Steve Jobs is a hit with teens--even bigger than Oprah or the Olsen twins.
The Apple co-founder and CEO is the most admired entrepreneur among teenagers, according to the results of a survey released Tuesday by Junior Achievement, an organization that educates students on matters related to future employment.
Being "funnest" apparently has little to do with Apple CEO Steve Jobs' popularity.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)Of 1,000 teens queried, Jobs garnered 35 percent of the vote, beating out a list of predetermined celebrities that included Oprah Winfrey (25 percent), skateboarder Tony Hawk (16 percent), and Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (10 percent). Rounding out the list were Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen with 7 percent and fashion model Kimora Lee Simmons with 4 percent.
Of those who chose Jobs, 61 percent selected the iPod god because he "made a difference in/improved people's lives or made the world a better place." An overwhelming 85 percent who selected Winfrey cited the same reason.
Another 33 percent chose Jobs because of his "success in multiple fields," presumably his success at Apple and animation studio Pixar.
Apparently, wealth and fame played a minimal role for the 12- to 17-year-olds polled, garnering just 4 percent for Jobs and 3 percent for Winfrey.
"We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture, so it's no surprise that teens admire famous entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey, who have built brands around their personas as well as around their products," Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA, said in a statement.
However, what is surprising is that Zuckerberg rated so low. One would think his popularity with the teens would parallel the explosive growth of his social network. Perhaps Facebook's popularity with baby boomers is keeping kids on MySpace, which begs the question: how would Rupert Murdoch have scored if he had been included?
Very few people have sat out the iPod revolution.
At least, very few people who read CNET News.com and took the time to answer a poll about iPods, that is. Last week we asked readers to participate in an iPod survey to help inform a separate story on the future of the iPod, which ran over here.
A few disclaimers: this survey was not sanctioned by The Official Group That Makes Surveys Officious, and should not be viewed as a competitor to data complied by professional survey companies or market research firms. I think it is more representative of CNET News.com readers than the general public, meaning that I think we drew from a group more enthusiastic about technology than the average consumer. And 83 percent of the responses came from U.S. computers.
There were many interesting tidbits, some of which I discussed in the other story, and some of which didn't quite fit in with that piece. Here's a look, and I'll also put down my answers:
The majority of people who responded to the poll were conservative iPod buyers. I myself have owned two, an iPod Mini and an iPod Nano. I was a little surprised by this, especially given the results of the next question. Just 341 people claim to have never owned an iPod, and that 8 percent figure was consistent throughout the survey.
This says to me that people are holding onto their iPods longer than I would have assumed. There have been lots of iPod revisions since 2003 and 2004, including the Nano and video iPods most notably. Perhaps the 2003-2004 respondents have had two iPods, and the 2005-2006 respondents have had one? My first iPod arrived for Christmas 2004.
These two charts suggest that most people's iPods have sent out to pasture, rather than dying on the battlefield. But it still seems high to me, although it didn't have much of an impact on people's perception of the iPod: 84 percent said they'd buy another one. For the record, I've never had any problems with either iPod I've owned.
Other results
On the subject of other MP3 player companies, 36 percent claimed to have never owned anything but an iPod. Creative and Rio ranked first and second among the other manufacturers, although "Other" was tied with Creative, suggesting I forgot someone notable. I owned a Rio before buying my first iPod.
We had more Mac users respond to the survey than Windows users, which surprised me a bit. Forty-nine percent of respondents used a Mac to manage their iPod, compared with 41 percent of respondents who used Windows. And of those who own both an iPod and a Mac, 36 percent said they bought the Mac first, throwing a bit of a wrench into the halo theory. I use my Mac, obtained after my iPod, to manage my player.
Finally, 43 percent of respondents said they aren't considering another MP3 player company. But of the 57 percent who said they would consider another company, Microsoft's Zune topped the list, followed closely by Creative and Sony.
The iPod survey is back up and running, please take a minute or two to share your thoughts on the iPod if you haven't already.
Due to an overwhelming response yesterday in just a few hours, we had to close our iPod survey before we could upgrade to a larger account that permits more responses. We got nearly 1,000 responses in 3 hours, which was far more than I anticipated when I signed up for the basic account. Thanks to PollDaddy.com for helping us get back up and running this morning.
The idea is to gather some information on how News.com readers are currently using their iPods, or any MP3 players, in preparation for a story next week about the future of the iPod. We've spent a lot of time over the past six months talking about the iPhone and the Mac, so it's high time we take a look at the device that is perhaps most responsible for Apple's success this decade.
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