By Stephen Schenck | August 23, 2012 4:20 PM
People are clearly looking forward to Apple’s expected announcement of the iPhone 5, but exactly how much enthusiasm is there? A new survey looks at just how many smartphone users are planning to pick up Apple’s next handset, as well as reveals some statistics on brand loyalty that sound like very bad news for RIM.
Of the smartphone users surveyed who are coming up for upgrade eligibility, 45% have their eyes on an iPhone, and in most cases that means waiting for the iPhone 5′s arrival. The main reasons for interest in the model, besides the hugely important fact that it’s an iPhone and any iPhone’s going to sell like hotcakes, are expectations for improved battery life and LTE support. If this is an accurate assessment of attitudes towards the iPhone 5 across the entire US, that could mean over 50 million sales in the country alone.
The survey also looked to customer loyalty from platform to platform. Unsurprisingly, Apple’s got a big lead, with over three-quarters of users firmly committed to sticking with iOS. With Android, only about half of it users show such strong loyalty to the OS, but the figures for BlackBerry are just abysmal. A scant two percent of current RIM users surveyed plan to buy another BlackBerry. Has the ship sailed on BB10 before it’s even launched?
