ChangeWave: Apple iPhone maintains big lead in customer satisfaction; top choice among likely buyers
Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 04:08 PM EST"Record numbers of consumers are abandoning their basic cell phones for more-advanced models, according to the latest ChangeWave consumer cell phone survey. The January survey of 4,182 consumers tracked key market share changes affecting cell phone manufacturers and service providers alike," Paul Carton and Jim Woods report for ChangeWave.
"Research In Motion and Apple appear to be the primary beneficiaries of the seismic shift toward more-advanced cell phones. Looking ahead, the Apple iPhone is now the top choice among respondents planning to buy a new cell phone in the next six months (up one point to 17%), but second-place RIM has the most momentum (up three points to 15%)," Carton and Woods report.
"On the downside, one-time market dominator Motorola (MOT) has declined another four points [11% of alliance members plan to buy a Motorola cell phone in the next 6 months] in terms of future planned purchases, continuing a monstrous slide that began immediately after Apple CEO Steve Jobs' initial announcement regarding the iPhone," Carton and Woods report.
MacDailyNews Note: May 10, 2007, Motorola Chairman (until May) and then-CEO Ed Zander said his company was ready for competition from Apple's iPhone, due out the following month. "How do you deal with that?" Zander was asked at the Software 2007 conference Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. Zander quickly retorted, "How do they deal with us?" - IDG News Service
Carton and Woods continue, "Apple also maintained its big industry lead in customer satisfaction compared with the other major manufacturers: 72% of respondents having reported that they are very satisfied with their iPhone. RIM is a strong second with 55% having said that they are very satisfied. To put this in context, the following chart shows the percentage of respondents who said they are very satisfied with their current cell phone, broken out by manufacturer."
As we've seen in our recent consumer surveys, Palm now ranks at the very bottom in terms of customer satisfaction. And Motorola, Sony (SNE)/Ericsson (ERIC) and Samsung are tied for next-to-last place.
MacDailyNews Note: Palm CEO Ed Colligan, commenting on then-rumored Apple iPhone, Nov. 16, 2006 - We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in.
More in the full article here.
MacDailyNews and iPodDailyNews are Apple Store affiliates and if you buy something from the Apple Store within 24-hours after clicking any one of our Apple Store ads, we will receive an affiliate percentage from Apple. There is no extra cost to you. Canadians please use this link: Apple Store Canada. Thank you in advance for helping to support MacDailyNews and iPodDailyNews.
Apple Store Advertisements:
• The all-new 13-inch MacBook. The next generation of notebooks starts at $1299.
• The all-new 15-inch Macbook Pro. New design. New features. New technologies. From $1999.
• The all-in-one iMac. Now at speeds up to 3.06GHz. Free shipping. From $1199.
• iPod touch. The funnest iPod ever. Starting at $229. Free Shipping.
• iPod nano. New design. New features. Starting at $149. Free shipping.
• Visit the Apple Store today. Free ground shipping on all orders over $50.
MacDailyNews on Twitter
Related articles:
ChangeWave survey shows big Apple Mac sales, very high Mac OS X Leopard, very low Vista satisfaction - January 17, 2008
ChangeWave: Apple Mac poised to gain sizable market share in coming months - December 08, 2007
ChangeWave: Apple’s iPhone races to huge lead in customer satisfaction - October 18, 2007
ChangeWave: Apple iPhone causing game-changing upheaval in cellular industry - August 02, 2007
= 
Numbers speak louder than words sometimes. Love that graph!