“While Apple does extremely well in the global and domestic smartphone markets, they aren’t doing as well among first-time smartphone buyers as one might think,” Ina Fried reports for AllThingsD.
“A new study paints an interesting picture of the first-time phone buyer and the devices they are choosing,” Fried reports. “Previous smartphone owners buy Apple iPhones much more than first-time owners,’ according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. ‘Almost 50 percent of previous owners buy an iPhone, while under one-third of first-time owners buy an iPhone.'”
Fried reports, “Samsung does roughly equally well among new and repeat smartphone buyers, while Korean rival LG tends to do far better among first-timers, likely due to its lower prices and strong representation in the prepaid arena. Those late to the smartphone game tend to be more price-conscious, and also tend to keep their devices longer than longer-term smartphone owners… Meanwhile, both BlackBerry and Microsoft’s Windows Phone continue to struggle.”
Read more in the full article here.