Loyalty to Apple driving iPhone market share gains vs. Android - survey

Posted:
in iPhone edited July 2014
A new poll of smartphone users reveals that loyalty to the iPhone is chipping away at Android's market share lead, and could lead to the iPhone overtaking Android in the U.S. in just a few years.

Yankee


The data comes from a survey of 16,000 consumers polled over the last year by Yankee Group, highlighted on Friday by AllThingsD. It concluded that customer loyalty will push iPhone ownership in the U.S. past Android devices by the year 2015.

The survey found that Apple and Google's Android are in a dead heat when it comes to buying intent: 42 percent of U.S. customers plan to buy an iPhone, while another 42 percent will opt for Android.

But Apple's greatest strength is in customer retention, as the survey found a whopping 91 percent of iPhone owners indicated they will buy another iPhone. Just 6 percent of iPhone owners plan to switch to an Android device.

In contrast, 76 percent of customers who own an Android device said they plan to buy another one. Among the 24 percent who indicated they plan to switch, 18 percent of those are eyeing an iPhone.

To explain how Apple is gaining on Android, the Yankee Group used an analogy comparing competing smartphone platforms to buckets of water. While the iPhone and Android "buckets" are collecting "water" ? or new users ? at about the same rate, Android's bucket is leakier than Apple's.

"The Android bucket leaks badly, losing about one in five of all the owners put into it," the report reads. "The Apple bucket leaks only about 7 percent of its contents, so it retains more of the customers that fall into it.

"The Apple bucket will fill up faster and higher than the Android one, regardless of the fact that the Apple bucket may have had fewer owners in it to begin with."

In the company's quarterly earnings conference call this week, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was asked about the fact that recent data shows the iPhone is not growing as the smartphone market as a whole worldwide. While Cook admitted he does want the iPhone to grow faster, he cautioned that growth alone is not the only measure of health, and singled out customer satisfaction as a key area of focus for Apple.

"The things that are very important to us in addition to market share and unit volumes are things like customer satisfaction, which were the highest by far winning J.D. Power nine times consecutively, and the customer loyalty and repurchase rates, which were the highest by far at 95% according to Kantar," Cook said.

The CEO then went on to highlight other strong aspects of the iPhone platform, including the amount of money paid to application developers, as well as usage statistics.

"Market shares are important and unit volumes are important, but these other things for us are extremely important, because we are all about customer experience and enriching lives," Cook said.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 63
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    We need the equivelent to 'Once you go Mac you nerver go back' for iOS devices but for the life of me I am stumped to think of one ... :D
  • Reply 2 of 63


    Only Loyalty?


    What about


    - Build Quality


    - Superior engineering


    - Dependability


    - Apps quality


    - Innovation


    - No junk 


    - No Android


    - many more?

  • Reply 3 of 63
    zeromeuszeromeus Posts: 182member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Chandra69 View Post


    Only Loyalty?


    What about


    - Build Quality


    - Superior engineering


    - Dependability


    - Apps quality


    - Innovation


    - No junk 


    - No Android


    - many more?



    Those are reasons for loyalty.  You can't have loyalty without the above reasons.

  • Reply 4 of 63
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    91% = fanboys /s

    Did anyone think different?
  • Reply 5 of 63
    LOL. This is clueless. One story about a 'research' provider says that the iPhone is losing share. The other, iPhone is gaining share!

    Ok. Got it.
  • Reply 6 of 63


    That's a good way to spin it.


    Sure, why not?


    Run with it.

  • Reply 7 of 63
    hahaha. As soon as this article goes up, wallstreet cheat puts this article out.

    Is Customer Loyalty Enough for Apple?
  • Reply 8 of 63
    xgmanxgman Posts: 159member
    Loyalty wore off for me after a measly 4" stale phone. Still loyal to their computers though.
  • Reply 9 of 63
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    LOL. This is clueless. One story about a 'research' provider says that the iPhone is losing share. The other, iPhone is gaining share!

    Ok. Got it.

    On top of that I can't stand these estimates that are stating what they expect the landscape will look like many years from now. Does anyone recall how Windows Mobile had been projected to make some amazing comeback when the iPhone was first released?
  • Reply 10 of 63
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    LOL. This is clueless. One story about a 'research' provider says that the iPhone is losing share. The other, iPhone is gaining share!



    Ok. Got it.


     


    Regardless of its source, or what others are saying, the phenomenon described here, in the US at least, is very real.

  • Reply 11 of 63
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    chandra69 wrote: »
    Only Loyalty?
    What about
    - Build Quality
    - Superior engineering
    - Dependability
    - Apps quality
    - Innovation
    - No junk 
    - No Android
    - many more?

    Those are the reasons for the loyalty.
  • Reply 12 of 63
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    On top of that I can't stand these estimates that are stating what they expect the landscape will look like many years from now. Does anyone recall how Windows Mobile had been projected to make some amazing comeback when the iPhone was first released?

    Difference being that Ms let WinMo stagnate with few updates for years.
  • Reply 13 of 63
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    LOL. This is clueless. One story about a 'research' provider says that the iPhone is losing share. The other, iPhone is gaining share!



