Wednesday, April 2,2008 @ 11:55am
Survey: Microsoft, Motorola hit hardest by iPhone
A new survey by Rubicon Consulting purports to have revealed some of the demographics of iPhone owners. Pollsters contacted 460 American iPhone customers, and questioned them on factors such as income, data use, and other devices they own. Results indicate that approximately half of iPhone owners are under the age of 30, although only 15 percent are students. Notably, 75 percent of these already owned some form of Apple product, whether an iPod or a Mac. The company may thus have problems trying to push the iPhone onto a mainstream population.
In terms of use, 25 percent of respondents said the iPhone actually takes the place of a notebook in many cases, and in 90 percent of circumstances has permanently replaced another phone. In this regard, Motorola and Microsoft are said to have been the greatest losers with the arrival of the iPhone; almost 25 percent of iPhone owners upgraded from Motorola's RAZR, and 33.9 percent switched away from a phone based on Windows Mobile.
Microsoft may in fact be faced with "severe challenges" in the realm of smartphones, according to Rubicon's Michael Mace. While Apple merely threatens Windows Mobile with a popular, individual product, Google is giving its Android platform away for free, in some cases to phone makers currently licensing Windows Mobile. Mace suggests therefore that in order to compete, Microsoft may be forced either to create its own phone, or to release a free mobile operating system. As the company recently purchased Sidekick-maker Danger, Mace believes the company may be attempting to produce its own device.