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Sat, Nov 21, 2009 - 12:12 AM EST  —  AAPL: 199.92 (-0.59, -0.29%)  |  NASDAQ: 2146.04 (-10.78, -0.5%)

Study: Apple iPhones twice as reliable as RIM BlackBerries
Friday, November 07, 2008 - 04:36 PM EST

"The iPhone is twice as reliable as the Blackberry after one year of ownership, a new study by SquareTrade finds. SquareTrade, which sells extra warranties for cell phones and other devices, looked at the failure rates of 15,000 phones covered under its plans. The malfunction rate for iPhones after one year is 5.6 percent, compared to 11.2 percent for the Blackberry and 16.2 percent for the Treo," Erick Schonfeld reports for MobileCrunch.



"The study projects that the failure rate for the iPhone after two years will be between 9.2 and 11.3 percent, compared to actual two-year failure rates of 14.3 percent for BlackBerries and 21.0 percent for Treos," Schonfeld reports.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Opportun" for the heads up.]


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Nov 07, 08 - 04:42 pm Comment from: shen

someone at Apple said something about not knowing how to build crap.....

Nov 07, 08 - 04:42 pm Comment from: Richie

Wow, that's impressive.

Nov 07, 08 - 04:46 pm Comment from: LOL

who fabricated this... in my experience a treo lasts two years where as I am on my 5th Iphone at 1.5 years... guess i have bad apple karma

Nov 07, 08 - 04:55 pm Comment from: Mac-nugget

I have had 0% reliability problems with my iPhone in 13 months.

Nov 07, 08 - 04:58 pm Comment from: peterJ

@LOL
Bad Apple karma? Are you kidding me? You have insane brand loyalty for something that breaks down as much as you say. Usually after bad experiences someone stops using the product.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:00 pm Comment from: Splat

5 iPhones huh...hummm.....I once bought a high end underwater camera and the warranty said...."do not change batteries, film or lens while underwater"....I wonder if LOL is the reason this type of warranty is written. FIVE...like what heck happened to them?

Nov 07, 08 - 05:08 pm Comment from: Roberto

My iPhone will never fail. Ever.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:09 pm Comment from: Crazylegs

15,000 devices? Out of the millions each company sells every quarter? How accurate can this survey be with such a small sample size. A small variance in issues with all other devices of each brand could completely reverse the results. Doesn't anyone have a skeptical bone in their body? Oh, I forgot I was reading MDN where they follow blindly anything pro-apple to trash every other brand. So funny.

LOL doesn't believe this - on his 5th iPhone in 18 months? I bet that didn't show up in this survey.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:10 pm Comment from: Roberto

So there. Now, I'm going out back to boot up my Quadra 700. Take that, DOS users.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:15 pm Comment from: Peter Barlow

Crazylegs,

Take a statistics class. That sample size is more than enough.

You sound like a stupid fsck.

Let me guess: You voted for Obama, too, right?

Nov 07, 08 - 05:17 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

The really odd thing here is that anyone who has an iPhone knows that you regularly (at least once per week) reboot the phone. If it starts to get a little wonky, you completely shut it down, then restart it, like any other computer.

What I wonder is exactly what are they calling a malfunction? My iPhone(s) malfunction regularly. Never hard, just a quick reboot and they're running again. Same as with a Blackberry.

One thing I'll say for sure, I wind up assisting clients with BlackBerry problems all the time, but seldom with iPhone problems. Most of the people I work with who use iPhone can resolve their own issues, while BlackBerry issues often involve the carrier, the BlackBerry service, and all too often replacing the unit.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:19 pm Comment from: Media Lies Debunked

Peter Barlow,

Speaking of Obama and stats:

2008 turnout was same as or only slightly higher than 2004.

So much for the huge groundswell of excitement for Obama.

Fake media creation.

57.7 million people or 46.2%, nearly 1 out of every 2 voters voted for John McCain.

57.7 million people voted against Barack Obama. 57.7 million.

John McCain carried 22 states of of 50. Nearly half of the United States voted for McCain.

Barack Obama: Empty suit. Fake media creation that every other voter did not want in office.

This is what a real landslide and mandate looks like:

1984: Ronald Reagan carried 49 states - 21 more states than Barack Obama - and garnered nearly 60% of the vote, 20 points higher than his inept Dem challenger, Mondale.

I now return you to Mainstream Media Fantasyland, where everyone loves Barack Obama and his giant landslide victory / mandate and cannot wait for his lavish over-the-top, expensive inaugural ball packed with uneducated Hollywood celebrities.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:31 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

And they wonder why Apple keeps banging on about industrial design. Seems design is not skin deep, but affects user satisfaction, the size of your repair section, your spare parts inventory and your bottom line.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:36 pm Comment from: LOL

5 iphones all replaces under apple warranty and if i hadnt paid $600 for i i would have probably moved on by now

1. dead earpeice could not hear calls unless in speakerphone
2. phone would repeatedly crash when receiving calls and text messages apple had no fix so they replaced the phone
3. on/off button on replacement began sticking one week after it was received
4. main button on phone would not bring the phone out of sleep mode.

now im on my 5th phone... and I don not beleve any of the issues have anything to do with the way i treat the phone

Nov 07, 08 - 05:44 pm Comment from: Al

@ Crazylegs

Statistics are easy to understand. Google it if you have to.

