October 7th, 2009
Teens are Generation Apple as iPod, iPhone dominance reigns
Apple’s dominance among teenagers is unchecked and the iPhone love is growing dramatically, according to a survey by Piper Jaffray.
Simply put, Apple consumer electronics prowess is unchallenged. Piper Jaffray’s bi-annual survey of 600 teenagers reveals:
- 22 percent of students expect to buy an iPhone in the next 6 months;
- 15 percent of students own an iPhone, up from 8 percent six months ago;
- iPod market share among teens is 87 percent, up from 86 percent six months ago;
- And among the 40 percent of students that buy music legally 93 percent of those use iTunes.
The real tipping point for the iPhone surge is the $99 iPhone 3G. Piper Jaffray’s tech team writes:
We believe the $99 iPhone 3G has been a meaningful part of share gains in the last six months. Previously, teens were indicating that the plan pricing and handset pricing were too high for them (and their parents) to buy iPhones. The lower pricing appears to have been a catalyst for share gains. Also, the popularity of the App Store and the quality of games available for the iPhone have likely led to the gains among the teen demographic in recent months.
That’s the high-level view, which shouldn’t be news to people. What’s more interesting is the long-term trend data from Piper Jaffray. It’s still an Apple rout by any definition, but you can see who might emerge as No. 2 (a very distant one though). Microsoft’s Zune and Sony’s MP3 players are popping up as options over the next 12 months.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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