Apparently smartphones have topped the list of holiday gift returns according to a 2,000-person survey by Research Now, but that’s not counting the iPhone or BlackBerry. The reason for a wooping 21% return rate from smartphone buyers? Difficulty in set-up. Yep, users can determine pretty quickly if a handheld is something they want to keep or not, and being turned off due to technical issues that early on can apparently wreak huge effects on not only sales, but reputation too.
“Irreparable damage to a brand’s reputation and perception of the company itself is at stake when a product is not easy to setup and use,” [Kevin Wood, VP and Senior Technology Analyst with Opinion Research Corporation] added. “Nearly 16% of the respondents we surveyed indicated that their poor setup experience significantly worsened their perception of the company that manufactured the product.”
Given these results, can we say that BlackBerry set-up is notably easier than other smartphones? I’d be curious to see how much the numbers would change if the iPhone and BlackBerry were included.
Not that we’re biased towards covering this sort of thing, but User Centric has just finished a text messaging test which had iPhone, BlackBerry and Samsung E300 users send multiple messages from their devices. BlackBerry users had the best error rate, sitting at an average 2.1 errors per message followed closely by the number pad texter at 2.4 errors per message. The iPhone, however, suffered a wooping 5.6 errors per message. Youch. Expertise was a non-issue, as the error rate remained steady across all levels of iPhone experience. Speed between iPhone and BlackBerry typing was about on par, but that doesn’t do much to soothe the sting on the virtual keypad faithful.
A study is being launched by Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamiolton, Ontario where patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease will record and transmit their daily symptoms via BlackBerry. The handhelds will not only allow patients to communicate with health care professionals straight from home, but it should also allow for earlier intervention when situations worsen. The data gathered from the study could also help in determine trends in the disease.
“We also are hoping to pinpoint with more precision the high-risk peak periods of the year,” he said. Johnston said there are signs that the period between Christmas and New Year’s is a particularly risky period for COPD patients. Festive and family events, stress and different eating patterns may all have an impact on the severity of symptoms, he said but little is currently known about the causes of the Christmas epidemics of COPD.”
While the BlackBerry might still need some work against the iPhone, it’s still kicking tail against other smartphone manufacturers when it comes to keeping enterprise buyers happy. J.D. Power and Associates used a rating system which examined a smartphone’s ease of use, operating system, form factor, audio, battery and utilities, in order of weight. Palm and Samsung tied for second place, with Motorola behind the industry average. Outside of that, the survey also touched on some other trends among smartphone users, such as the 40% who wants GPS versus the mere 26% who want Wi-Fi. The top features folks are looking for in a smartphone are “personal information manager (PIM) functionality (50%), Internet capability (48%), Bluetooth capabilities (46%), general ease of use (44%) and overall design/style (44%).” Funniest thing is that games topped enterprise users’ choice for third-party software – all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, huh?
Europe is moving ahead with plans to get mobile phone usage on planes while in flight, but according to a recent survey from TripAdvisor, a wooping 78% said they don’t want to be seated next to someone using a cellphone. It’s not too surprising, considering flying tends to be close quarters for extended amounts of time, but how do BlackBerrys fit into the whole equation? First off, are data transmissions being taken into account in addition to voice when testing the new cellular technology in Europe? If not, that could put an end to BlackBerrys on planes pretty quickly. Would fliers be as by bothered by someone discreetly thumbing out e-mails as someone yakking away in their ear? Probably not. We’ll see what the airlines do, and with any luck, we’ll get to thumb to our hearts’ content the next time we cross the pond.
We just took a look at a recent survey from ChangeWave, which puts customers highly satisfied with the iPhone at a whooping 82%. RIM sits at 51% of very satisfied customers, with Sanyo and LG following close behind at 46% and 41% respectively. 16% of those surveyed who didn’t already have one, said they were planning to by an iPhone, which is the highest projected purchase rate out of all the manufacturers listed. It’s nice to say that RIM’s second only to Apple, but let’s face it, that’s a pretty big 31% gap that BlackBerry has to fill. What would it take for you guys to tick off the “Very Satisfied” box on a survey about your BlackBerry?
Apparently smartphones have topped the list of holiday gift returns according to a 2,000-person survey by Research Now, but that’s not counting the iPhone or BlackBerry. The reason for a wooping 21% return rate from smartphone buyers? Difficulty in set-up. Yep, users can determine pretty quickly if a handheld is something they want to keep or not, and being turned off due to technical issues that early on can apparently wreak huge effects on not only sales, but reputation too. 
Not that we’re biased towards covering this sort of thing, but User Centric has just 
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