ChangewaveResearch
Latest
ChangeWave: Advance demand for next-gen iPhone "off the charts"
Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-DeWitt reported today on a new ChangeWave Research survey of purchasing plans for upcoming smartphones. The survey shows that the unannounced next-generation iPhone has an "unprecedented" amount of advance demand. The survey offered 4,042 American consumers brief descriptions of both the currently available Samsung Galaxy S III and the features believed to be in the next-generation iPhone. A whopping 50 percent of respondents said they were planning to purchase an iPhone in the next 90 days, compared to 19 percent who said they'd be purchasing a Samsung phone. Keep in mind that's the iPhone 4S they're talking about -- not the next-generation device. Advance demand for the next-generation is really incredible, with 14 percent responding that they are very likely to purchase an "iPhone 5" and 17 percent saying they're somewhat likely to make that purchase. That's up from the pre-iPhone 4S numbers of October 2011 that showed only 10 percent very likely to purchase an iPhone 4S and 11.5 percent somewhat likely to make the purchase. ChangeWave notes that "The huge wave of pent-up demand for the coming iPhone launch has important implications for the rest of the industry -- and puts a number of second tier smart phone manufacturers at increased risk of coming in below plan for the year." A full copy of the report is available to 451 Research subscribers. Speaking of Apple's iPhone sales and forecasts, be sure to join us tomorrow afternoon for a liveblog of the 3Q 2012 Apple earnings call. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Demand for the iPhone 4S still high six months after its release
A recent ChangeWave survey suggests demand for the iPhone 4S is still high six months after the handset launched. ChangeWave surveyed 4,413 consumers and 56 percent of future smartphone buyers say they plan on purchasing an iPhone. This is up two percentage points from a previous survey conducted in December 2011. During this same period, demand for Samsung's phones stayed the same while Motorola slipped one percentage point. [Via Fortune 2.0]
ChangeWave: 98% of iPad owners satisfied with device
I love my new iPad and it appears that I am not alone. A March 22-28 Changewave survey of 200 new iPad owners shows that 98 percent are satisfied with their device and zero percent is very dissatisfied. Most users (82 percent) are very happy with their tablet and only a small percentage (two percent) are somewhat unsatisfied. Not surprisingly, the feature most people (75 percent) like about the new iPad is the retina display. [Via The Loop]
iPhone 4S customers report 96% satisfaction rate
The iPhone 4S has been out for about six weeks, and owners have had time to learn the ins and outs of the device. ChangeWave wanted to find out what these people thought and asked 215 iPhone 4S owners about their new handset. If you're a long-time iPhone owner, you won't be surprised by the results. The survey reveals an overwhelming number (77 percent) of 4S owners are very satisfied with their handset. This is slightly higher than the 73 percent who said they were very satisfied with the iPhone 4 right after launch. The feature 4S owners liked the most about their handset was Siri. Almost half (49 percent) of those surveyed ranked Siri as the number one feature of the phone. The second and third favorite features were the iPhone's ease of use and its 8-megpixel camera. The iPhone 4S isn't perfect, and a little over a third of those surveyed (38 percent) said battery life was too short. It may be a problem, but most people are not overly bothered by having to charge their phone regularly. Only 8 percent of owners with reduced battery life said it was a very big problem; 20 percent said it was somewhat of a problem. Battery life may be worse, but the dropped call rate has improved significantly. The iPhone 4S dropped call rate is 2.5 percent which is almost half that of the iPhone 4 (5.2 percent). The majority of these dropped calls occurred on AT&T which has a 4.1 percent dropped call rate. Verizon iPhone 4S owners reported only a 1.3 percent dropped call rate. Overall, iPhone owners like their new phone. Even though the diminished battery may be an inconvenience, things like Siri and improved call quality make those little glitches seem bearable. As a current iPhone 4S owner, I would have to agree. [Via AppleInsider]
Survey says AT&T drops more calls than Verizon, these bar charts don't lie
Wondering which carrier you should buy your iPhone on? There's a survey for that. ChangeWave Research has released the results of a poll that hit 4,068 users distributed across Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Among those four, VZW came out ahead when it comes to dropped calls, with 1.4 percent of respondents indicating they'd received one in the past three months. AT&T, meanwhile, came in last with 4.6 percent. If you look only at the iPhone 4 users the numbers change a little, 1.8 percent vs. 4.8, but the conclusion stays the same. No, this conclusion sadly will not get you around your ETF, but maybe making a pouty face at the AT&T store will help. Update: AT&T let us know it has some doubts about these results. We're not statisticians but we will, out of fairness, link over to this GWS survey from last year that showed 98.59 percent success rate for non-dropped calls. How do your numbers compare?
