Knowing your users and the context in which they are using your app is a key aspect of developing useful and user-engaged mobile apps. This is especially important in a fragmented market (and a recurring theme in the frustrations of developers). The Hunch Blog has some interesting stats on broad demographics and patterns of iOS and Android users.
Here are a few that I found especially relevant to me:
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Stat: iOS users also travel frequently. (They are 50% more likely to have visited more than five countries and 55% more likely to have used their frequent flyer miles). Takeaway: Optimize your app for slower data connections and Be sure to test your app in “Airplane mode”.
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Stat: iOS users are 26% more likely to prefer spending their money and Android users are 29% more likely to prefer saving their money . Takeaway: Charge for your iOS apps :-) even if it is just 99 cents
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**Stat: **iOS Users are early adopters, 50% more likely to first use the Internet before ‘92 and 67% more likely to back up their computer constantly. **Takeaway: **This is further confirmation that iCloud is going to have a lot of potential. You start with a user base that backs up constantly and then give them a very easy way for their data to be available everywhere. If you have iOS apps and weren’t already considering iCloud, you should.
Other Interesting stats: * Android users are 10% more likely to be men and iOS users are 10% more likely to be women. * iOS users are 50% more likely to text while driving. (Seriously!) * Android users are 50% more likely to use Yahoo! Mail. (Maybe this bodes well for Yahoo’s upcoming Android phone)
As with any other broad based demographics, analyze it in the context of your users and be sure not to confuse correlation with causation.