A new survey from Crowd Science may put a dent in the much-touted brand loyalty of CrackBerry, er, BlackBerry users: it seems some 39 percent of BlackBerry users surveyed would prefer an iPhone as their next smartphone. However, about one third of respondents would prefer a phone based on the Android operating system—another sign of Android’s growing momentum in the mobile marketplace.
“These results show that the restlessness of Blackberry users with their current brand hasn’t just been driven by the allure of iPhone,” said Crowd Science CEO John Martin, in a statement. “Rather, Blackberry as a brand just isn’t garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems.”
Just 9 percent of iPhone users indicated they’d be willing to give up their Apple device for an Android-based Nexus One phone from Google; however, some 60 percent of folks who own smartphones not made by Apple or BlackBerry said they would swap for a Nexus One.
Crowd Science also says that Android users are both yougner and somewhat less affluent than either iPhone or BlackBerry users; Crowd Science also found iPhone users are more likely to pay for smartphone applications. BlackBerries were also more likely to be used for business-only purposes: 7 percent of Blackberry users said their phones were business only, compared to just 1 percent of iPhone users and essentially no Android users.