iPad killing the competition
With the iPad 2 hitting stores across the U.S. today and worldwide within a couple of weeks, Ars Technica published a report today showing that the iPad should remain the market leader for tablet devices through 2011. Citing data from market research firm IDC, Ars blogger Chris Foresman notes that Apple had about 83% of the tablet market for 2010, with most of the competition coming from Samsung's 7" Galaxy Tab. The Amazon Kindle, which is considered to be an eReader rather than a tablet, dominated its market with almost a 50% share in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Motorola Xoom was widely expected to take on the iPad, with better specs and the Android 3.0 OS. Unfortunately for this pretender to the throne, it was lacking some promised hardware and software features when it shipped, and is priced higher than most iPad 2 models. Forrester's Sarah Rotman Epps blogged that all of the upcoming competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the HP Touchpad, and RIM's PlayBook, have serious problems with their product strategies. Many are priced higher than similar iPad models and/or come with carrier contracts to subsidize the high price. Most of Forrester's research points to consumer disinterest in having to sign a long-term contract for a tablet. Forrester expects 24.1 million tablets to sell in 2011 in the U.S., and close to 20 million of those will be iPads. Another market research firm, ChangeWave, is also predicting that 82% of people planning to buy a tablet in the next 90 days will buy an iPad. And with that news, it's time for me to go get in line for my iPad 2.
Survey: Apple iPad catching up to Kindle
There is still a big price difference, but the iPad is challenging the Amazon Kindle as a preferred device for reading e-books in ownership and satisfaction. That's according to a ChangeWave survey of more than 2,800 U.S. consumers. Of iPad owners, 75% said they were "very satisfied" with their devices, while only 54% of Kindle owners could say the same. When the "somewhat satisfied" numbers are added, it's a tighter competition, with the iPad scoring 96% and the Kindle getting 92%. According to ChangeWave's director of Research, Paul Carton, the iPad has doubled its share of the e-reader market since August and is now within 15% of the Amazon Kindle. ChangeWave says the iPad has 32% of the e-reader market, which is up 16% since August, with the Kindle at a 47% share, down 15% in the same period.
Netbook demand plummets while shoppers snap up iPads
An October survey by market research firm ChangeWave spells doom for manufacturers of netbooks. While just a few holiday seasons ago the cheap little PCs were on everyone's Christmas list, now they're only attractive to 14% of people who are considering the purchase of a laptop computer. At their peak, almost a quarter of laptop customers wanted inexpensive netbooks. Why the big change in such a short amount of time? The iPad, which is attracting the attention of buyers who want a small, portable device for web browsing and email. It doesn't appear that the upcoming flood of iPad competitors is having much of an effect, either. ChangeWave's data (based on a sample size of 3,108 consumers) shows that a whopping 80% of potential tablet buyers are considering the iPad, a figure 10 times that of the next closest competitor -- the still-unreleased RIM Playbook. A tiny 3% of tablet buyers are opting for the Android-based (and also unreleased) Samsung Galaxy Tab (see next page for graphic).
