Memorex recently had a study carried out on its behalf, which found that roughly 70 percent of women feel "underserved" by electronics companies. Women, who
buy about 40 percent of electronics, think (according to this study) that most products are made and marketed for men. Memorex ingested that data, and decided to offer up some new options for the ladies... and they came up with a neon pink, purse-shaped iPod dock. The miniMove Boombox would be just another crummy looking piece of gadget noise, had it not come swaddled in such a spate of condescending mumbo jumbo. Kasia van Hall (a woman!) of Memorex told the
Times of London that "women want to know about technology, but only just enough to get a taste of it," adding that the majority "simply don't have time or energy to read long instructions and play with cables." The device, in similar, less-pink form, has been on shelves since last December.
Now, it's true, we of the
Engadget nerdom are
possibly in the minority, but it seems like a crappily designed
iPod dock painted pink is hardly the answer to the conundrum of women's gadget needs. Then again, we
have been known to try to insert our BlackBerry into the VCR. Were we not supposed to do that? The miniMove Boombox will be available in the next two weeks in the UK for a totally cute £59 (that's $96 for all you mathematically-challenged gals).
[Via
Jezebel]
posted Jul 10th 2009 2:39AM
what? what does "undeserved" mean in this context. unappreciated maybe, but undeserved?
I had to read it twice or three times to properly read it.
I had to read it a few times too...
VP Sales: Nobody is buying our mediocre crapgagets
CEO: Find some people who don't know any better.
VP Marketing: I'm on it... we'll make it look like we're serving that market and people will have gratitude to us.
damnit engadget, i had replied saying i read it wrong and now its gone
My reading comprehension was fail too.
so was your reply?
that is an extremely manly headband.
That's pretty obnoxious.
This mini-move boombox says nothing about why women are underserved. Unless what they are saying is by coloring things magenta and calling it "pink"is the technology women want.
But I must agree w/ the Times of London quote of most women just want a taste. More than 95% of the women that I've come across don't want to hear it or drown out my voice when I start getting techie.
Problem: Women feel "underserved" by electronics companies.
Solution: Electronics companies make stuff pink.
How can you argue with that kind of logic?
Heh, I'd be of the 5% that would actually listen to your rambling techiness and then contribute my own.
As a "gadget hound" woman I'm more likely NOT to buy items that aren't garishly pink, and I think most of my "girlie" friends will avoid this crap too. I do admit to buying a purple iPhone case though :S
"But I must agree w/ the Times of London quote of most women just want a taste. "
I'd say no. What women want it is highly functional items so they can get on with their lives. More men have a higher tolerance for "wasting time" tinkering with why something doesn't work or how to get it to work, because these men find the tinkering entertaining. (So do I, along with probably 100% of Engadget readers.)
Frankly, a lot of men also want good and intuitive design, so it's a win for the manufacturer all around.
What is female-specific design? Gadgets not designed specifically to fit in a man-sized pocket or get clipped to a belt. Gadgets that can fit in a tiny clutch that goes with that cocktail dress. Interfaces that are easier to navigate when you have longer nails. Gadgets that stand up to the abuse that happens when a toddler grabs it out of a purse. Gadgets that are ergonomic with smaller hands and proportionally longer fingers. Et cetera, et cetera.
Pink? Meh.
Hello what does a woman become when she's "mathmaticly changed"
I mean what exactly is changed, and how?
Good grief!
I quite like pink, but I won't buy crappy tech just for the colour (well, not often).
Seriously though, it’s nonsense like this that keeps the whole sexism thing in existence. I'm so sick of being spoken to like I'm some dumb simpleton when I visit a hi-fi shop, garage, computer shop etc.
Of course, it’s usually amusing when it turns out that I’m far more knowledgeable than the pimply sales guy who doesn’t know his ohms from his amperes.
Don't be too hard on the guy in the store. He has formed his opinion of women's tech knowledge based on the the 2000 women that came in before you. My girlfriend is a financial attorney who writes contracts for multi-million dollar deals but still pretends to not know how to program her cell phone or set up a new printer. She does this because she knows I will do it for her.
BdgBill:
Sounds good. Want to swap?
When you walk into a mall with your fiancee and it hits you all over again that 90% of all department stores cater to women, then I think it is a bit presumptuous of women to feel that they're the ones whom are neglected when it comes to shopping.
More like they cater to womens desires, which in turn cater to YOUR wallet....
I have never met a woman over the age of 18 that's ever bought a pink gadget - Olympus or Sony cameras withstanding - in any quantity than one or two. Seriously... the colors won't sell to the women, they're more savvy than men in most occasions.
