A new study published by ChangeWave shows that while RIM’s BlackBerry is the smartphone of choice for enterprise, the sliver of users with iPhones are happier.
Fully 73% of the 2,013 respondents said their companies used BlackBerry devices - a number that is unchanged from ChangeWave’s last survey in November - locking down the BlackBerry as the undisputed chap of the business class.Palm was a distant 2nd place, with 18% of respondents, followed by Motorola (9%), Nokia (7%), and finally Samsung and Apple, both at 5%.
Just as encouraging for RIM, 77% of respondents said they plan to use BlackBerrys in future smartphone deployments, a sign that RIM’s dominance in the smartphone industry will continue for the forseeable future.
Here’s what’s interesting: in 2nd place for planned smartphone purchases was the iPhone - ahead of all the others. Furthermore, satisfaction with the BlackBerry experience was down 8%, with 47% of users reporting they were “very satisfied”. Compare that to the iPhone’s 60% “very satisfied” population, and you can see why this could spell trouble for the beloved BlackBerry.
Nokia, Samsung and Motorola rounded off the top-5 for satisfaction, taking in 40%, 30%, and 25% respectively. Poor Palm was last, with just 10% of users saying they were “very satisfied”.
Even more disconcerting for RIM is Apple’s announcement, which came after this polling was done, that it is going to integrate ActiveSync and Exchange into the iPhone, a shortcoming that all but ruled it out as an enterprise-level smartphone.
When you can get an iPhone that does everything your BlackBerry does and leaves you feeling more satisfied (not to mention that much cooler) - would you buy a BlackBerry?
For the survey, ChangeWave queried 2,013 members of its ChangeWave Alliance who are involved in IT decision making, fielding the research between Feb. 11 and Feb. 15
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