I’ve read the news, I’ve heard the reports and studies and I’ve seen the figures claiming the billions of dollars women spend on tech annually and how they are a major factor in influencing the majority of technology buying decisions. And while I absolutely believe in the importance of engaging women in the system design and buying process, and have no doubt that they are a major influence on the money being spent, I’m just not sure I totally buy into these assertions.

In my years of experience selling audio/video systems to men, women, families and couples of all combinations of sexes, I have to say that women rarely feel the same way about tech that men do. Oh, they are interested in the look for sure. They don’t want wall clutter and they want the speakers to line up with the can lighting. And they are interesting in the ergonomics of the control. And they might even select a higher-end speaker or display, but it often has far more to do with a product’s aesthetics, than its performance.

But for the most part, when women choose to be involved in the buying decisions and design process, they are typically there in more of a voice-of-reason, “Do we really need to spend that much? Let’s just get the smaller/cheaper one. It’ll be good enough,” capacity.

Sure, that’s probably a sexist generalization, and I’ve no doubt that there are tons of women out there that dream about blowing every dollar of their paycheck on a giant speaker system or on a video screen so big that it’s an affront to God or who want nothing more than to settle into a dark room with a glass of scotch and a Blu-ray set to reference volume level. It’s just that I’ve never run across one. Far more common is one woman I know – an editor of a tech publication, no less – that watches movies and TV on a 13-inch laptop screen.

No question, women love movies and music and TV, but the tech that delivers the experience – iPad, laptop, 32-inch LCD or 100-inch front projection system – is far less important to the X chromosome set.

Click here to ontinue reading why women are from Venus when it comes to tech at Resi Systems....