Pink... seriously. Just make better gadgets. And offer more than fingerprint magnet black.
It blends into your lifestyle just like those silver televisions used to blend into your décor.
Oh yeah pink obviously means it's designed for women. Cause women are always clad in pink, not.
Do some research into pink/blue. It is a post 2nd world war invention. Apparently blue was originally a girl colour cause it was soft and the whole christian Mary thing. Pink was for boys cause it was a watered down red indicating strength for your tyke. Women also got married in light blue traditionally in Europe because white was very difficult and expensive to make.
You should not believe everything BBC or wikipedia says, and I doubt the whole dress thing has anything to do with 'white was hard to get', f that was the reason they'd marry in beige not blue, also I never heard of any light blue being used for dresses traditionally so I would keep that 'information' contained in my 'dubious claims' box.
Oh and when they design gadgets for women they might be wrong that they all like pink but at least they design them for as they think women in this century are, it is completely irrelevant if 100 or 200 years back they would have to use blue, or orange or cyan or whatever to stereotype
Plus you are referring to european legacy, but worldwide companies are dealing with a whole world population, and since there are more asians than caucasians you'd have to refer to their traditional colors if you talked history and gadget color.
Hi Wwhat,
Thanks for the great comment conversation.
I didn't see it on the TV nor did I read it in Wikipedia. I actually read an extensive report on it by a university researcher in the USA. One of the 'proposed' reasons for the shift was to do with communist colours, the other was to do with visual tagging of people by the Nazi's, such as the yellow star, apparently (and I wasn't there to Know) homosexuals wore a pink symbol.
The point is, that it isn't 200 years ago, nor 100, its actually a very recent social imposition. I will look into traditional colours for Asians, that is a very interesting angle, thanks for the idea.
I have no interest in "living in the past" as you aggress, rather an interest in being aware of Why things are, because with that awareness you can make Choice. A great example is in farming where the word "traditional" is now used to refer to industrial broad acre cropping which is about as far from "traditional" as can be had.
Curiously you angle about believing in some old thing but then reference media driven modern belief systems as the way to go because its now. There is a great book called 1984, I recommend you read it, you will find it highlights the social dangers of your approach.
Cy Starkmen
Thanks, that reply made my day.
Cy, I loved your reply and initial comment.
With respect to your discourse about the color pink, I learned the same thing in college. Pink was originally a masculine color. However, sometime around the early 1800s, women adopted the color pink so they could demonstrate to society that they were also worthy of the color.
Overall, I find it disgusting that companies like Memorex think offering a color and shape change to an item (that already exists) will appease the female target group. I am a techie-girl. I love gadgets. And nothing repulses me more than a pink electronic device.
What Memorex should consider is offering a clear or neutral color so the consumer can add a skin to the item. With the trend of personalization and miniturization, it seems "plain" is the best path to take.
I did not say they should be 'media driven' but I think it's logical that a company uses current social trends, or what they believe to be such trends, and for that purpose it's totally irrelevant what it used to be, they do not set out to create such cultural moves they just try to push products and try to observe the market and respond to what they observe.
And that was my point, that they don't pick they are just reacting to what they think to hear/see, so therefore what was in vogue x years ago would be of interest to them x years ago not now.
Now the question is are they wrong in that observation? I think in japan for instance there is big interest for girls to get pink stuff (correct me if I'm wrong) so on that market they might be right, I think in the west that pink market is mostly very young girls though, but I don't know how many of them have ipods to charge, so if that number is significant then it makes sense to cater to the demand.
And that is different from being someone that actively or even proactively pushes such trends.
So without numbers and knowing what numbers they use it's hard to judge in the end, and although I think it's slightly offensive when it is said 'girls MUST have pink' it's equally offensive to say 'girls can not have pink' if there are many that want it, for whatever reason as long as it's their own choice.
"women want to know about technology"
And yet, despite the vast wealth of free information on technology available on the internets, the don't know anything about it.
Someone fucked up his research. Badly.
I remember back when I was in school and I was like 12 there were girls who were very technically and mathematically gifted and interested, but then hormones cut in which also caused peerpressure and those girls started to deny their natural disposition under peerpressure (and mating ritualism I guess), it was a bit sad to witness how they chucked it all and deliberately pretended to be somewhat 'dumb' if I can use that word.
It's amazing that stuff still goes on after so many centuries and after attempts to get away from that, the reverse is true too for men incidentally, forced in roles sometimes against their inclination.
There's plenty of room to improve things socially, but instead we are even moving more backwards under the guide of freaking religion and the hankering for living in the 1950's and before, sigh.
