Report Finds ‘iPhone Envy’ Among RIM And Motorola Owners

A new research report has found that consumer opinion is still very much in favour of the Apple iPhone, despite the increased competition from rivals and the fact that Android has overtaken Apple’s iOS in market share.

According to a 19 November report from ChangeWave, more recent iPhone purchasers – those who bought one during the last six months – reported being Very Satisfied than did owners of Motorola, HTC, Samsung or Research In Motion smartphones.

While more than three-quarters of iPhone owners gave the enthusiastic thumbs-up (77 percent), only 71 percent of Motorola owners did, followed by 63 percent of those who bought HTC handsets. Only 45 percent of Samsung owners said the same, followed by RIM owners, at 44 percent.

iPhone Envy

Additionally, more than one-third of the non-AT&T phone owners said they’ve have bought an iPhone instead, had their provider offered it. Plus – the cherry on top for Apple – iPhone owners are increasingly delighted with their smartphones, states the report.

Despite the mess of “Antennagate” – during which analysts posited that Apple might lose “heart share” as well as market share -84 percent of 32GB iPhone 4 owners said they were Very Satisfied, compared with 81 percent of 32GB iPhone 3GS owners in May.

The survey is also good news for Verizon Wireless, which is widely expected to begin offering an iPhone in January, though Apple still refuses to comment on this.

Motorola/RIM Users

However, according to ChangeWave, such news may be particularly bad for Motorola. Consumers who bought a Motorola smartphone were the likeliest to have bought an Apple iPhone instead, had their service provider offered one.

When asked which they’d have purchased, 34 percent of overall smartphone owners said they would have purchased an iPhone instead of what they bought; when broken down by brand, 37 percent of Motorola purchasers agreed.

Behind Motorola, 36 percent of RIM owners would have gone for the iPhone instead of their BlackBerry had they been given the chance, while 32 percent of HTC owners and 28 percent of Samsung owners would have done the same.

Still, those who bought Motorola handsets were – behind iPhone owners – the happiest with their devices. Among those who bought the Motorola Droid 2, 74 percent said they were Very Satisfied; 71 percent of Motorola Droid X purchasers said the same, followed by 69 percent of those who bought the original Droid.

Happy Torch Owners

Among owners of HTC handsets, the happiest were those with the Sprint-offered Evo 4G, 76 percent of whom said they were Very Satisfied, compare with 70 percent of Droid Incredible owners and 45 percent of owners of all other HTC handset models.

While RIM finished in last place, the good news for the Ontario, Canada, phone maker is that its new Torch – the first to include a QWERTY keypad and a touch screen – is the one users like most.

While only 40 percent of Curve owners and 48 percent of Bold owners said they were Very Satisfied, 64 percent of Torch buyers were still delighting in their purchase.