BlackBerry users running out of loyalty: 50 percent plan to defect to iPhone or Android

Nielsen has its own angle on the smartphone numbers game out today, and the results vaguely resemble the numbers from Canalys. Perhaps more interesting than the ever present market share tug-of-war (Nielsen pegs Google, RIM, and Apple at 27 percent, 33 percent, and 23 percent in sales to new smartphone subscribers, respectively) a note on brand loyalty turns out ugly for BlackBerry: while 89 percent of iPhone owners plan on getting another iPhone, and 71 percent of Android buyers plan to re-up, only 42 percent of BlackBerry owners plan to stick around. The defectors are pretty evenly split, with 29 percent planning to go iPhone, and 21 percent to go Android. That compares to 2 and 3 percent in the iPhone and Android camps planning a move to BlackBerry. We'll see if BlackBerry 6 can solve this little problem for RIM, but the few tweaks we've seen so far seem hardly capable of stemming the flow.

[keksznet Posted Aug 3rd 2010 5:41AM]

It would be nice to know how many Symbian OS (Nokia smartphones, like E71) users would like to swich...

If there would be a qwerty phone like the Nokia E71 with Android OS (almost same design, quality), I would be the 1st to get it :-D

Symbian is outdated, not supported anymore as far as I can see.

[Camperton Posted Aug 3rd 2010 6:24AM]

They shoulda bought Palm. Ready made amazing OS would have floated them into the future.

[vision33r Posted Aug 3rd 2010 11:49AM]

Most BB users don't have a choice or really care about other devices.

Govt workers are forced to use BB, they will get newer BB when their refresh is up.

Business users will continue to use BB, the combo of BES, Exchange, and many BB management software trumps anything out there for managing wireless devices on group level.

Consumers who are not that sophisticated will go BB or iPhone, a lot of women go BB because they have nails and they can't use iPhones.

[Dr Yusuf AlKindi Posted Aug 3rd 2010 12:53PM]

I just got an 8530 through MetroPCS. I pay $60 a month and I get GREAT email service, unlimited texting, unlimited voice calls, and it works perfectly with Google Voice. It integrates with Facebook, provies enough interesting apps, and I save between $40-60 a month comapred to what I would be spending if I was with any other company with unlimited service on AT&T or Sprint with an android of iPhone. The sound quality i very good. I think BB will be around for a very long time.

[davros Posted Aug 3rd 2010 3:02PM]

I for one am really looking forward to getting this on my 9700. Im in the UK and I love to chop and change my phone all the time selling on eBay etc. In the past year I have had the HD2, Palm Pre, iPhone 3GS and the Nexus One. At the moment Im using a Storm 2. I have kinda joined team Blackberry after most people have gotten over it it seems but I absolutely love it!

I really don't get all the hating going on. I must admit the iPhone has a great App Store behind it and there is always some new app to keep you amused for a while but the Blackberry just has something about that makes me wanna stick with it.......

As for Android I have tried several phones (G1, Pulse and N1) and I really cant get on with it, I just don't get the appeal of it!! The OS is plain UGLY and the Marketplace is just full of junk, granted there is of course some gems in there like Sky Map but the majority of it is just total tripe!!! All this touting about market share is total BS its on SOOOOO many devices its bound to be bigger than the iPhone eventually, I dont really see the sales of 1 company and sales of about 10 being comparable!