“Research In Motion and Apple continue their smart phone battle for the hearts and minds of consumers, according to the latest ChangeWave survey. The survey shows Apple enjoying another good quarter in the aftermath of its 3G iPhone release,” Paul Carton reports for ChangeWave.
“The ChangeWave survey of 3,803 cell phone owners takes a close look at smart phone market trends, including consumer reaction to RIM’s launch of the BlackBerry Storm and how it compares to the Apple iPhone. The December 9-15, 2008 survey was conducted just weeks after the Storm’s initial release,” Carton reports.
MacDailyNews Take: In other words, before the reviews sunk in and the returns began. See related articles below.
Carton continues, “While RIM (41%) is still the consumer market share leader, it has fallen 1-pt since our previous survey in September to its lowest percentage of the last 12 months. At the same time, Apple (23%; up 6-pts) has witnessed explosive growth – up 6-pts just since September. Importantly, its overall market share has more than doubled in the past six months – a direct result of the late-June release of the 3G iPhone.”
Carton reports, “Taken together, Apple and RIM now control two-thirds of the smart phone market, as smaller/weaker players such as Palm (9%) have proven unable to compete.”
“The current survey took a close-up look at the reaction of 61 owners of the new BlackBerry Storm, and compared the results to a similar survey in July 2007 of new owners of the original iPhone,” Carton reports.
“The overall satisfaction rating given by new owners of the Blackberry Storm can, at best, be characterized as lukewarm. One in three Storm owners (33%) said they were Very Satisfied with their new model, well below the 52% Very Satisfied rating given by all current owners of BlackBerry smart phones,” Carton reports. “Simply put, the Storm satisfaction rating is similar to that of mid-tier smart phone manufacturers like Nokia (32%), Motorola (32%), HTC (31%) and Samsung (30%). While far from bad, it’s mediocre – which means it’s a potential concern regarding RIM’s head-to-head battle with Apple.”
Carton reports, “For comparative purposes, here’s how the BlackBerry Storm’s favorability ratings stack up against those of the original iPhone (taken in a survey of new iPhone owners in July 2007, less than a month after its initial release).”
Carton reports, “As the chart shows, the original iPhone’s Very Satisfied rating (77%) was more than double that of the new BlackBerry Storm (33%). Importantly, the Storm’s Unsatisfied rating (14%) is three times higher than that of the original iPhone (5%).”
Full article here.
[UPDATE: 8:28pm ET: Modified headline from “ChangeWave: Apple iPhone’s customer satisfaction more than double that of RIM’s BlackBerry Storm” to current headline in order to more clearly describe ChangeWave’s findings as per reader comments below.]
[Attribution: Fortune. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “iSteve” for the heads up.]
One in three Storm owners (33%) said they were Very Satisfied with their new model, well below the 52% Very Satisfied
Repeated Very Satisfied?
@edoreld – your quote is taken out of context.
The complete sentence is: “One in three Storm owners (33%) said they were Very Satisfied with their new model, well below the 52% Very Satisfied rating given by all current owners of BlackBerry smart phones.”
In other words, owners of other RIM phones are significantly more “very satisfied” than Storm owners. (Odd way of wording it there, granted, but hopefully clarifies things.)
It’ll be interesting to see how this graph changes as news of the Storm’s suckyness begins to really take hold.
Definitely a misleading headline by MDN, which can only add to charges of bias with this site…should be changed to reflect that it’s only double in the “Very Satisfied” category….among those who are “Satisfied” to some degree it’s only 92%-79%.
Perhaps focussing on the “Unsatisfied” category being nearly triple for the Storm may be better?
Don’t you just love that green line pointing up? And meanwhile, the blue one seems to be finished with its growth (and let’s not even discuss the pathetic red one…).
MDN is unashamedly biased, but that’s okay because this is an Apple fan site. MDN does not purport to be a general news site. Bias is not a sin when the journalists are up front about it.
“Apple and RIM now control two-thirds of the smart phone market, as smaller/weaker players such as Palm (9%) have proven unable to compete.”
Makes you wonder why anyone would dump another $100 Million into Palm.
@Ottawa Mark
MDN is deliberately biased, and for good reason. They are right, and they are driving it home with emphasis. Apple is the clear leader here, but they haven’t had the penetration into business that RIM has had yet.
Do you see BlackBerries in the music market?
Do you see BlackBerries in the gaming market?
The iPhone and iPod touch is more than a communications device. More than a BlackBerry. It’ll just take time for the larger population to realize this.
MW: The competition has been “served” their notice.
What many people forget is that Palm was created by engineers that originally worked for Apple on the Newton project. When the project was killed, a few left and created Palm. Sort of like a bastard child of Apple itself. The true innovator is back to claim what is rightfully its.
Oh crap, am I wrong? Darn, that’s the history I always believed of Palm, but I guess it started before the Newton project was killed. Were Apple engineers not somehow involved?
Puleeze. Look at those numbers again. The Blackberry Storm™ has over three times the “somewhat satisfied” rating as the weak iPhone.
