Gadgets aren't just for boys

ith its lists of top technology buys and cover-girls wearing nothing more than a bikini, an iPod and a smile, Stuff is the archetypal lads' gadget-magazine. The April edition, for example, includes an article on how to "pimp your pad" with high-definition gadgets, as well as a computer-gaming supplement and a guide to becoming an international DJ.

The formula is proving popular - Stuff is enjoying a 22-per-cent year-on-year growth, raising its circulation to 90,750 per year according to February 2006's ABC figures. But these new readers aren't part of the magazine's original target-demographic - 25- to 40-year-old men, the majority of them IT managers - they're women. In the past five years, Stuff's readership has doubled but the number of female readers has more than quadrupled.

As The Independent's computer-games editor, I have a professional interest in Stuff's world, but there are plenty of other women out there who are interested in reading about technology. Milly Hill, a 29-year-old PR from west London, is one. "I like knowing more than my boy mates about technology, games and gadgets, so it's where I go to keep up to speed with the latest shiny gear. It's easy to read, has a nice slick design. It's techie, but accessible and not geeky. It makes geeky stuff cool, easily digestible and easy to understand."

Michael Brook, the editor of Stuff, isn't surprised by the female trend. "We're confident in the magazine we put out and that it appeals to everyone, men or women. We're not really butch, macho men anyway - we're quite in touch with our feminine sides and I think that probably helps. We're not really laddish like a Loaded or an FHM - and I think that makes it less intimidating for women readers."

Other women don't read Stuff so avidly but will still have a look, like Maria Davis, who is 33 and from Essex, and who works in human resources. "I read Stuff occasionally. I usually read it when I'm at a boy's house - they always seem to have a copy in the bathroom. I don't buy it very often but I do enjoy catching up on technology trends."

The all-conquering iPod has also helped Stuff to garner more readers, according to Brook. "Obviously the iPod has been huge and I attribute a reasonable amount of our success to it because it has crossed big divides. People who weren't even into gadgets like the iPod because most people like music. You can store your entire music collection on it and everyone's gone mental for it."

As well as being more useful, gadgets have also become more design-led, which has helped to broaden the appeal of consumer electronics. Brook believes that two other gadgets have been instrumental in getting more women tech-savvy. "There are stylish, slender little digital cameras that fit into a handbag easily, and there are mobile phones - various Motorolas and Nokias - that have deliberately targeted women but not in a 'let's make it pink' kind of way, but just in deciding to make things a bit more stylish. People like Motorola are also doing tie-ins with designers. There are DAB radios that tie in with fashion designers and have special editions."

What was once special-interest is now mainstream cool. Brook feels that Stuff has managed to adapt to this new world. "We're no longer a niche magazine for early adopters. We're a mainstream lifestyle title with readers from all walks of life. I don't think there's going to be any way back to where the market was before, where it was all bass-boxes and impossible-to-follow instruction manuals."

So, if technology is no longer the preserve of earnest male IT employees, why is Stuff still covering its pages with female flesh? Surely girls aren't buying the magazine for its bikini-shoots.

"We get a lot of letters about this from men as well [as women]," says Brook. "A surprising number of men write in saying that they find it patronising. I was shocked but I think the majority of people are OK with it. It's just a marketing tool. It's not anything else and I don't think people should be outraged about it."

With Stuff selling more thanEsquire and Arena, this down-to-earth approach seems to be working. Milly Hill agrees: "It just helps to sell the magazines if there's a girl on the front. It's like every boy's wet dream, isn't it? Boys toys and hot babes: perfect combination, really."

Brook is certainly happy. "Our masterplan is to give people what we've been giving them - keep it funny, keep it entertaining. We'll still be tweaking the magazine here and there but essentially it seems that we've got ideas right." We should forget dedicated women's pages, then. "I think it's a bit patronising, to be honest. I don't think just because a gadget's pink women will go 'Wow, I really need that in my life' or want to read a whole page on it."

But with so many girls buying the magazine, is it time to put a glistening hunk cradling a camera-phone on the cover? "We did do a male and female cover once and I'm not sure how well that sold," says Brook. "It is something we've considered doing but the opportunity hasn't really arisen. I don't think we'd ever go for just a man on his own, though." So we girls shouldn't hold our breath.

Interesting? Click here to explore further