James Delahunty
10 Nov 2008 0:27
J.D. Power and Associates has conducted research in customer satisfaction of the most popular Smartphone models. Apple Inc. has ranked highest among the smartphone makers compared to Samsung and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM). One in four of the smartphone users reported experiencing some kind of software problem. Seemingly, devices akin to small computers are also prone to the same problems as normal computers.
"These are mini-computers, and people do experience computer-like problems on these devices," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and the author of the survey results. "They have entirely different problems than a traditional cell phone."
The smartphones tested were rated out of a 1,000-point satisfaction scale. The iPhone scored 778 / 1000 primarily because users rated the smart phone highly in four of the five areas measured. "The iPhone's claim to fame is in the physical design area," said Parsons. "The appearance of the phone, the visual aspects, the weight and size of the phone, the size of the display screen. But it got very high scores in others areas, like ease of operation."
The 5 factors tested of the smartphone models were operation, operating system, physical design, features and battery performance. "They ranked the iPhone pretty low on the battery life," Parsons said. RIM took second place while Samsung took third with scores of 703 and 701 respectively. HTC, Motorola and Palm followed with scores under the smart phone industry average of 681.
"Apple has clearly differentiated itself from the competition in areas that are most important to business smart phone users," said Parsons.