windows Phone users are politically moderate suburban moms. Users of both brands may be daring and individualistic; others might perceive somebody who is using older generation devices to be a luddite from a bygone era (or so 2008).

PC users are more likely to reside in rural or suburban areas. A Windows user may self identify as a late adopter. A Mac users fits the stereotype: urban, uber educated, willing to be on the bleeding edge of technology, vegetarian, and much younger than the PC user demographic. Tablet users are both young and old; some are tech savvy, but another segment of users isn't. The latter tends to be females over age 50.

Do you fit into any of these categorizations?

image: dottech.org

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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