You’re Not an Average Apple User
MacNN has done something interesting — an “exit poll” of sorts, where they asked questions of 1,000 iOS users at four Northern Virginia Apple Stores, a task that took only two hours given the stores’ high foot traffic. In short, only about 20 percent of the people (200) also used a Mac, and just 20 percent of them (40) said they were capable of performing maintenance tasks. That last number was slightly higher for iOS, with 29 percent of people saying they were capable of performing basic maintenance. The takeaway is that most users — at least those who go to an Apple Store in Northern Virginia — treat their Apple devices as appliances. Of course, people in those stores may not be entirely representative of the Apple user base in other ways, but it seems safe to say that we Mac users who maintain our own computers are very much in the minority, and we have to take that into account when evaluating Apple’s actions. Be sure to read the full article!
A very interesting survey indeed. Despite being aware I'm a geek and knowing about sampling bias, I was still surprised by these results.
Honestly, who thought that most respondents wanted even thinner iPhones or that didn't care if there was a headphone jack or not?
I always thought huge phones were something primarily for Asians and geeks. The iPhone 6 I have feels like it's too big already. My wife still uses her iPhone 5 as she waits for Apple to offer a 4" iPhone with modern internals and 64 GB. I would have thought many non-geeks in western countries would prefer more compact phones (especially women), but that's not at all what the North VA Apple Store customers said.
Likewise, my impression is among geeks and aficionados there seems to be quite some consensus that the iPhone is thin enough. Most people seem to worry more about battery life. But not that crowd!
Obviously Apple does seem to know their customers very well and we geeks appear to be a very different crowd.
Yes, I too was troubled by the fact that people seemed to want thinner phones with larger screens, when that's very much not what I hear in my circle.
We all want to think that we're "normal" but surveys like these, even with the various sampling bias problems, do rather seriously prick that thought balloon.
I definitely don't want a larger screen, but as someone who recently switched from an iPod touch to an iPhone 5s, I desperately want a thinner phone. The 5s is far too thick and I can't now keep it in my pocket most of the time. I miss the svelt figure of my iPod. :-)