Many Macworld Attendees Don’t Have a Smartphone

Leander Kahney:

Here’s a surprising statistic from Macworld 2011: about 40% of show goers don’t have a smartphone.

That was the number given to me at a meetup on the show’s last night. It was from someone who ran a competition all week in one of the booths. To win a prize, entrants had to download an app to their smartphone — and about 40% didn’t have a device that could download apps.

“I was really surprised,” said the source, who asked that neither she nor her company be identified. “Especially in a city like San Francisco and at a show like Macworld.”

That does seem high, but I think the obvious answer is that smartphone monthly plans simply cost too much. And Android isn’t any cheaper than the iPhone in this regard.

Update: Another theory, submitted by several readers: Many of these attendees did have iPhones (or other smartphones), but claimed not to because they didn’t want this company’s app.

★ Monday, 31 January 2011