@ theloniousMac

Malfunction is also an easy concept. In this case when they say functions badly they are talking hardware not software. No one made any claims on OS 2.0 before the subsequent software updates made the iPhone function better.

Nov 07, 08 - 05:50 pm Comment from: MidWest Mac

@Media Lies Debunked

Dude, take it down a notch.
I'm so tired of hearing the Obama was a "media creation" bullshit.

Seriously, maybe you didn't like him or agree with his ideas, but I'm so tired of this argument.

I followed this election very closely, and I thought McCain would have been much better served by being himself rather than the growly smug grinner he became. As for Palin, I didn't need anyone in the media to tell me that she was unqualified. I simply watched her perform and made up my own mind.

This is what I've learned of politics so far: There are very smart conservatives who have reasons for their beliefs, and there are some idiots who say they are conservatives who could barely tell you why without slipping into talking points. The same is true of the left wing. Some very smart people, and some who just voted for the guy because he's black.

The right seems to only focus on these idiots who voted for Obama and ignores the intelligent people who had good reasons for it. The same was true when Bush won in 2000 and 2004, only people on the left just thought it was all the idiots who caused Bush to win.

And who is always to blame? The media. Because the evil media takes advantage of all these morons for some reason.

Tired old argument, and I'm through with it.

Get over it, dude. Your side lost this time!!!!! (rare MidWest Mac political rant over now . . .)

Nov 07, 08 - 05:51 pm Comment from: Amazin1

Gad, you Fascist Right Wing Conservative Gun-Toting Hawkish Evangelical Republicans really have taken this Obama thing quite hard. Settle down! I am sure you will find plenty to blame on the Socialist Commie Left Wing Liberal Dovish Atheist Democrats! Peace be to you brothers and sisters!

Nov 07, 08 - 06:04 pm Comment from: Black and White Obama

I bought the first generation iPhone back in July 2007. I tried to break this phone by having colleagues from work step on it, throw it repeatedly on the floor, and I even fell on it during one very cold icy winter day. Nothing happened to the phone. My colleagues were so impressed by the solid craftsmanship of the iPhone that 5 of them bought one for themselves in the past year. Not bad. I own a lot of apple stock (sucks right now) but back than at 200 a share I felt that if the phone broke I could pay for a new one by selling off some apple shares.

Thank you Apple Inc. for continuing to make products that work beyond my expectations.

Nov 07, 08 - 06:08 pm Comment from: Anon 687

MidWest Mac,

All well and good. Very levelheaded. But, you fail to address the fact that the media is acting like Obama is the second coming of Christ because they finally got their guy in.

No higher turnout and McCain getting a very respectable number of states and pop. votes means no mandate or landslide - yet the media report "landslide" anyway.

Journalism is dead.

Nov 07, 08 - 06:09 pm Comment from: JohnLee

Reagan's 1984 blowout was his second election. The first time he barely squeaked by. By modern standards, Obama's win was a landslide. Let's wait and compare his second election with Reagan's second.

Nov 07, 08 - 07:06 pm Comment from: KingMel

@Media Lies Debunked

"57.7 million people voted against Barack Obama."

Some of them voted for McCain, and not necessarily against Obama. As I recall, quite a few million voted "against" President Bush, as well. Do you apply the same philosophy to him? Thought not.

"1984: Ronald Reagan carried...higher than his inept Dem challenger, Mondale."

And you are surprised that Reagan thrashed an "inept" challenger? Obama faced a credible Republican candidate and won. I wonder how W would have fared against Obama (if he weren't term limited and if he could have won the Republican nomination)?

Welcome to Wonderland, dude. Your attitude is reprehensible. You must despise yourself.

Nov 07, 08 - 07:25 pm Comment from: @Media Lies Debunked

I'm an Apple fan for quality issues similar to Obama.

So, please excuse me, fellow fan-persons for digressing via

Literally, on the 'face' of it: who's more change?

That's even before the poly-tics.

Nextly, I'm also a fan of the popular vote. What defines a "landslide"?

[7:20 p.m. EST, Nov 7 '08]

65 mil vs 57 mil, 53% vs 46%

Electoral, Obama 364, McCain 163

If not a landslide, surely a continental drift?

iPhone vs RIM IS admittedly worse: Earthquake.

Nov 07, 08 - 07:32 pm Comment from: steve516

MDN is rapidly becoming filled with political bitterness. Why can't we all just get a long? Who cares who voted for whom. Obama will be the next POTUS on January 20th. There is no conspiracy. There is no left wing or right wing movement that manipulates the world. Get over it. Learn to open your eyes and experience life for yourself. Stop regurgitating all the propaganda of hatred from either side. Life is short. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are, and try to help your fellow man along the way.

Good night, and good luck.

Nov 07, 08 - 07:39 pm Comment from: Mac Poly-Ticks

We are the whorled
We are the Chill-dren

We are the ones who know we know why life’s worth living


...Get an Apple

Nov 07, 08 - 08:03 pm Comment from: ken1w

Fewer buttons, fewer problems.

