(Photos via CS Monitor and Eurodroid)

Statistics can be misleading unless you really dig deep for the hidden meaning or buried gems of useful information.

When I first heard that more smartphone buyers were buying Android over iPhone – nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  After all I’d been hearing news that Android sales were growing rapidly — it was aimed for “everyone” else.  Yet it turns out that the statistics avoid telling the “full” story.

In the last few months, men were more likely to buy an Android phone over the iPhone.  Women were less likely however.  Then there’s the fact that new phone activations statistics may not support the buying statistics.

On the Face of Things

In recent research by Nielsen, the Google Android smartphone was the most popular system among smartphone buyers in the last 6 months.  BetweenJanuary and August 2010, Android phones captured 32% of the market.  This was the US market - iPhones are still bigger in Europe.

Hardly a complete surprise given the fact that the Android phones cover so many niches and areas.  Apple has always been a lot more focused on the higher end market with aesthetics and design.  Of course you should be digging deeper.

Men More Likely to Buy Android

The point everyone usually overlooks with the statistics however is that most Android buyers seem to be men.  According to a poll and a study, over 70% of Android users were men.  It looks like the marketing was aimed only at men or “serious male geeks” (as Read Write Web put it) while trying to stay away from “pretty iPhones”.

I’d have to agree with RWW – it worked to cover the market for men pretty well.  Men are typically hard core power users and the Android is a lot more challenging to use.

Women Less Likely to Buy Android

Women are less likely to buy Android and yet they make up just over half of the rest of the market (if not more).  Social media is one of the biggest reasons to have a smart phone, with texting just above it.  Women in the United States for example make up over 50% of the mobile social network traffic.

It’s also been hard to reach women with technological gadgets.  Unlike guys, women tend to avoid technology for the sake of fancy programs or features – they usually go for technology that is tried and true, simple, works flawlessly and has a practical purpose that makes an already busy woman’s life easier.

Some find it hard to make the comparison between Android and iPhones.

Lifehacker believes that hard core power users would go for the Android (most power users are likely men).  If you follow along with women avoiding hard to use (or hard to understand) technology then it makes sense to see why they avoid buying Android.

The Stats Are Way Off Mark

If the words of different company CEOs at Google (Eric Schmidt) and Apple (Steve Jobs) tells you anything – it’s that it’d be nice if people who put together smart phones actually handed over the numbers of how many and what phones were shipped.

The only thing these companies have to go on are new phone activations.  For example, according to Steve Jobs:

“Last week, Eric Schmidt reiterated that they are activating around 200,000 Android devices per day,” Jobs said. “For comparison, Apple has activated around 275,000 iOS devices per day on average for the last 30 days, with a peak of almost 300,000 iOS devices per day on a few of those days.” (Via Yahoo! News)

There’s obviously more than meets the eye.  If one company is activating 275,000 new phones per day and another only 200,000 per day it stands to reason that the one with the most phone activations is selling more.  It’s that or people are just buying phones and not using them yet.

There is also little, acceptable source of shipping data from manufacturers who build these phones.  That’s pretty typical.  The only information anyone has is the sales data, which probably matters the most anyway.

In Summary

Android sales appear to be greater than iPhone sales except there’s several catches – most buyers are men, fewer are women possible because the phone is less easy to use and the statistics may be inaccurate if phone activation data and manufacturing data is considered.

So what do you think?

How many of your friends, family members or co-workers are getting Androids?

How many people do you see on the subway using them compared to iPhones or Blackberries?

PS. This whole mobile smart phone war is almost like watching ancient gladiatorial matches or your modern day UFC fighting match except at a much larger behind the scenes scale.