J.D. Power: iPhone beats BlackBerry
So much for the physical keyboard — the lack of which on the iPhone was supposed to be a deal breaker for hardcore smartphone users in the business world.
Despite its much-maligned touchscreen, the iPhone ranks highest in customer satisfaction among business types, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ second annual survey of smartphone users. Apple’s (AAPL) device easily outscored phones with physical keys made by RIM (RIMM), Samsung, HTC (HTC) and Motorola (MOT).
Apple racked up 778 points on a scale of 1,000, according to a press release issued Thursday, “performing particularly well in the ease of operation, physical design and handset feature factors.”
The BlackBerry scored highest in J.D. Power’s 2007 survey with 702 points; this year it came in second with 703 points.
The iPhone didn’t even make the cut last year.
“With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Apple has clearly differentiated itself from the competition in areas that are most important to business smartphone users,” said Kirk Parsons, J.D. Power senior director of wireless services. “By making basic applications and features easy to use and providing functionality in a thin, lightweight device, Apple has performed well in exceeding customer expectations.” (link)
Keyboards are an important factor when choosing smartphones, but not the most important factor. According to the survey, the top five reasons given for picking a particular model are Internet capability (45%), ability to use e-mail account (41%), overall design/style (39%), Bluetooth capabilities (37%) and keyboard style (37%).
Among the survey’s other findings:
- Smartphones are buggy. 44% of respondents reported having to reboot their device at least once a week during the past 12 months, while 34% experienced either an application malfunction or application freeze one or more times per week.
- Prices are falling. The average purchase price of a smartphone device was $216, compared with $261 in 2007. Apple owners report the highest average purchase price at $337, while Motorola owners report the lowest at $169.
- Games are popular. 34% of business smartphone owners say they download third-party software, including games (49%), business applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel (43%) and travel-related programs (36%).
The study was based on responses from 1,388 business wireless customers who currently own a smartphone. It was fielded between August and September 2008. Overall satisfaction was measured across five factors: ease of operation (27%); operating system (24%); physical design (21%); handset features (18%); and battery aspects (10%).
See also Smackdown: BlackBerry Bold 9000 vs. Apple iPhone 3G, iPhone vs. BlackBerry 9000: The keyboard wars, round 2 and iPhone vs. BlackBerry: A battle for hearts and minds of developers
I have an HTC Touch and an iPhone. The one thing I like about the HTC Touch is that is much easier to use then an iPhone plus with Windows Mobile, I have MS Office applications that I need for the business I am in. Additionally, I like the cut and paste functions in the Windows Mobile that iPhone does not offer.
I find it funny that almost everyone (the phone makers, at least) berated the iPhone for not having a physical keyboard. Have you seen the upcoming Storm? Yep, you guessed it – no buttons! Yeah, it’s a horrible thing until it’s what the buyers want – then it’s the only thing to do! You can like Apple or you can hate them, but a lot of their ideas sure get copied! Too funny…
“much-maligned touchscreen”??
No. The touch *keyboard* has its detractors. The touch *screen* is praised to the heavens and beyond.
And so it continues, the search for online reporting that isn’t sloppy as hell.
That’s a misleading chart. The horizontal axis should start at zero.
I use an iPhone, but I still think the graph should be correct.
Most people evaluate on ‘features’ but buy what they like. Whether the device works ‘better’ is not so important as whether the user works better. Mac owners just have that ‘happy bunny’ look to them. Annoying, isn’t it?
What’s impressive is that the satisfaction gap between iPhone and 2nd place (RIM) is greater than the gap between 2nd place and last place (Palm). 75 vs. 69! Put another way, the iPhone lead in satisfaction is huge.
And since iPhone software (both OS X/Apple as well as App Store) is upgraded more frequently than the others (though the others hardware is replaced by new models more frequently than iPhone), it’s a good bet that user satisfaction for current owners will continue to grow.
but I would rather poke my eyeballs out than do business with ATT. I am looking forward to the blackberry storm w/ verizon
It was not a model to model test. I’ll repeat, they did not test any phones. It is a survey. Just like their automobile brand surveys, this was a general, “Overall Satisfaction” survey for the various brands. You may like certain models better than others, but as a whole, JD Power found, through their surveys, that Apple’s smartphone users are more satisfied with their phone than users of other brands.
This report seems a little suspect. I mean, everyone up there except Apple has over 10 models that they offer, all with different OSes. Which ones did they test? They don’t say. The new HTC Touch Diamond Pro kicks the pants off the iPhone and many of their other phones give it a run for it’s money.
Why wasn’t ringtones a category for business use? Most of them fail.
http://www.exectones.com saved RIM and the iPhone in the tones department.
He’s talking about the times when the touchscreen jumps out and smacks you.
“much maligned” touch screen? what is he talking about?
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Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
the interface is fabulous, it;s a abeauriful thing to hold and use…
BUT what person decided on the conversation message chain…I can’t save special messages…I can’t forward them, and I can’t send photos without using the internet…this smacks a little of arrogance…MMS function is such a basic part of mobile technology now and someone who it seems doesn’t use them that often has determined how everyone else should use them….and the ringing isn’t nearly loud enough….i miss a lot of calls