Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

People keep saying this, but I'm not sure why.

Maybe my experience is warped, but if I had to stereotype I'd say it's younger people walking around with Android phones and older well-off businesspeople walking around with iPhones. I'm not sure "targeting teenagers" really holds.

The people I know who still use Blackberries? Both of them are hardcore fans. Back in the 90s, every Mac user I knew was a hardcore fan… all five or so of them.

Apple is what it is today because it started selling to everyone else. RIM is what it is today because it hasn't yet figured out how to do that.




As for why people keep saying that Apple is targeting teenagers, the reason is that the iPhone has a crazy bathtub curve to its user base and most people only see half of it. The wealthiest, most successful business people I know all own iPhones. On the other hand, all the people I know with who are unemployed with uncontrolled substance abuse issues also own iPhones. Everyone in the middle owns Android. In a particularly funny anecdote, I knew someone who went through rehab, got clean, and almost immediately tried to replace his iPhone with an Android.

If you don't know any crackheads, then the iPhone seems like the phone of the wealthy entrepreneur. If you don't know any people who are successful in business, then the iPhone looks like the choice of the crackheads. Your experience is warped, but no more so than those who say its the phone of teenagers.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: