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45% of Android users to upgrade to rival phone OSes

Apple fans very keen to stick with their favoured brand

Call it the fanboy effect, call it the superior user experience the device offers, but research shows that iPhone owners are much more likely to stick with Apple than are folk who've bought handsets from other companies.

The data comes from UBS and takes in conversations had with more than 500 smartphone owners globally.

Some 89 per cent of iPhone users said they will buy another Apple handset when they replace the phone they currently own.

The next highest figure was 39 per cent, the number of HTC handset owners who will said they'll stay with that vendor when they upgrade. RIM came next, with a 33 per cent of BlackBerry-owning respondents saying they'll buy another of the Canadian company's products next time.

Samsung (28 per cent), Motorola (25 per cent) and Nokia (24 per cent) completed the list.

Go back 18 months, and RIM had a retention score of 62 per cent - surely a sign of the degree to which the company's offerings are falling out of favour. Its decline was the steepest decline in retention score.

Apple, by contrast, saw its score fall just six per cent over the same period.

The good news for Google is that punters are predominantly pissed off with the hardware, not the software. Some 55 per cent of Android users said they will stick with the OS, but will try a phone from a different vendor next time.

But that still leaves nearly half of people currently owning an Android handset who will defect to iOS, BlackBerry or Windows Phone. ®

Misleading conclusion

What it says is that 55% Andriod users will definitely switch to another Android device. That does not automatically mean that 45% will definitely move from Android! There are no figures for "maybe" or "don't know", or even "I'll see what's out there when I'm ready".

It also looks like the 55% is Andriod customers who will stay with Andriod, but definitely switch vendor. That may not include Android users who actually do decide to stay with vendor. Including that figure may change the overall picture for Android.

When it comes to generic OSs, brand loyalty is not so significant. Most knowing people assuming that Android is very similar, will compare battery life, function, or reviews. With locked in customers with Apple and RIM, the only way they can maintain their user experience is to stick with brand.

I probably will not stick with Samsung, but I will definitely be getting an Android phone, unless, that is, a WebOS device comes my way at a knock-down price.

But this is all surveys and statistics anyway, and you know what they say about those....

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Heh...

"The data comes from UBS and takes in conversations had with more than 500 smartphone owners globally."

Glad to see they went with a statistically significant sample size. Oh wait...

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Anonymous Coward

You can always rely on an Apple Fanbois to stifle an adult conversation

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Anonymous Coward

Exactly

I have an Android phone. That will not change in the forseeable future. If HTC drop the ball with the next release of handsets, I might look to another manufacturer but it'll be an Android phone.

All of the news stories I have seen about this report are unclear - no-one has any links to the original report and the only thing I've found taken directly from it is this graph:

http://vnsmartphone.com/news/ubs-iphones-89-retention-rate-crushes-competition-next-closest-is-htc-at-39.html

Based on that information, this survey seems to have come up with the conclusion that 11% of iOS users are prepared to dump their OS completely and 45% of Android users will not stick to the same manufacturer. This is just meaningless as far as trying to make an OS comparison.

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I agree that Apple do have the "We'll push out an upgrade to *our* customers when we want" attitude sorted. Carriers get no say, which sounds like heaven to me, and being a single supplier of hardware and software means control freak levels of control. It also means you don't get a choice in much at all. Want a Qwerty keyboard, no. Want a better camera, wait for next year. Want a bigger screen, sorry this is it. Want a smaller handset/screen, nope, sorry. It's swings and roundabouts.

With Android you go out and look at the handsets and buy the one you want. With Apple you get what you're offered, or you stick with your current handset.

Anyway, all that aside, I would hardly call Apple updates painless. Google the exact phrase "iphone update problems", including the quotes. 57000 hits. Lose the quotes and you're into the 150million marks.

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