Suck on that, MACtards!
Thanks for the headline change…more accurate, and still very impressive!
@ Ottowa Mark and coolfactor
By the way people Blackberry has their own site that is just as if not more biased than MDN.
Geez … I cannot believe that there is any comparison being made to a mature product (iPhone) to an immature product (BB Storm). Repeat this comparison in another year, and you can rest assured that the numbers will change significantly in the direction of RIM.
Further, break down this between corporate business users and the general consumers and you will see even stronger tenancy towards the Storm in another year or so.
I’ll be sure to put this site on my `clearly biased` blacklist…
@TheDude,
If you’d bother to actually read what’s posted here, you’d see that the satisfaction comparison is between the 1stGen iPhone a month after it was released in July 2007 and the BlackBerry Storm, not the iPhone 3G.
If anything RIM should’ve blown Apple away since the Storm arrived almost two years after Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone and put them on the right path to creating a finger friendly UI. I don’t care when RIM claims to have started the project, the iPhone influence is clear.
@AntiMac
So… if 46% of the time your wife was somewhat satisfied with having sex with you as apposed to just 15% – you think this is good??? Did I miss something?
It’s amazing that Apple has 23% with essentially one iPhone model. Sure, there are two storage capacities, and it comes in black or white, but it is really just one design. Imagine what would happen if there really is a $99 “iPhone nano,” to be released sometime in 2009. That would be really bad news for RIM and devastation for Palm.
Not to be a spoilsport, but Paul Carton’s Changewave surveys are far less useful than they seem.
The big problem is that the X-axis is never consistent. The gaps between surveys can be 1 month or up to 4 months apart. How can one do any meaningful trend analysis when the intervals are constantly changing. It’s nonsense, they should not connect the dots, cause it’s misleading. Statistical rubbish.
The drop in Blackberry ownership from 42% to 41% is likely within the degree of uncertainty, and yet, Carton tries to draw some sort of meaningful conclusion about Blackberry ownership dropping. Ridiculous.
I’m happy iPhone usage is up, I have one, and I gave one to my Mom, but highlighting flawed surveys will only bite MDN in the butt when Paul Carton’s Changewave surveys go against Apple.
You DO recall that it was Carton’s Changewave survey last quarter that Katie Huberty cited for downgrading Apple’s shareprice twice in one week, right? Of course, Carton’s doom and gloom conclusion from that September survey was reversed in November, and he made no retraction for his stupid conclusions that triggered a slew of downgrades before Apple’s earnings.
The Storm just got a 2/5 ‘G’ rating on the UK’s Gadget Show last night. Now when I was at uni, I recall 40% on any paper was classed as a “fail.”
@Gabriel
Right, I see it now. Thanks.
@coolfactor
QVC just issued iPhones to all of their management personnel. The change is happening.
Well – the Verizon contract for my company (small company) ran out. Immediately the management headed off to the store and we bought five new iPhones for members of the staff that DIDN’T ALREADY BUY THEM ON THEIR OWN!!!
So we have 75% iPhone ownership here now. All very happy. Funny. I never saw a phone with an easy to use interface and all the attendant hoo-ha until Apple led the way. Up until then, cell phones were the very definition of suckage.
Keep copying RIM and Nokia and you other wannabes. Someday you MIGHT get something close. But I doubt it.
Next 90 Days – Winners and Losers. The picture going forward points to changes in the smart phone market. RIM (39%; up 9-pts) shows real momentum due to its slew of new product launches – e.g., the Storm, Bold, Pearl Flip – and appears capable of giving Apple a real run for its money in the first quarter of 2009.
Moreover, after the huge wave of enthusiasm generated by the 3G iPhone launch, Apple consumer planned buying (30%; down 4-pts) appears to have settled down somewhat.
RIM Chart line is going up, APPL line continues down. Better hope for something new next year as AppStore won’t drive new user growth.
I can see the ads now: Get a Storm; You’ll be somewhat satisfied !
H click E click Y click , click SPACE click F click U click C click K click SPACE click Y click O click U click SPACE click , click SPACE click M click D click N click ! click SPACE click I click SPACE click H click A click T click E click SPACE click T click H click I click S click SPACE click F click U click C click K click I click N click G click SPACE click S click T click O click R click M click ! click
Simply put, today the Storm is a first generation device competing against a device that is well into it’s second generation. The Storm will appeal to those people who have invested thousands or tens of thousands of dollars into BlackBerry’s enterprise servers, or to those whom BlackBerry has already won over.
I get that people love ripping into companies that compete against Apple but BlackBerry was never a ‘Balmer’ company nor did it particularly like Microsoft and developed its own OS. Personally, I want a solid challenger for the iPhone that will continue pushing innovation. We’ve all seen what can happen to a one-cart race: MS Office stagnant for 9 years. Vista. Competition is great especially from decent companies.
Having said that, I have switched my company’s cell users over to the iPhone and am extremely happy with the results!