As per a report released by a research firm GFK, 84% of Apple’s iPhone owner are happy with their handsets and plan to purchase the next generation iPhone as their next. The most important factor in the decision making of the smartphone owners has always been the ecosystem of the mobile OS.
GFK conducted the research with over 4,500 smartphone owners from across the globe which included countries like Britain, China, France Germany, and US etc. And as per the result, iPhone had the highest retention followed by Google’s Android OS at 60% and RIM’s Blackberry at 48%.
On an average, 63% of the smartphone users across the globe plan to buy a smartphone which uses the same platform as their current handset. This reflects the importance of building brand loyalty in the smartphone market which is getting increasingly saturated by each passing day.
Analyst Ryan Garner GFK observes that the more features, apps and services a customer uses in a particular platform the more likely he is to stick to the same platform for the purchase of his next handset. Hence the loyalty of a smartphone owner is directly proportional to the level of engagement of the user with that handsets platform.
Over 70% of the customers have implied that the seamless integration of the handset with the OS matters, which means in totality the ecosystem built around the handset, is very important as well.
Overall three main arguments emerged from the respondents as to which factors deter a user to switch to a new platform, of which 33% say being too invested in the apps and phone, 29% say learning to use the new platform might be too much of a hassle and 28% feel its too inconvenient to move digital content from one platform to another.
Garner stated that in the end the brand that invests in user experience will be at the top. And at the moment we see Apple leading the pack.