In the past weeks, the media has been flooded with reports on the newest invention from Apple: The Apple Watch, which is available for pre-order in Europe since 10th April.
Already on the release date in North America, almost a million copies of the intelligent watch has been sold, but a recent survey reports that only 15 percent of the iPhone-users take a purchase of the Apple Watch into consideration.
While this finding appears astonishing considering the loyalty of Apple-customers, the low interest in the new product can perhaps be attributed to the lack of gaming elements. Studies have found that games make up the biggest part of apps that are available in appstores – that is a little more than 21 percent, whereas offers from the field of Health & Fitness, the key sector of Apple Watch, does not even come close to three percent.
What is nevertheless more interesting is the fact that even women – contrary to the widespread cliché that gaming mainly the pastime for men – invest heavily in apps and mobile games and on the whole spend 31 percent more on apps than men.
So what has caused women to act against this cliché? For one, it could be due to the clever marketing strategies – for example, many online casino sites adjust their game offers to target women by incorporating classical feminine themes in the gaming experience. In de.SpinPalace.com, for example, there is a number of “women-oriented” games, such as Mermaid Millions, which contribute to the classical gaming stereotype being collapsed. With the same means and methods, games like “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” which sometimes even lead the apps-sales list contribute to the constantly changing preferences of the consumers.
In view of this development, it is now clear that a clear connection between gaming-offers and women’s app-shopping exists. Besides, this development could be a hint for the general demographic development of men and women; further studies have shown that twice as many men have acquired the Apple Watch as women. This leads to another interesting question in view of the fact that the watch is mainly used in the area of health & fitness: Are men more health conscious than women? Are men, in a time when supermodels and airbrushing hit the headlines of women’s magazines, actually more interested in fitness-themes than women?
Of course, it could also simply be the case that men are in general more compelled than women to try out the latest technological toys. Otherwise, the results of the studies could also hint that the cliché and stereotypes are no longer valid. So ladies: If you want to play, you could also play. And gentlemen: If you want to take good care of your body, you would definitely not be judged unfavourably in the future by us Apple-users.
Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/4600461689/