Though I don't always agree with Wwhat says sometimes he has a solid point on this one. We have a terrible habit of socializing our young girls into certain types of roles, and creating these ingroup/outgroups by using stereotypes. One thing that has aggravated me most of my adult life is meeting women who I could tell were intelligent making themselves look, well not intelligent. I've confronted more that one on it and a few copped to it and they all gave the same honest answer. As far as they knew, that was the only way to find a man. How sad is this? Are us men as a whole really that intimidated by intelligent women, or is that some sad stereotype being propagated by someone else? I know those of us on Engadget's comment system are a smaller minority group that gay black Jews but I figure it is a good enough question to ask. It can't be like this everywhere. Of course I could be blowing this whole thing out of proportion.
Since when are gadgets geared towards either sex at all, anyway? I'm pretty sure they're entirely asexual -- neither feminine nor masculine. I mean, really... Maybe it's just me, but the implication that electronics companies need to cater more to women seems silly because it's not like they're paying any more attention to men in the first place.
And come on... Pink? What does that have to do with femininity?
There are definitely phone designs that appeal to women only, and ones that appeal to men only, and ones that appeal to gay men only even, and ones that appeal to businessmen (in looks) and universal ones.
And although people also look at functionality, since most phones have the same basic stuff at some point the decision becomes about looks for people.
SEXISM!
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!
Hopefully they put a mirror on the back of it..
Just give women what they want.
"When the queen is happy, the LAAAAND is happy."
(Don't know who to credit for that one, but it's good.)
Tricky stance, I'd advise a steel fist in a velvet glove sooner, women don't respect it when catered to beyond reason, plus look at what happened with 'bloody mary' and marie antoinette, too much pleasing = disaster.
Not that I'm exactly an expert on women, far far from it, but I shall have my say dammit :)
Unfortunately women are much like men in the fact that most of us do not know what the hell we really want. By the time most people figure it out they've given up and say it is too late.
Thank you for the double entendre; great way to start my Friday.
What, women worthless? I couldn't agree more!
Is your mother a woman?
Since my mother was an M16 I'm gonna +1 you on that...
Seriously folks, it is sarcasm... and the internet... and a slow news day.
I'm sure now their catering to women will be seen as sexism (by women). Remember Dell's "Della" campaign? Hehe.
If it was up to me (and it is, damn it), I would say that the reason women feel under served is because technology companies know that men find the cold caress of technology more enticing.
Besides, the only reason women use computers is to play Solitaire.
Great commentary Engadget.
I know few adult women who fawn over pink crap - and several who find it difficult to find things designed for them (especially sporting equipment like wakeboards and lifejackets) that aren't splattered with pink. In fact, they find it more than a little insulting.
Maybe I'm just too male-oriented, but I don't get what is masculine or feminine about a GUI or other interface - human brains are far too similar to design something that works better for men vs. women.
When it comes to products that NEED to be designed for a woman (like a lifejacket) - it gets frustrating very quickly when companies think everything they design for a woman needs to have pink or flowers all over it.
especially since 10% of men love pink just to show how feminine they are... they are all just a bunch of British cigarettes (literally)
They should have done a Hello Kitty version.
There are no doubt such versions, but the hello kitty rights are guarded over so memorex probably can't get their hands on it for an economically sane price.
This kasia lady should be ashamed of herself...what a true idiot.
I'm by NO means a feminist and my favorite color is pink (not that fugly pepto bismol color pictured) , but I find this very offensive and sexist. Especially since I do know my way around tech, and my job is to help those who don't in a company made up of 90% male.
uh yeah please join us in the 21st century, k thanx.
I have a pink iphone case, pink case for my macbook, and pink-trimmed messenger bag. (But if these things were available in identical styles in purple, I'd rather have that.) Pink is just slightly better than black or white, it's eye-catching and different. So the color, fine, whatever.
But most women "simply don't have time or energy to read long instructions and play with cables." WTF?! If you're trying to appeal to true female gadget shoppers, they either won't need the d@mn instruction manual, will glance through it to double-check what they already know, and have no fear of cables. Women want the same thing in gadgets men do, something that's fun, cool, works well, and serves a purpose. Good design is even better, but good design doesn't have to be uber-girly.
Wait..what's a VCR?
Very Cute Roomba probably :P
They should just work harder on form and design and not focus so much on color. It's just that simple.
Basically, they're trying to euphemistically say that women are too stupid to understand electronics, so they hope that by making things pink, women will confuse ipods for lipstick and buy more of them. Totally agree. We've known women were this dumb for AGES. Thanks for catching up!
HOLY CRAP....96.00usd? That boombox is at my Wal-Mart in canada for 49.97CND