Smartphone Loyalty and Consolidation

A recent survey by UBS has shown some interesting numbers in smartphone loyalties. The survey says that Apple enjoys 89% customer loyalty whereas brands like HTC, RIM and Samsung enjoy39%, 33% and 28% respectively. While these numbers are the main focus for many articles on this topic (read related articles on The Mac Observer, GigaOM and DigitalTrends), there are more interesting numbers and observations in the fine print.

  • In the last 18 months, there are a few manufacturers who lost significant rates of retention. Even Apple lost about 6% retention rate during this time. The key players are RIM (loss of 29%), Nokia (loss of 18%) and LG (dumped out from the top 6).
  • The big gainers in the last 18 months are HTC and Motorola (thats a surprise!)
  • The integrated model of iOS and iPhone is giving Apple a bit more advantage than for Andriod manufacturers like HTC, Samsung and Motorola. Manufacturers that bundle Android may lose even staunch Android fans. But they can gain customers from other Android phone manufacturers too.
  • Reader comments on some of these articles also indicate the advantage Apple has got: older generation phones are being passed on to family members with less usage. This is bumping up the loyalty rates.

Overall, it is a consolidation towards iOS and Andriod, at the cost of Symbian and Windows.

 

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