    Ok. Got it.


     


    Gaining market share in the US, losing market share worldwide.  If this report is accurate, then the natural pattern is feature phone -> android -> iPhone, which means that "losing market share" is a temporary condition that stops once people start to do the 2nd upgrade outside the US.



    Until the last couple quarters Apple was losing market share to Android, and now is gaining due to the 2nd upgrade cycle where people dump android and get iPhones instead.

  • Reply 14 of 63
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by xgman View Post



    Loyalty wore off for me after a measly 4" stale phone. Still loyal to their computers though.


     


    Cool story bro. I heard the awesome new Galaxy S4 isn't stale though, cause it has a big screen, or something:


     


     


     


    Quote:


    I don't like holding this phone, and I can't overstate how much that informs the experience of using it. It makes an awful first impression, slippery and slimy and simply unpleasant in your hand. My white review unit is completely smooth and glossy, with a subtle checkered pattern that looks textured but is neither grippy nor textured anywhere on its body. Even the silver band around the sides, which is obviously supposed to look like metal, is plastic. Everyone I showed the GS4 to frowned and wrinkled their nose as if it smelled bad, before rubbing their fingers on the back of the phone and then handing it back to me — that's the opposite of the standard reaction to HTC’s One, which everyone wants to ogle and hold.



     


    Compared to:


     


     


    Quote:


    In all, while the iPhone 5 might look familiar, the sheer attention to fit and finish in its build lends it a sense of quality and craftsmanship that far too many devices lack. The new design — particularly the black version, which has a kind of sinister simplicity to it — is truly something to behold.


  • Reply 15 of 63
    We need the equivelent to 'Once you go Mac you nerver go back' for iOS devices but for the life of me I am stumped to think of one ... :D
    Didn't The Bionic man Steve Austin & Oscar Goldman work for the iOS?
  • Reply 16 of 63
    chandra69chandra69 Posts: 638member


     


    Quote:



    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Chandra69 View Post



    Only Loyalty?

    What about

    - Build Quality

    - Superior engineering

    - Dependability

    - Apps quality

    - Innovation

    - No junk 

    - No Android

    - many more?




    Those are the reasons for the loyalty.



    No, its not.  Even if they fail much, you should stick with Apple. That is Loyalty.  

  • Reply 17 of 63

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jungmark View Post



    91% = fanboys /s



    Did anyone think different?


     


    yes.


     


    All fanboi's are in the 91%


     


    Not all of the 91% are fanboi's.    In fact, I'd be surprized if it were 0.91% of iphone users are fanboi's by the definition of an 'us/them'  attitude.


     


    But 1% of iPhone users is a big/noisy number.  

  • Reply 18 of 63
    winniewinnie Posts: 17member
    I was an Android user for 3 years and only switched to the iPhone 5 last November.

    I just went through my contact book on my iPhone to do my own survey. Out of 135 contacts, 120 are iPhone users and 14 are Android and 1 Blackberry.

    Of the people I come into contact with, I have never heard of one complaint about their iPhone. Son are still using iPhone 3, 4, 4s and 5.

    I am still amazed of how efficient and easy ALL MY contacts, mail, calendar, shared calendars, music, books, notes, reminders, and apps all just sync beautifully between all my devices.
  • Reply 19 of 63
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member



    "The Android bucket leaks badly, losing about one in five of all the owners put into it," the report reads.



     


    It's the ecosystem.  Sleek hardware is great, a smooth OS experience is great, but they're still not enough.


    The way attract long-term customers is to offer value with services like iCloud, high quality apps from


    the App Store, and simple media purchase and download through iTunes (and Newsstand and iBooks).


     


    Do all that and retaining your customers is easy.  Apple has obviously done all that.  Amazon has done


    all that (except for the sleek hardware and smooth OS experience.)  Samsung is still working on their


    Samsung Hub to replace the Google Play ecosystem.  Good luck with that.

  • Reply 20 of 63
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by xgman View Post



    Loyalty wore off for me after a measly 4" stale phone. Still loyal to their computers though.


     


    Cool story bro. I heard the awesome new Galaxy S4 isn't stale though, cause it has a big screen, or something:


     


     


     


    Quote:


    I don't like holding this phone, and I can't overstate how much that informs the experience of using it. It makes an awful first impression, slippery and slimy and simply unpleasant in your hand. My white review unit is completely smooth and glossy, with a subtle checkered pattern that looks textured but is neither grippy nor textured anywhere on its body. Even the silver band around the sides, which is obviously supposed to look like metal, is plastic. Everyone I showed the GS4 to frowned and wrinkled their nose as if it smelled bad, before rubbing their fingers on the back of the phone and then handing it back to me — that's the opposite of the standard reaction to HTC’s One, which everyone wants to ogle and hold.



     


    Compared to:


     


     


    Quote:


    In all, while the iPhone 5 might look familiar, the sheer attention to fit and finish in its build lends it a sense of quality and craftsmanship that far too many devices lack. The new design — particularly the black version, which has a kind of sinister simplicity to it — is truly something to behold.





    The slurp nails it.

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