Maybe you've heard that BlackBerry users are fanatical about their smart phones. That could be true, but a new survey shows more than a third would ditch it for an iPhone in a heartbeat.
The smartphone brand loyalty survey conducted semi-annually by Crowd Science shows nearly 40 percent of BlackBerry users prefer Apple's iPhone as their next smartphone purchase.
The reason they haven't switched could be they have a Verizon contract. The iPhone is currently available only to AT&T subscribers. The survey also found that a third of BlackBerry users would switch to the Android, which is available from Verizon.
Asked specifically if they'd swap their present phone for Google's new Android-based Nexus One, 32 percent of BlackBerry users said "yes," compared with just nine percent of iPhone users. This figure zoomed to 60 percent for users of smartphones not made by BlackBerry or Apple.
"These results show that the restlessness of BlackBerry users with their current brand hasn't just been driven by the allure of iPhone," said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. "Rather, BlackBerry as a brand just isn't garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems."
Nexus debut not much of a factor
Crowd Science's methodology applies rigorous sampling and research techniques to online populations, allowing for real-time results. Indeed, a significant event affecting the research -- the debut of Nexus One on January 5 -- occurred midway through the Dec. 24. 2009, to Jan. 21, 2010, study period. Rather than being a disruptive factor, however, the Crowd Scientists were able to measure how the launch affected the attitudes of respondents.
For example, awareness of the Android operating system jumped six points -- to 66 percent from 60 percent. Moving from awareness to familiarity, however, results were stable throughout the research period - at about 10 percent for all smartphone users excluding Android owners.
Awareness of the Google Nexus One phone itself following launch was found to be 91 percent amongst iPhone users, 75 percent amongst BlackBerry users, and 73 percent amongst users of other smartphones.
The survey shows Android users skew younger and less affluent than iPhone and BlackBerry users. Users of all types of smartphones had downloaded more free applications than paid ones during the preceding seven days, with iPhone users significantly more likely to pay for apps, Android users leading in free apps, and BlackBerry users far behind on both fronts.
Both Android users and iPhone users were found much more likely than BlackBerry users to use their phones only for personal use (32 percent, 28 percent and 16 percent respectively). On the other hand, seven percent of BlackBerry users use their phone only for business, with that category of user minimal with iPhone (one percent) and non-existent in the Android base.
