iPhone owners are superior beings, says survey

Younger, wealthier, better educated...

iPhone users are often accused of acting as if they believe they're a cut above the common rabble. Well, they are.

At least according to a survey by Forrester Research of over 32,000 working Americans, brought to our attention by AppleInsider.

According to Forrester's research, iPhone users are wealthier and better-educated than owners of other smartphones - and far above owners of mere dumbphones.

iPhone users are also younger than smartphoners - they own the Gen Y demographic (late teens to late 20s) while smartphoners dominate in Gen X (late 20s and 30s). Whether iPhone users are also better-looking, wittier, and have a more refined appreciation of aged Capra Valtellina goat cheese, the report didn't say.

Being iPhone users, they also pay more for their service than others - and average of $87 (£53) per month, compared with a smartphoner's $76 (£46). What's more, their employers are marginally less likely to help pay for the phone: 24 per cent versus the smartphone-supplying boss' 28 per cent. However, with 67 per cent of iPhone owners making over $70K per year, they can afford it.

iPhone owners avidly use their phones for more than mere voice communications, as well. Forget the clichéd tweener or teener madly texting on their dumbphones. Your average iPhone owner is over twice as likely to be a weekly texter than a user of an uneducated phone.

The iPhone's lead is equally striking in email and internet access - an iPhoner is nearly twice as likely to access the web than, say, a BlackBerrian, Palmer, or Windows Mobilian. Interestingly, iPhone owners are also more likely to leave their laptops at work - apparently they're satisfied with email access from their phones.

Now, whether the newly released Palm Pre or the rise of the Androids change the iPhone's internet-access dominance is as yet unknown. Which brings up another interesting fact: According to AppleInsider, the first phase of Forrester's survey was conducted a year and a half ago, when the iPhone was the new - and prohibitively pricey - kid on the block, a fact that almost surely skewed its stats.

To compensate for the changing demographics of all types of mobile phone users, Forrester plans to update its stats later this year. But if you don't want to wait for the new data to be munged in with the current info, you can pick up a copy of the report for $749.

That may seem a bit pricey, but if you're a high-achieving iPhone owner, it's pocket change. ®