Consumers drool over iPhone

By Stuart Corner
Friday, 25 May 2007 02:44

IT Industry - Deals

Research firm Strategy Analytics has tested consumer reactions to the iPhone and says that 90 percent rated it much better than their own smartphone.

"An overwhelming 90 percent of respondents gave the iPhone higher marks than their own handset and over 40 percent of respondents rated the iPhone much better across key functional categories -- including music player, web browsing, voice mail, and phone call management -- indicating real innovation in designing a user experience," said Harvey Cohen, president of Strategy Analytics, who conducted this research.

In a joint research effort between its Wireless Device Lab and Intelligent System Strategies program, Strategy Analytics says it "explored the appeal of iPhone features, developed comparisons with current products, investigated the nature of the iPhone experience, and gained insights on design criteria for future devices."

However, consumers did get their hands on the real thing, only Apple videos of its. Strategy Analytics said it had "captured consumer responses to video presentations of iPhone features developed by Apple using its panel of advanced mobile device buyers." A chart which rates each experience on the iPhone compared to the experience on other mobile devices may be found at: www.strategyanalytics.com/press/PR00425.htm

Also on the down side, Kevin Nolan, director of user experience research at Strategy Analytics, said: "While the iPhone 'Wow' factor is impressive, our user panel indicated that challenges in pricing and positioning may act as a barrier to mass-market success. Nonetheless, the iPhone clearly represents a breakthrough in terms of user experience."

* Meanwhile according to another research firm,  Berg Insight, global shipments of smartphones running advanced operating systems will reach 113 million units in 2007. Increasing at an average annual compound growth rate 25.6 percent and it forecasts they will reach 365 million units by 2012. Smartphones will then account for over 22 percent of all handsets worldwide, compared to 10 percent today.

Berg Insight estimates that Symbian OS was the leading smartphone operating system in 2006 with a market share of 63 percent. Linux was the second largest platform, followed by Windows Mobile. "Nokia's commitment to Symbian OS as the core of the S60 platform is the key to its success", said André Malm, telecom analyst at Berg Insight. "In the future there will however be increasingly strong competition from Linux for consumer devices and Windows Mobile in the enterprise segment."

Berg Insight says that Microsoft's performance in the smartphone segment is consistently improving, even though Windows Mobile is still far from threatening either Symbian OS or Linux for the top market positions. "The once popular PDA operating system Palm OS has virtually disappeared from the market and is now being converted into a version of Linux."

It makes no comment on the iPhone other than to note that "Apple's OS X will become a new entrant on the smartphone operating systems market this year with the launch of the iPhone."