IPhone growing among “lower income” consumers

October 30, 2008 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

You may have heard that the iPhone is “an expensive toy for the wealthy and self-indulgent,” but that just ain’t so, according comScore’s new report, titled “All about the iPhone.” In fact, iPhone adoption among consumers making between $25,000 and $50,000 annually grew a whopping 48 percent between June and August, more than three times its growth among those making more than $100,000 per year.

Since the report covers a relatively small time period, it’s hard to know whether this is a long-term trend. After all, the numbers could just reflect a temporary spike due to Apple taking $200 off the price with June’s release of the iPhone 3G. Of course, in the iPhone world, “low income” is actually closer to “middle income.” This demographic (which includes me) mostly falls above the United States’ average individual income (around $32,000 for people over 25).

Still, this confirms that the iPhone has an audience beyond the rich. It also backs my anecdotal sense that the iPhone isn’t a luxury anymore, but a practical economic choice — with the cheapest model priced at $200, the iPhone seems like a smart buy compared to purchasing both an iPod and smartphone. (At least, it seems smart until you get your first phone bill, with newly-increased data fees …) On the other hand, owning an iPhone and a BlackBerry, or an iPhone and an iPod (as I’ve seen around Silicon Valley) is probably still the domain of the rich.

Overall, the iPhone’s market penetration grew 21 percent from June to August, compared to 12 percent for smartphones in general.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • m goode
    I wonder what kind of feedback will come from the motorola krave...It boast some similar features in a flip top design. (motorola.com/krave) I think it will be a big contender this holiday season.
  • TC
    Us poor American's with HDTV's, XBOX360's, iPhone's and Air Jordan's - We've got it tough.

    Like I said before, we need to tax people and businesses on what they have, not what they earn. 40% tax on Apple brings the government $8b next year alone. They we can "spread the wealth" so us poor American's can buy Alienware computers and get Blu-Ray players.
  • TC that is crazy.

    There already is a tax on money sitting there, taxes and inflation. The fiat currency spawns inflation which spawns the need to invest or your dollar shrinks. That is all it is about, streching and making a dollar bigger. The ones paying interest will have smaller dollars then the ones collecting the interest.

    The innovation is in the small research businesses trying new things, not the gov't. The private sector can generate alot more value. We need less tax, so you can start a business with lower entry points.

    Your plan would encourage broke ass companies unable to make it through any obstacle.
  • this is true as I also bought iPhone this festive season in India.
  • edhardy622
    British law student sues Abercrombie-Fitch for disability discrimination.
    http://www.abercrombiefitchstore.co.uk