Report: iPhone Owners Are More Loyal

Apple did not get to where it has gotten by chance. There is a good reason people go for Apple products such as iPhone and stick with them for the long run. A study by GfK confirms some of our suspicions. As the report suggested, smartphone owners are in general not that loyal. The majority of them would like to keep their options open when choosing their next smart-phone.

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,

said Ryan Garner, the lead analyst on the survey. According to the survey, Apple iPhone enjoys a high degree of loyalty among smartphone shoppers (59% would stick with this platform). Blackberry came in second with 35% of its users planning to purchase Blackberry devices in the future. Microsoft finished dead last as expected:

• iOS              – loyalty = 59%
• RIM            – loyalty = 35%
• Android   – loyalty = 28%
• Symbian   – loyalty = 24%
• Microsoft – loyalty = 21%

This online survey was conducted among 2,653 mobile phone users in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Britain, the United States and China during October and November. It does go on to show that even in a tough market such as the smart-phone business, companies can retain their customers by innovating. Apple App Store is tough to quit for many folks. Android is a fast growing platform, but Google will have to do a better job keeping Android fans satisfied. With Apple improving iOS all the time and considering where iTunes App Store is headed, Apple should keep its high loyalty level among its current customers for the foreseeable future.