I'm Too Pretty For My Android Phone

[Karey Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://mashable.com/2011/02/17/facebook-phone-maker-android/' target='_blank'>http://mashable.com/2011/02/17/face...-maker-android/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Frank Meehan has a message for makers of Android handsets and tablets: Stop focusing on elite early adopter customers and start thinking about what the cool kids want. 'If you go to a nightclub in any city in the world, the pretty girl has an iPhone or a BlackBerry,' Meehan told Mashable at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. 'She doesn't have an Android phone. She has no emotional attachment to an Android phone. It's too complicated. It's a geek device, it's all wrong.'"</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/adt/auto/1298491656.usr110024.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Hmmm...apparently just because I'm a girl, I should not be geek enough to own an Android phone according to Frank Meehan, CEO of INQ. Well, Frank, I think you have it wrong. I have never owned an iPhone or Blackberry (not that there is anything wrong with them) and I'm fairly geeky. I play Dominion (thanks P-town friends!), lust over new technology (When is the Xperia Play coming out?), can sorta fix a computer as well as do some basic code writing (HTML, hahahah), just started watching all the Star Trek Next Generation episodes on DVD (thanks hun, you are going to pay for it later), and I can read binary clocks. Oh ya, and don't forget, I help write up news posts on everyone's favorite Android site, <a href="androidthoughts.com" target="_blank">Android Thoughts</a>. Ya, all that might not be enough to consider me an uber-geek but I think it qualifies enough to be able to understand how to use an Android device. And I know lots of other females out there who are just as devoted to our little green friend (shout out to the girls (and guys) in the <a href="ravelry.com" target="_blank">Ravelry.com </a><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/groups/android" target="_blank">Android group</a>).</p><p>So Frank I leave you with this; a quote from one of my favorite (and geeky) shows, Stargate SG-1. Captain Samantha Carter said, "And just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside doesn't mean I can't handle whatever you can handle."</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

[hummingbirdhill]

Yo, Karey, although I do NOT like the icky greeeeeen Android 'bots, I DO love the feminine pink one in your post :) :) and I adore the froyo on my new HTC Inspire because it runs smooooothly and fasssst and is excellently organized.

Perhaps we should start a Females for Froyo or something of that sort. ;-)

[liljohn]

Your response proves you don't get it. Your not the mojority regardless of what you think.

[Chris Hordley]

Not, just female but middle-aged so I'm totally invisible ! Got an android and a qualification in computer maintenance last summer. Friend's seventeen year old, very pretty, daughter told me she was getting an HTC Desire (llike mine) because she had read up about it on the net. Real head-turner but not into fluffy kittens ! Well, done I said but then I was bricklaying at four ! Turned a few male heads in my time too.

[WyattEarp]

Coming from a guy I find you post fantastic. I love tech and think that those who feel tech, especially high-tech and truely geeky stuff (including cars) is only for guys is either close-minded or just plain stupid. Technology is not gender specific, it's just created by more men than women for everyone to enjoy, use and improve. As advanced as a society we claim to be, the female perspective along with many others (which I will not get into here) is sorely and sadly missing. Hopefully others will be inspired by what you have written.

Note to Frank Meehan: You are so wrong on some many levels. Many people are emotionally attached to their devices regardless of the OS and it's level of complication or geekiness. It's how the device is used and operates for the individual that inspires attachment no matter the race, creed, color, gender, etc, etc, etc. And one more thing, the "cool kids" are not the ones to follow unless you want to be a follower and not a game changer. Go read Apple's playbook from 2007 and see how RIM's "cool kids" got left in the dust by iOS and now Android.
Looks like the new "cool kids" are the geeks and we don't follow the hurd. We lead it.

[Jason Dunn]

Girl power! Great post, I liked it. :)

[hummingbirdhill]

Well said, WyattEarp, and I totally agree with you. I'm 68 and female and my entire family (including 8 males) seeks my assistance with digital probs and challenges---and teases me for being ultra-attached to my digitalia. Living in this digital era is a fulltime treat for which I'm so thankful. :)

As for Mr. Meehan, does he hail from a nation in which females are oppressed and not permitted to be educated? ;-)

[Lucy]

Hear, hear the words of the female geek. I, too, am mid fifties and live in a rural area after moving here from Toronto. I am the "go to" gal for advice on new tech, computer repairs, multi media equipment and yes, iphone vs. android vs windows phone 7 or blackberry. I actually have some insight to provide on all fronts. My previous "life" as a computer geek is serving me well. shout out to you for challenging the perceptions. :)