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Consumer survey says iPhone owners more likely to shop online, go snowboarding
This little list of factoids from last fall's Survey of the American Consumer is pretty interesting. It runs down a few of the things that iPhone owners are more likely to do than the average American. Some of them are obvious (iPhone owners are more likely to make calls over the Internet, see their phone as entertainment, or even pay a subscription to watch live TV on the device), but did you know that iPhone owners are even more likely to own an elliptical trainer or be snowboarders? In fact, they're 282% more likely than the average American to order a product from Zappos. Maybe they just wanted to save money. At any rate, these stats are really more of a novelty. We already know that most iPhone and Apple product users tend to be male, older, and affluent; it's not surprising that pastimes and activities that also appeal to that segment are popular among iPhone owners. In the end, the most interesting stat may be the last one: iPhone owners are 52% more likely than other people to want to "wow" others with their devices. We know that iPhone owners have more money and more resources than others, but I'm interested to know more about just how vain we are and how Apple cultivates its own image to target that audience.
Study: Average social gamer age is only 29 in the US
If you think that those silly social games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are full of teenagers, you're only half right. The average player of social games is actually younger than previously believed, according to a new study, but a little older than teenage: 29 in the US and 27 in the EU. That's an interesting conclusion, especially since the average gamer is actually a little older than that (s/he was 30 a few years ago and has been getting steadily older since then), and most people believe that social gamers on Facebook tend to skew even older. This survey by GamesIndustry.com, however, goes against that grain, and claims that while there are more females playing these games than males, they tend to be younger than expected. Peter Warman of that site says that the reason for this is that most such surveys don't poll any lower than age 18: "It is therefore not at all surprising that their average age is extraordinarily high ... Data from kids and teens is vital and should always be taken into account." If these surveys aren't representing anyone below age 18, then it's possible gamers, especially those playing social games on Facebook and elsewhere, are even younger than anyone's guessed previously.
15 Minutes of Fame: 76-year-old player relies on strategy
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Who's the oldest player you know? WoW's player base is so immense today that most of us know someone over age 50 who plays. These older folks most often turn out to be friends-and-family style players, tucked away among other family members -- grown sons and daughters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews -- using World of Warcraft to connect with family members across the generations and the miles. Finding an older player who's come to the game on his own terms can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. When we finally got wind of septuagenarian player Loyal Leitgen, we knew we'd found a player who could give us a fresh perspective on the older player's point of view. He hadn't been introduced to the game by the younger generation -- in fact, he'd been the one to usher his grown sons into the game. The problem was, we couldn't interview him until we could catch up with him. When we fired off our first e-mail, he'd just left the United States and was bound for Switzerland. We finally tracked down the energetic retiree in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was visiting one of his sons who was working on an international business venture. We chatted with him on Skype to learn why the 76-year-old gamer thinks WoW offers something for everyone.
Walt Mossberg gets his brain (DS) trained
They've sold Brain Age in Japan by the millions, used it to demonstrate disruptive market strategies (in multiple keynotes), and now the folks at Nintendo have dropped their brain-sharpening baby into the hands of Walter S. Mossberg.Mossberg, the powerful Wall Street Journal tech writer, has wielded quite a bit of influence in the gadget world, even giving praise (with strong reservations) to the PSP and Xbox 360 when each of those platforms launched. But what does he have to say about Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (for the DS)?Walt actually likes the game... with a caveat, of course: his ability to knock down his purported brain age down to 20 (the youngest possible) in the course of a day "didn't inspire confidence in the program's scientific accuracy." But at least it was fun. And even if that creepy Kawashima head isn't fully localized yet ("the setting sun sure does put spots in my eyes"), at least the older mainstream--okay, Engadget--crowd will get some exposure to this supposedly beneficial game through this coverage.[Thanks, Michael; image from the Radio And Internet Newsletter (RAIN)]See also: GDC: The Nintendo keynote blow by blow [free Brain Age for all!] Japanese doctors recommend Brain Training for seniors Walt Mossberg on the 360 PSP: Wall Street Journal gives us its impressions
