Smart phone buyers stay loyal to their mobile networks

11 Nov 2009

Smart phone buyers in Europe and the US show relatively high intentions of staying with their current operator when purchasing their next device, according to Strategy Analytics.

Respondents from AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the US, O2 and Orange in the UK, and T-Mobile in Germany, report particularly high levels of satisfaction leading to operator loyalty.

“In the US, 71pc of users say they would ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ stay with their current network operator when they buy their next phone, as would 64pc of users in Western Europe,” commented Christopher Dodge, analyst in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice.

The recent Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Lab report, O2 UK Customers Report Highest Operator Loyalty, investigates loyalty to operators, as well as mobile service payment methods, average revenue per user, and operator churn.

Paul Brown, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, “With respondents exhibiting high levels of operator loyalty, the battle is on for mobile operators to try and attract new customers.

“As well as competing on price, it is important for operators to come up with innovative methods of attracting both first-time mobile phone users and those who are currently with a rival carrier,” Brown added.

By John Kennedy

Photo: Device loyalty – in the US more than 100,000 Verizon customers have bought the new Motorola Droid device (above) while in the UK some 30,000 Orange users got their hands on the Apple iPhone on day one.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com