Which Smartphones Fill Consumer Content Needs?

• Posted: Saturday, October 17, 2009
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: iPhone, Smartphone

iPhone, Android top the list

The iPhone continues to top all other smartphones in measures of consumer satisfaction. In May–June 2009, Crowd Science found it well ahead of the BlackBerry and other smartphones in measures of satisfaction and brand loyalty—and content usage too.

August 2009 data from CFI Group agrees: Users are happier with the functions of their iPhones than with any other smartphone. Android and Palm Pre took second and third place, respectively.

A key finding of the “Smartphone Satisfaction Study 2009” is that the most satisfying smartphones are the ones that offer the best consumer functionality. Users now expect more than just the e-mail and calendar functionality that were critical for early business users.

“The iPhone is the best thing to happen to the smartphone industry because it captured the imagination of a whole new set of consumers that might not have made the smartphone jump,” said Doug Helmreich, program director with CFI Group, in a statement. “The new breed of smartphone consumers expect more from their phones, and the iPhone may represent only the tip of a data-intensive iceberg.”

The Android was closest to the iPhone in several measures of satisfaction, but trailed when it came to hardware issues. CFI Group suggested that as newer devices run the operating system it will pull even with the iPhone. In fact, it surpassed the Apple device when it came to popularity of Web surfing and using maps. And 77% of Android users downloaded apps at least weekly, compared with 71% of iPhone owners.

But what of “other” smartphones?
“Smartphones running the Symbian or Windows Mobile operating systems aren’t even a part of the conversation, even though they run on the majority of smartphones,” according to the report. “These platforms do not adequately support the consumer-oriented functionality that new adopters of smartphones desire.”

In spite of that, iSuppli Corp. expects the installed base of Windows Mobile smartphones to reach 67.9 million worldwide by 2013, putting the Microsoft OS in second position—with Symbian in the lead. Together, the two systems will account for 62.9% of the worldwide smartphone market that year. [eMarketer]

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