iLounge

The iPhone leads the smartphone industry in owner loyalty, according to a new study. Citing a survey by German market research company GfK, Reuters reports that just 25 percent of planned to stay loyal to the operating system running on their phone, with Apple grabbing the highest loyalty rating at 59 percent. Apple was followed by RIM—35 percent of BlackBerry users said they would stay loyal—then Android at 28 percent, 24 percent for Symbian users, and just 21 percent for Microsoft Windows Phone users. “Loyalty with a handset is a lot more complicated these days in that people buy into experiences at the high-end level,” said Ryan Garner, the lead analyst on the survey. “If a phone doesn’t do what it says it will do or what the owner hopes it will do, the maker will lose loyalty.” GfK conducted the survey of 2,653 mobile phone users in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Britain, the United States and China online during October and November.