Filed under: Apple Corporate, Cult of Mac, Apple
Apple disputes geriatric image
Last week, TUAW posted about a MetaFacts report that found 46% of Apple's installed base to be over the age of 55. Apple took issue with those findings. Lynn Fox, an Apple PR director, wrote Information Week saying "The MetaFacts data you cited in your story is incorrect. Our customer data shows that only around 20% of Mac users are over the age of 55." Apple did not supply any facts to back up this assertion.
Information Week tracked down Van Baker, a research VP at MetaFacts competitor Gartner, who pointed out that a recent Gartner study put the average age of an Apple-male-head-of-household at 39.4 years behind the 41 year age of the average PC-male-head-of-household.
We here at TUAW are holding on tight to our walkers, waiting to see how this plays out.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Niklas said 9:54AM on 12-07-2006
"Gartner study put the average age of an Apple-male-head-of-household at 39.4 years behind the 41 year age of the average PC-male-head-of-household."
In other words: Apple-male-head-of-household are 0.6 years old?
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Alex said 10:05AM on 12-07-2006
74% of statistics are made up on the spot. Just like that one.
I tend to find the apple figure more believable. I know a couple people over 50 with apples, and an overwhelming of people in their 20's with them.
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Jon said 10:15AM on 12-07-2006
"Apple did not supply any facts to back up this assertion." What? They said 20% of their customers (according to their consumer data) were over 55. How is that not a fact? Besides, I'd think Apple has a greater interest in accurately knowing the demographics of their customer base than anyone else.
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Michael Reilly said 10:23AM on 12-07-2006
I remember reading an article saying the average Apple investor was 55 or older. I took that to mean "shareholder," not necessarily user.
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Sherman Homan said 11:25AM on 12-07-2006
I almost spit out my prune juice!
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ClunkClunk said 11:31AM on 12-07-2006
My guess is that either the statistics are full of bunk, or that one set of data included "All installed machines" while the other looked at "new purchases".
When I worked in Apple retail, I was amazed at how many seniors would come in with Quadras or early PowerMacs, and want to replace them with iMac G5s. The hardware sale was easy, it was the data migration that was a nightmare. Moving from System 7.x to 10.4 was nigh impossible.
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Macskeeball said 11:40AM on 12-07-2006
Jon, I haven't read the article but it sounds like they meant that Apple didn't provide other numbers that showed how they arrived at the 20% figure.
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Allen said 12:14PM on 12-07-2006
"In other words: Apple-male-head-of-household are 0.6 years old?"
41 - 39.4 = 1.6
You aren't as young as you thought you were Niklas.
Actually, a comma can do wonders:
"... Apple-male-head-of-household at 39.4 years, (1.6 years) behind the 41 year age of the average PC-male-head-of-household."
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Rick Prather said 2:43PM on 12-07-2006
Enough of the "Geriatrics" references you young Whipper Snappers!
55 is not Geriatric!
(From a long time Mac user that is 64 and whose Mother uses a mini and she is 86 - Now, that's Geriatric!
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Michael said 1:04PM on 12-07-2006
Apple - The Cadillac of Computers!
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Niklas said 3:13PM on 12-07-2006
"You aren't as young as you thought you were Niklas."
Haha, true that!
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Delfo said 5:31AM on 12-08-2006
I'm a 71 years old Mac User (PowerBook 15"-1,5 GHz) and I'm not feeling "Geriatrics", not yet.
I suggest to ask Steve Jobs some "Fringe Benefits" for Mac User over the 70 years old.
Ciao.
Delfo
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phonotastic said 12:16PM on 12-09-2006
Plus, consider the number of parents who aren't about to let their children/teens register their computers in their own names.
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Sherman Homan said 8:37PM on 12-10-2006
I bought my son and my daughter laptops. They are teenagers. The purchase was in my name with my credit card. So, how do the statistics work?
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