Nov 07, 08 - 08:52 pm Comment from: Gunboat Smith

If I smash the iPhone because I'm frustrated with AT&T;'s lousy network, does that count as a failure on the iPhone?

Nov 07, 08 - 09:47 pm Comment from: Greg L

The correct headline should have been “Apple’s iPhones have half the failure rate of Blackberries”.

The iPhone’s one-year “reliability” is 94.4%. The Blackberry is 88.8%. The iPhone is not “double” the reliability.

Nov 07, 08 - 10:09 pm Comment from: Dan

these stats mean nothing without p-values, which are also conspicuously missing from the paper

Nov 07, 08 - 10:38 pm Comment from: Roberto

@steve516,

It's the vast left-wing conspiracy rearing its fetid head yet again!

Nov 07, 08 - 10:40 pm Comment from: Roberto

Serously, that was actually quite eloquent and well thought out. (And much needed by all.) Thanks.

Nov 07, 08 - 11:19 pm Comment from: ed colligan

It's pretty hard to build a good and reliable phone. It took us several years at Palm to do it. Apple is not going to just walk in and do it. They're not. Really. Believe me.

Nov 07, 08 - 11:20 pm Comment from: jon rubinstein

I used to work for Apple and I helped with building iPhone. And now I head up Palm. Just you wait.

Nov 08, 08 - 12:35 am Comment from: Reliable?

Oh, yeah. Thank God my wife doesn't really use her iPhone. A line of pixels has given out right where text is typed. I traded with her. I know that Apple would look for any scratch on the device, and say, "Oh, the pixels went out because of that scratch on the back." Been there. Done that. (With a simple keyboad.) OK. It's a great idea. Now just execute, Apple.

Nov 08, 08 - 01:32 am Comment from: Olmecmystic

@Media Lies Debunked:

McCain/Palin got their asses kicked by an unknown black cat with an African name who's only been on the national scene for the last two years. If they were a strong ticket that would've never happened.

The states they did win, other than TX and GA, don't have any people in them. Idaho? Montana? North and South Dakota? Nebraska? Utah? Yeah, you can say he won a lot of states, but so what? Obama won the population centers: CA, NY, FL, IL, PA, OH, VA, NC, MA, NJ, MD. That's why the electoral count was so lopsided. Next time he'll take TX and GA, too. But fear not...it's still a "Center-Right Nation".

Reagan's "mandate" in '84 was always BS. Everybody knew he was going to win once Mondale picked Ferraro so they didn't even bother to vote. Half the potential electorate at the time didn't even participate.

You guys'll be relevant again in about 40 years. Don't worry about a thing.

Hail to the chief!

Peace.
Olmecmystic cool smile

Nov 08, 08 - 01:58 am Comment from: Landslide

"What defines a "landslide"?"

In this case clearly it means 3% of the people voting one way instead of the other.

Ignore the Electoral College number, any first past the post system distorts that ratio in favor of the winner by giving him all the loser's votes in that state, even if the state voted 51% 49%.

Nov 08, 08 - 02:07 am Comment from: What is Failure

The iPhone 3g is not a good phone. That's it's major problem. it doesn't roam well, it drops calls and call quality is poor compared to other phones. My iPhone "fails" every day.

The same criticism of call quality could have been leveled at a circa 2000 Blackberry or a 1st generation Windows Mobile phone, so it's a "Company new to the phone market" problem not an Apple specific failing.

Nov 08, 08 - 03:02 am Comment from: Larry

@Crazylegs:

By your logic, all surveys conducted thus far have been in vain since a survey of 1,000,000 people would not even represent one one-hundredth of a percent of the 7 billion people on this planet.

Nov 08, 08 - 09:29 am Comment from: Good not perfect

http://www.macworld.com/article/136645/2008/11/iphonebugs.html

Nov 09, 08 - 02:42 am Comment from: montex

I'm on my 2nd iPhone. But to be fair to Apple, the first one was stolen..

Nov 09, 08 - 10:32 am Comment from: dannis

my iphone also don't fail on me...because it's too slow for using it for email....I simple use my Blackberry...

how can it fail when I don't use it...

Nov 10, 08 - 10:00 am Comment from: @what is failure

"The iPhone is not a good phone..." That does not comport with my experience. When my iPhone is connected, the audio quality is the best of any phone I've owned (beating out the previous winner, a Moto E815, on Verizon's network.

However - my iPhone drops calls quite reliably. Every time I know that when I drive through certain particular corridors, my call will drop. It ticks me off. However, I have taken to calling AT&T;customer service, reporting the lack of coverage, and in every case, I've been told by AT&T;that it's their fault. Either they are working on the towers, or their (internal) coverage maps show that they have poor coverage there (not the maps they publish on the web, which show "strong" 3G coverage everywhere in my area, which is a complete fantasy).

I'm peeved about AT&T;'s network in Washington DC, but even though my iPhone isn't perfect, it's the best cellphone I've ever had, in addition to being the coolest toy I've ever owned.

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