iPhone stroking keeps us satisfied the most, say fanbois The latest JD Power poll once again puts Apple's iPhone well ahead of the competition in terms of customer satisfaction, and nailed crappy 4G smartphone battery life as punters' biggest bugbear. The iPhone topped out the survey, scoring 839 on a thousand-point scale compared to HTC's 798 and Samsung's 769. Palm trailed in at …
I cannot find a publication date on the strandreports.com page you linked to. However, the ITU (the standards body behind the entire mess) disagrees:
http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2010/48.aspx
[quote]
As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as “4G”, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed
[/quote]
I am not going to comment on the fact that the ITU is redefining things apparently at the behest of the telco industry to further confuse consumers.
"More worryingly, 31 per cent said they were particularly looking forward to using the 4G networking on the iPad - despite the fact that they will never be able to do so in the UK."
Heh, I can just see it now; "That's weird, my iPad doesn't seem to be connecting at 4G speeds. Maybe I'm not holding it right?"
"The fact that Apple users are smug as an Anonymous spokesman shouldn't be terribly surprising, but the survey did involve questioning more than 7,000 smartphone users so one has to accept that they're not all trying to justify the amount they paid for their iDevices."
That's not a valid conclusion. Without a psychological study showing that Apple users do not, in fact, tend to be people who buy expensive technology and then rationalize it after the fact, the number of people questioned has no bearing on the likelihood that rationalization is happening.
In short, your conclusion is predicated on the assumption that iPhone users are (or average out to be) normal. That has yet to be shown.
According to several surveys a significant proportion of Apple's customers can, entirely fairly, be described as the "well heeled middle classes". In the US their main demographic (approx 50% of their customer base) are twenty to thirty something males living in households with a combined income of over $100,00 per annum. That being the case I am not at all surprised at the above figure.
Ignore the fact the market is segmented and you can produce the answers which guarantee press coverage.
JDP: What phone do you have?
A: I couldn't afford much so got an HTC Wildfire S. It's ok, but not as good as my friend's Sensation.
JDP: What phone do you have?
B: An iphone. I like it a lot.
JDP: What phone do you have?
C: Galaxy Ace. It's ok, but I've had a go on a Galaxy S II and it's much better.
Conclusion: Apple makes more satisfying phones than HTC and Samsung.
You could be on to something here. I've been wondering lately how come Apple products all look the same and yet each new model generates so much excitement among the fanbase - it's actually ~because~ they all look the same.
It ties in with another surprising factor behind Apple's success. The intelligent people I know who buy Apple (ie not the ones who are doing it to keep up with the Joneses) say they like iPhone because you have less choice than with Android, and choice takes time and time is money.
Perhaps the marketeers at Cupertino deserve some respect for having sussed this so early on.
"but ultimately the iPhone must be quite a nice product to gain that kind of loyalty"
Hmmmm, without wanting to start a flame war (as if that were possible) is there anyone on this planet who prefers the feel of the square-backed iPhone 4* over the ergonomically-curved iPhone <4's? Is everyone so frightened to acknowledge that Apple (and by extenson they) made a mistake and as it's gone on for so long now can't admit it without looking like an idiot?
If that's the kind of loyalty you mean it explains why I swapped my iPhone 4 for a Galaxy Note.
Yes, I prefer the shape of the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 3. I didn't really mind the shape of the 3 that much (although I preferred the shape of the Nokia n73 I had before that), but I really liked the 4.
I am quite happy to admit when I don't like something (and frankly don't know that many people who don't).
I would say in fact, I prefer the shape of the iPad 1 to the iPad 3, but that may not be that accurate as I have never had the iPad one out of its case, and I have yet to get a 3 case. I wouldn't go as far to say the shape of the iPad 3 is a mistake, I just find the edges a bit sharp. I shall see what it is like when eBay has provided me a decent case.
Just look at the way some women bitch about their high heels. And look at the crap software iDev people put up with.
I recently bought an ipod touch to see what all the rave is about. I was shocked by how bad it is:
1) Lots of app crashes and hangs- particularly with the camera.
2) Music player doesn't allow you to delete a partially downloadd podcast.
3) Music player prompts get mangled.
4) Voice command almost works, but not well enough to be useful.
5) You would expect podcasts to be auto-synced over wifi when a new episode becomes available. No such luck
Now that's just crap software development. Clearly Apple is raking it in on good looks and branding.
I'm downloading 5.1 in the hopes that some of these might be cleared up.
Android devices have a far richer UI. The little roller wheel on my HTC is really handy when scrolling through a web page. Navigation is way easier.
Sure Android doesn't make my arse look good, but it I don't have to put up with all the crap either.
1). What on earth are you doing?
2). Let it down load and you can delete - if you don't want it don't down load I guess - never experienced it myself
3) What?
4) Much like all
5) Check your settings - RTFM
Richer UI - What Sense? Beats, Touch Wizz, Blurr?
Scroll Wheel? Can't you use your thumb on a touch screen?
Having recently upgraded from a HTC Hero to a HTC Desire HD the scroll wheel is one of the few things I miss. It saves you having to zoom in ridiculous amounts in order to select the right link when there are several links close together. I think it's something all touchscreen phones should have.
Curved vs square?
I can't tell. I keep my phones (iPhone 3GS, now 4S) in thick leather cases with covers that fold over the screen (*). The square vs. curved shape of the phone itself is hidden to me.
(* The raw screen, no stupid!! plastic layer, *perfect* videophile condition even after 3 years heavy use.)
I agree completely. My wife wanted a white iphone; I wanted the black. Then we put them in heavy duty cases and you can't tell which color they are.
The press seems to think the new Lumias will sell because of their pretty colors. Of course, the public will put most of them in cases and you won't be able to see them after that.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
