“Since the presidential election kicked off in 2011, the president’s official campaign arm, Obama for America, has spent $353,000 on Apple products according to official spending reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. That’s enough to buy 1,780 new iPhones or 176 new MacBook Air laptops,” Joseph Walker reports for Dow Jones Newswires. “The Romney campaign has been far more conservative in its Apple Store shopping binges, spending 72% less than Obama’s staff has over the same period, about $99,000.”
Walker reports, “Smartphones have become all the rage since the 2008 election, but, so far, neither campaign has invested much in mobile advertising, says Paran Johar, chief marketing officer of Jumptap, a Cambridge, Mass.-based mobile ad selling network that placed mobile ads for the Romney campaign during the primaries.”
MacDailyNews Note: In early June, an Apple spokesman said that Romney became the first political candidate to use the company’s iAd service. Read more: Apple: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney becomes first politician to use iAd service – June 10, 2012
Walker reports, “Political affiliation plays a part in who is using which kind of phone. Google’s Android smartphone operating system has more users than the iPhone in the U.S., but people who live in Democratic-leaning states are far more likely to utilize iPhone apps than voters in Republican states, according to Localytics, a mobile analytics start-up.”
MacDailyNews Note: Localytics found that 70% of the top ten most active iPhone states were Democrat-leaning states. These tended to be coastal and more densely populated, or more urban. Conversely, states with the lowest iPhone usage are found in the less densely populated states in the middle of the country, and 70% of these least active iPhone states were Republican-leaning states.
More info here.
“Overall, the tech community seems to be firmly in favor of re-electing Obama when it comes to opening up their wallets, according to contributor filings. Obama has raised $950,000 from the Big Five tech giants, compared to Romney’s $123,040,” Walker reports. “Apple employees seem to favor President Obama by a margin of 15 to 1. Campaign contributions from donors identifying themselves as Apple employees total $121,305, compared to the $8,175 donated to Romney.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “John” for the heads up.]