Report: iPhone 4 owners report fewer dropped calls than iPhone 3GS
With all of the Antennagate hoopla since the release of the iPhone 4, you'd think that owners of the new phone are never able to complete a call normally. According to a recently published survey from ChangeWave Research, iPhone 4 owners are reporting fewer dropped calls than iPhone 3GS owners. 5.2% of iPhone 4 owners reported dropped calls during the month of July, while 6.3% of owners of the iPhone 3GS said they had experienced dropped calls in a June survey. The survey also noted that one in five iPhone 4 owners said that the antenna issue had caused them problems, but respondents also overwhelmingly felt that Apple's solution (the free case / bumper giveaway) was acceptable. The survey contained more fascinating information about the iPhone 4. While 72% of iPhone 4 owners are Very Satisfied with their phones and another 21% weigh in at Somewhat Satisfied, those numbers are lower than what ChangeWave saw for the iPhone 3GS in August of 2009. At that time, 82% of iPhone 3GS owners were Very Satisfied, and 17% were Somewhat Satisfied. ChangeWave believes the tidal wave of negative publicity around the release of the iPhone 4 may be the cause of the lower numbers for the new phone. Even more fascinating were the results of a survey question asking "What do you dislike the most about your iPhone 4?" While the same question about the iPhone 3GS last year found 41% of respondents griping about the short battery life, a huge number of iPhone 4 owners find AT&T to be the worst thing about the phone. 27% found the requirement to use AT&T's network to be their top complaint, while 24% found the coverage, speed, and quality of the AT&T network to be their top beef. ChangeWave thinks that now that the wave of negative publicity about the iPhone 4 has passed, the phone may eventually surpass the customer satisfaction figures of the iPhone 3GS. [via AppleInsider]
Apple and HTC lead charge as smartphone market looks set to grow and grow
A recent survey of 4,028 US consumers by ChangeWave has thrown up a number of illuminating statistics, which you might consider as predictable as they are informative. The chief takeaway is that people are keen on buying smartphones like never before, with 16% of respondents saying that they'll be taking the plunge within the next 90 days, which marks the biggest increase in the survey's history. Secondly, and crucially for vendor loyalists, Apple and HTC seem to be the biggest beneficiaries (or are they the stimulants?) of this interest, with both improving their share by over 50 percent between March and June of this year. RIM and Motorola have taken a tumble in that same timespan, while Palm has sadly failed to register even a single percentage point. We can definitely see the Droid X and BlackBerry 6 remedying things for the big boys, but Palm's route out of ignominy seems a little less straightforward. You'll find a chart of customer satisfaction -- dominated by Apple in imperious fashion -- after the break, and the full breakdown at the source link.
Palm Pre, iPhone 3GS owners' satisfaction polled, compared in new study
Studies just released by RBC Capital and ChangeWave Research polled iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre owners on their respective levels of satisfaction with their devices -- then compared them. In the studies, 200 iPhone 3GS users and 40 Palm Pre owners were polled. Overall, 99 percent of owners of Apple's phone proclaimed themselves to be "satisfied," while 82 percent of that number declared they were "very satisfied." The poll of Pre owners showed that 87 percent are "satisfied," and 45 percent of those owners describe themselves as "very satisfied." Interestingly, the 42 percent of "very satisfied" customers are the highest score ever attained by a Palm device, and it's a number that's only ever been bested by RIM and Apple. When asked about their respective reasons for buying their devices, Palm Pre owners listed the touchscreen interface, ability to multitask, and ease of use in the top three, while iPhone users cite its touchscreen, ease of use and faster web browsing as its biggest draws. So what about drawbacks? iPhone users (a whopping 55 percent of them, in fact) say that AT&T's network is their main gripe with the device, while Pre owners list short battery life and lack of third party apps as the devices biggest drawbacks. All in all, a pretty good showing for both -- though the microscopic sample size (especially for the Palm Pre) makes us wonder about the validity of the findings a bit.Read - Apple's iPhone 3GS has 99 percent satisfaction rateRead - iPhone vs. Palm Pre: Satisfaction bakeoff
Palm ranks last in satisfaction survey, no one surprised
We know it's probably going to be pretty hard to believe this, but according to a recent survey of mobile phone users, Palm ranks absolutely last in customer satisfaction. If you believe what the folks at ChangeWave Research have to say (and the 4,182 people they questioned), only 30-percent of Palm users reported being "very satisfied" with their device, while companies like Apple and RIM garnered 72-percent and 55-percent, respectively. Of course, considering current trends with the company, and the fact that it's just started paying out to users for repeated repairs on devices, this doesn't come as much shock. The report demonstrates that users are moving to smartphones at an alarming rate -- but with rankings like this, they're probably avoiding Palm devices. Guys, it might take a little more than Bono to fix this mess. Update: Our friends at Palm contacted us with some supplemental information which they wanted to get across concerning this research and related studies. According to them, two separate, third-party firms (Satmetrix and Russell Research) conducted studies which came to the opposite conclusion of ChangeWave's work. In their words: "The Satmetrix survey found that 65-percent of respondents rated their overall satisfaction with Palm as an 8-10 out of 10. Also, the Russell Research study found that 56-percent of respondents were either "very satisfied" or "extremely satisfied" with their Palm smartphone device."[Via Palm Infocenter]
