I was about to write a post about a different topic but decided not to when I chanced upon this article currently running on Ars Technica saying that 40% of BlackBerry users are willing to trade their current phone for an iPhone. This has caught my attention since I recently got a BlackBerry Bold 9700, but I did not ditch my iPhone 3GS for it.
The report was citing the study conducted by market research Crowd Science. According to the study, two in five BlackBerry owners are said to be planning on swapping their current phone for an iPhone as soon as its time for them to upgrade. And among the reasons suggested by the study is the fact that RIM may not be keeping up with consumer demand in its effort to fight the encroachment from the iPhone and even Android devices more particularly Google Nexus One.
This is quite interesting since RIM holds a pretty strong reputation in the smartphone market although this was slightly rocked by the iPhone’s rapid growth last year.
CrowdScience also suggested that this development can also be attributed to the fact that many smartphone users are now using their units for both personal and business use and not for business purposes alone anymore. And since the iPhone is both personal and business oriented it is no wonder that it is threatening BlackBerry’s stronghold in the business mobile phone market as well.
Aside from the iPhone, current BlackBerry users are also eyeing to replace their units with an Android-based phones, more particularly with the Google Nexus One phone. 32% of the surveyed BlackBerry users says they are ready to exchange their phone with a Nexus One.
Crowd Science CEO John Martin said that BlackBerry users are getting restless with the BlackBerry brand and are getting enticed by the allure of iPhone.
“Rather, BlackBerry as a brand just isn’t garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems,” said Mr. Martin.
Now, here’s the best part. About 90% of current iPhone and Android users are not planning to swap their current phones with another model.