IPhone users are most likely to buy their next handset again from Apple Inc. as Nokia Oyj’s customer loyalty dropped for the first time, a survey shows.
About 93 percent of iPhone owners in the U.S. and 88 percent in the U.K., Germany and France said they would probably or definitely go for another Apple handset, said Paul Brown, an analyst at Strategy Analytics, citing a poll. Nokia’s brand loyalty was 63 percent in Europe, compared with 74 percent a year earlier, while only one in two Nokia users in the U.S. plans to buy the next handset from the Finnish manufacturer.
“A lackluster portfolio of user-friendly touchscreen devices is one of the key reasons for this decline,” Brown said in an interview. “By creating a powerful brand image, along with a compelling user experience, Apple has managed to create a high level of brand loyalty amongst existing users.”
Gearing up for the holiday season, Apple yesterday introduced an upgrade of its best-selling product with voice recognition features and a higher-resolution camera. Nokia, seeking to stem a loss of market share to Apple and makers of Android handsets like HTC Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., said its introduction of products based on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone 7 is scheduled for the “weeks ahead.”
More Crowded
Nokia rose as much as 4.1 percent in Helsinki trading after Apple yesterday didn’t introduce a more revolutionary iPhone 5 model. At 2:47 p.m. local time, the stock was up 2.7 percent at 4.09 euros. Apple dropped 0.4 percent to the equivalent of $371.69 in German trading. The stock yesterday fell 0.6 percent in New York.
The highest user satisfaction rate among major mobile-phone vendors may help Cupertino, California-based Apple defend its position as the largest smartphone vendor as the market becomes more crowded. At the same time, Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, allied with Microsoft to lure consumers and app developers with the Windows Phone system.
Strategy Analytics, which surveyed 1,497 users in Europe and 987 in the U.S. in August and September, plans to release a full report including China and India next week.
“A key challenge for Apple next year will be whether the company can maintain such high loyalty rates following the retirement of iconic chief executive Steve Jobs,” Analytics analyst Neil Mawston said.
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