Commentary

Hello 'iPhone Mom'?

Mobile ad network Greystripe has coined the term "iPhone mom" to describe the 29.5% of iPhone users on its network that are mothers and household decision makers.

"Our insights report shows the iPhone mom is becoming the most significant purchase influencer and decision maker in the iPhone community," said Greystripe CEO Michael Chang, in a statement about the data released Thursday.

The company's report says that the iPhone has made moms accessible to advertisers via mobile applications on the popular Apple device because the iPhone mom "is now a common and active mobile application user." Overall, Greystripe, which focuses on serving ads in gaming apps, found that 51% of iPhone users were women and 49% men.

That split differs dramatically from the 70%/30 % male/female split among iPhone users that rival mobile ad network AdMob found in a study released in June with comScore. It's possible women skew higher on Greystripe's game-focused network, especially when it comes to casual games.

Greystripe's demographic data was also based on a sample size of 133 iPhone users on its ad network, which doesn't seem like a very large sample size. Recent research from Universal McCann and AOL also found that 70% of iPhone users are male, which would line up with AdMob's figures.

In any case, it's fair to say at least some proportion of iPhone users overall are moms who make household buying decisions. But don't expect iPhone mom to soon replace "soccer mom" as a way to describe middle-aged suburban women.

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