Yet more studies have confirmed what iPhone users have known for years. iPhone owners apparently aren’t just more happy with their devices, they’re indeed more loyal to the iPhone brand. Especially compared to the BlackBerry crowd. New stats from Crowd Science have been released that indicate a solid 40% of non-iPhone smartphone users would make the switch to the Apple handset, with a whopping 82% indicating that they would do it all over again.
Even more intriguing is the Piper Jaffray statistic that 56% of iPhone 3GS buyers were upgrading from a previous iPhone, up from 38% the year before. And, a good 12% of early iPhone 3GS adopters (those that braved launch weekend lines at Apple Stores) were ditching their BlackBerry smartphones for the iPhone’s more finger-friendly offerings – up from the 6% of last-year’s early iPhone 3G adopters that left their BlackBerry smartphone by the wayside in favor of the new Apple smartphone.
On the flip side of the loyalty-coin, we have the unfortunate reality that the iPhone brand seems to have an advantage over BlackBerry. The Crowd Science survey showed that just 14% of non-BlackBerry smartphone users would make the jump to the BlackBerry platform. Compared to the 40% of non-iPhone users willing to switch to the iPhone, BlackBerry has their work cut out for them. And, when it comes down to satisfaction levels, the iPhone claims higher overall customer satisfaction compared to BlackBerry users.
“These results reflect the great challenges Blackberry faces in stemming the iPhone stampede,” said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. Of course, given enough time, Palm’s WebOS and Google’s Android OS might yet prove to be significant challengers to the iPhone’s popularity.
Crowd Science PR after the break.
iPhone Overwhelms Blackberry and Others in Smartphone Loyalty: Crowd Science Survey
June 23, 2009 – Silicon Valley, California — Four out of ten Blackberry and other smartphone users would switch to Apple’s iPhone as their next smartphone purchase, according to a recent survey conducted by Crowd Science (www.crowdscience.com) via their advanced audience research platform and open research network. On the other hand, only 14% of non-Blackberry smartphone users would switch to a Blackberry for their next purchase. Meanwhile, a vast majority of iPhone users (82%) are loyal to the iPhone brand.
“These results reflect the great challenges Blackberry faces in stemming the iPhone stampede,” said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. “They also provide evidence of the kind of insight that can be gleaned through rigorous sampling and research techniques applied to online populations. In the days ahead, thanks to the iterative and real-time aspects of the Crowd Science research platform and the reach of our open research network, we’ll continue to gauge the mindset of smartphone users by tweaking the research to address the changing mobile landscape, including the Palm Pre, the iPhone 3G S and other up-to-the-minute developments.”
Other survey results include:
• iPhone users outpace other smartphone owners in their use of a wide variety of phone functions – ranging from Internet and email to music, WiFi and GPS.
• Compared with Blackberry users, iPhone users report a significantly higher overall satisfaction level with their phone. In particular, iPhone users are more satisfied than other smartphone users with their phones’ screen size, navigation, availability of add-ons, and video playback.
• A large majority of smartphone owners (71%) use them for both business and personal usages, with only 3% using them for business alone.
This study was conducted across the Crowd Science open research network, a group of websites from a wide range of topic areas serving over 20 million unique visitors profiled by Crowd Science’s audience measurement technology. Through random probability sampling, respondents aged 14 years and older were invited to participate. Those accepting the invitation comprised the final sample of study participants. Data collection was conducted from May 19 to June 8, 2009.
About Crowd Science:
Crowd Science was formed by experts in online market research and audience measurement with a mission to “raise the bar” in the measurement of online populations. Their goal is to help web properties understand all facets of their audience through rigorous, verifiable interactive research. The company has developed an advanced platform for audience measurement and real-time survey research. The results are compelling: Crowd Science currently has several thousand active sites within their open research network.
[Via: Fortune]