Toys or Tools: What Do Women Want in a Gadget?

Jan. 11, 2010— -- "Chip Chick" Helena Stone said that writing about consumer technology for women a few years ago was was no easy task.

Why? There just wasn't much going on.

"At my first [Consumer Electronics Show], there was nothing for women on the show floor," said Stone, editor in chief of the women's tech blog ChipChick.com. "Accessories, gadgets, there was just nothing there for women."

But over the years, as technology companies realized that women were a key class of consumers, they started changing their ways and moving beyond the requisite pink gadget du jour.

There was more to write about than ever before at this month's CES in Las Vegas, Stone said. Not only did the annual gadget show feature more products wrapped in aesthetics meant to appeal to women, but it offered technological tools that incorporated a female perspective in more subtle -- and potentially more substantial -- ways.

"When we started here, companies kind of looked at us and women in general as, 'Oh, the men are the ones buying everything' and that's not true," Stone said. "They finally woke up and were, like, 'Women make the purchasing decisions in the household.'"

Indeed, women account for about 40 percent of consumer electronics spending, the market research firm NPD Group estimates. And other industry watchers say that women also have considerable influence over the products that they don't purchase directly.

Although men and women can find utility in the same product, Stone and others say, generally speaking, women and men approach technology in different ways. And the smart tech companies are paying attention.

"Though I hate to generalize, women will often think about the way that a product fits into their larger life," said Lindsey Turrentine, an executive editor at tech site CNET who frequently appears on CNET's women tech show Gadgettes. "So is that something my kids would like, is that something that will help me with my friendships or with my family and how would that fit into the larger picture."

For example, when she hears women talk about the wave of 3-D televisions that the industry says is on the way, Turrentine said, she hears them weighing their kids' experiences with the potential experiences of house guests and other social considerations.