More than 90% of US iPhone users love their phones

Wed Sep 30 2009, 16:45 PM

About 92% of US iPhone users say the device is their ideal smartphone, and 90% would recommend it to others, according to CFI Group. In a survey of 1,000 smartphone users, the iPhone scored an average of 83 on a 100-point satisfaction scale, 8% higher than its nearest rivals Android and the Palm Pre, which scored 77.

Smartphones popular among business users trailed in the survey, with Research In Motion's BlackBerry range scoring 73 and Palm's Treo hitting 70. A category including Symbian and Windows Mobile devices scored 66.

However, the popularity of the iPhone in the US has done little to improve user satisfaction with exclusive iPhone carrier AT&T. iPhone users gave the operator a satisfaction rate of just 69, compared to the 73 it scored from non-iPhone customers. Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile tied in first position scoring 79, followed by Sprint with 74.

Though AT&T's exclusive deal with Apple has attracted millions of new customers to its network, almost half of iPhone respondents say they would like to defect to another provider and 40% are only on AT&T to get the iPhone. Verizon, on the other hand, is the ideal provider for 86% of smartphone users, but lacks the high-end handsets that would attract more customers.