iPhone owners uniquely loyal to Apple
A survey of over 2,600 mobile phone users in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Britain, the United States and China shows that only about 25 percent of smartphone owners are loyal to their current operating system. The survey by German firm GfK found that 56 percent of smartphone owners were open to trying a new OS with their next phone, with only Apple bucking the trend with a 59 percent loyalty rate to iOS. Microsoft users were the least loyal to their OS with a 21 percent loyalty rate, while BlackBerry came in at 35 percent, Android at 28 percent and Nokia/Symbian at 24 percent.
Lead analyst on the survey Ryan Garner told Reuters that "Loyalty with a handset is a lot more complicated these days in that people buy into experiences at the high-end level. If a phone doesn't do what it says it will do or what the owner hopes it will do, the maker will lose loyalty."
I am not sure that the only factor in loyalty is the OS itself, because as an iPhone user, I find myself incredibly frustrated with AT&T's service. Three of my friends have defected from iOS over to Android in hopes that they can use their phone to make phone calls, even though they would have preferred to stay with an Apple product due to the symbiosis with their home computer setup. But with the iPhone's market share still growing, Apple is definitely doing something right to keep those 59 percent of users loyal.
Is the brand of the OS your only determining factor as to what smartphone you go with? Or is it a combination of OS and level of service? Leave your comments below.
[via electronista]
