40% of Existing Smartphone Owners Consider Switching to the iPhone

Four out of ten Blackberry and other smartphone users would switch to Apple's iPhone, as their next smartphone purchase, according to a recent survey conducted by Crowd Science. On the other hand, only 14% of non-Blackberry smartphone users would switch to a Blackberry for their next purchase. Meanwhile, a vast majority of iPhone users (82%) are loyal to the iPhone brand.

"These results reflect the great challenges Blackberry faces in stemming the iPhone stampede," said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. "They are also a great example of the kind of insight that can be gleaned when rigorous sampling and research techniques are applied to online populations," said John Martin. "In the days ahead, we'll lean on our research platform and continue to gauge the mindset of smartphone users and address the changing mobile landscape, including the Palm Pre, the iPhone 3G S and other up-to-the-minute developments."

The survey also found that iPhone users outpace other smartphone owners in their use of a wide variety of phone functions - ranging from Internet and email to music, Wi-Fi and GPS. Compared with Blackberry users, iPhone users also report a significantly higher overall satisfaction level with their phone. In particular, iPhone users are more satisfied than other smartphone users with their phones' screen size, navigation, availability of add-ons, and video playback.

Finally, a large majority of smartphone owners (71%) use them for both business and personal usages, with only 3% using them for business alone.

Methodology

This study was conducted across the Crowd Science open research network, a group of websites from a wide range of topic areas serving over 20 million unique visitors profiled by Crowd Science's audience measurement technology. Through random probability sampling, respondents aged 14 years and older were invited to participate. Those accepting the invitation comprised the final sample of study participants. Data collection was conducted from May 19 to June 8, 2009.

The report (pdf file, 7 pages) can be downloaded from the Crowd Science website.

Posted to the site on 26th June 2009