Forget Diamonds. Digital Cameras Are a Girl’s Best Friend.

Study results recently released by market research entity TRU indicate that almost 80% of women surveyed would choose a plasma screen TV over a diamond solitaire necklace. A similar proportion of women polled indicated they’d choose a high-end cell phone over designer shoes.

I can’t say I’m surprised.

I listened to one of my favorite local talk show hosts this afternoon, and he just didn’t seem to believe the results. He really thought more women would prefer a Prada bag to an iPod. He’s a marketing-savvy guy and often knows what he’s talking about.

But I think he’s wrong on this one.

Maybe he isn’t around this crowd enough to know. It certainly seems that a great deal of marketing technology is still geared the male consumer—a very important piece of the puzzle, to be sure—but women are becoming increasingly influential in consumer electronics purchases. Just check reports from CEA, PMA, Infotrends and other reputable research associations. Women like tech, too. Even if we don’t always display the same confidence about our skills (that’s our hang-up and we need to confront it—just push some buttons and grab a USB cable, woman!).

A personal story.

My husband surprised me with the most wonderful gift for my birthday last year. A Nokia camera cell phone. I couldn’t have been happier. He knows me.

And I believe many of my friends are in a similar boat. Look, we’re too busy managing family schedules and keeping our climbing toddlers out of the ER to worry about breaking our $500 designer shoes because we can’t do a quick sprint in them to save our kids from running out in front of a car. That doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy a great Coach purse (outlet prices, please!) or a nicely tailored suit.

It just means that more and more, we women rely on technology to provide solutions and help us complete tasks more efficiently. Technology is increasingly practical for today’s busy women.

So friends, grab a gadget and go about your business. And if you want to put your smart phone and digital camera in a cute little designer purse, well, that’s just fine, too.

Read more about the survey here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/studywomenliketechtoysmorethanshoes