Apple iPhone Tops in Smartphone Satisfaction

From DailyTech: While most of the technology world finds itself in decline, a few product categories are growing. Two of the most notable are the netbook and smartphone markets. J.D. Power & Associates have released three new studies of the mobile phone industry that each ranks a different type of handset or user group.

The studies include the 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Customers Satisfaction Study, Vol. 2.; the 2009 Wireless Business Smartphone Satisfaction Study; and the 2009 Wireless Traditional Mobile Phone Satisfaction Study, Vol. 2. The studies rank devices on a 1000-point scale.

The study found that overall satisfaction with devices in the smartphone market is growing with a gain of 14 points on the 1,000-point scale compared to six months ago. At the same time, satisfaction among business smartphone users has grown more robustly with a 43-point gain since 2008. While smartphone satisfaction grew with consumers and business users, satisfaction with traditional mobile phone owners has declined by 6 points since April.

EWeek reports that this is likely due to increasing frustration by users who realize what features their phones lack. The study found one point where satisfaction tends to falter for traditional phone users -- whether or not the device is free. Users who participated in the study and had free phones were less happy with their device than those who paid money for their handsets. This is due to the stripped down phone that most mobile carriers offer for free.

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