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User Quirks and Preferences, By the Mobile Platform
BlackBerry users tend to be higher wage earns but less likely app downloaders, states a new report that compares the owners of iPhones and BlackBerry and Android handsets.
ITPro Today
September 23, 2011
2 Min Read
RIM BlackBerry users are the highest earners among smartphone owners, iPhone owners use the Netflix app twice as often as BlackBerry users, and more Android users have a QR Code Reader app than their BlackBerry and iPhone counterparts.
These tidbits were among the findings of a Prosper Mobile Insights survey comparing owners of the three popular smartphone platforms, in the interest of better appealing to each.
"In a weak economy, poor management decisions are even more likely to lead to customer attrition," the firm said in a statement. "Therefore in a competitive market such as the mobile industry, it’s critical for executives to know their consumers."
Other interesting getting-to-know-you findings:
iPads are owned by 11.6% of Android owners and 15.6% of BlackBerry owners; 25.8% of iPhone owners also own one. Additionally, 7.2% of iPhone owners, 6.9% of BlackBerry owners and 6% of Android said they also owned a Windows Phone 7 device.
One of the largest discrepancies among the three groups, in any category, regarded downloading apps. When asked if they download apps, 15% of iPhone users and 16% of Android users answered no, compared to 40% of RIM users. While RIM has been slammed for its slim app portfolio, the popularity of BlackBerry handsets in the enterprise, where users are sometimes prevented from downloading software, may be a more likely explanation.
The top three occupations of BlackBerry owners are professionals/managers (48.5%), business owners (8.9%) and clerical or service workers (8.4%), while the majority of iPhone and Android owners are professionals/managers (41.5% and 39.6%, respectively), clerical or service workers (10.6% and 9.7%) and students (8.5% and 8.3%).
Unsurprisingly, then, BlackBerry owners are also the highest wage earners. More put themselves in the $150,000-and up category (11.3% compared to 10.9% of iPhone and 7.2% of Android owners). The majority of iPhone and Android owners slotted themselves in the $50,000 to 74,999 range (22.4% of iPhone and 23.7% of Android). Nearly the same percentage of BlackBerry owners—21.2%—also put their earnings in that range, another 21.2% were in the slot above it, earning $75,000 to $99,999.
Angry Birds was the most-used gaming app by owners in all three categories, and owners across the platforms were likewise united in using games more than any other type of app, followed by social media. In both popular app categories, the apps were still most often used by iPhone owners, followed by Android and then BlackBerry (82.1% of iPhone owners, for example, said they most often used games, compared to 64% of BlackBerry owners).
The firm also offered a few conclusions based on the data.
Higher-income smartphone owners "are also more likely than the general population to be planning major purchases through the end of the year, particularly in areas of travel, electronics and automobiles," it shared. "While BlackBerry Owners are the most likely to be considering purchasing a vehicle and a vacation by the end of the year, iPhone Owners are likely to be computer purchasers."
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