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I had the same thought, and went squirrling through the WDS site. looky what I found,
not relevant to the query, but impressive as all hell

http://www.wds.co/wds_device_shipments.pdf

Do you think Apple and Microsoft hand them a bundle of money and say, "Make shit up about our competition, but make it sound sciency, so say you analyzed statistics and stuff!"

Wouldn't put it past 'em... the Fruit, at least.

http://www.wds.co/about/clients.asp

That "Manufacturers" section is pretty much a who's who of the Android ecosystem.

How else do you think they get access to a year's worth of call center records and other data from the manufacturers? That's not generally publicly available information...

This report was likely commissioned by multiple clients (manufacturers & mobile operators) who handed over their aggregate call center data to the research firm and said, "Tell us what you see." And what they see is that Android handsets seem to have a higher hardware failure rate.

Sounds like a fair and fairly accurate assessment, then. Honestly, a higher failure rate is to be expected due to the open nature of the system.

Thanks for the intel.

No one. The study was not commissioned and it was not funded by a commercial 3rd party. If you read the actual study whitepaper it's quite interesting and would be helpful to companies which sell Android phones.

WDS seems to be a UK based company that sells consulting, training, testing and support services to wireless providers and equipment manufacturers.

http://www.wds.co/enlightened/whitepaper.asp (whitepaper)
http://www.wds.co/expert-services/index.asp (reference to what they do)

If I were to guess the reason they did this whitepaper, it's could be to drum up more business for them. To download the whitepaper they want your contact info probably so they can have their sales guys call you if you work for a company which could use their services.

No one. The study was not commissioned and it was not funded by a commercial 3rd party. If you read the actual study whitepaper it's quite interesting and would be helpful to companies which sell Android phones.

WDS seems to be a UK based company that sells consulting, training, testing and support services to wireless providers and equipment manufacturers.

http://www.wds.co/enlightened/whitepaper.asp (whitepaper)
http://www.wds.co/expert-services/index.asp (reference to what they do)

If I were to guess the reason they did this whitepaper, it's could be to drum up more business for them. To download the whitepaper they want your contact info probably so they can have their sales guys call you if you work for a company which could use their services.

http://www.wds.co/about/clients.asp

That "Manufacturers" section is pretty much a who's who of the Android ecosystem.

How else do you think they get access to a year's worth of call center records and other data from the manufacturers? That's not generally publicly available information. Do you think Apple and Microsoft hand them a bundle of money and say, "Make shit up about our competition, but make it sound sciency, so say you analyzed statistics and stuff!"

This report was likely commissioned by multiple clients (manufacturers & mobile operators) who handed over their aggregate call center data to the research firm and said, "Tell us what you see." And what they see is that Android handsets seem to have a higher hardware failure rate.

What a garbage article.

An Android phone is not the same as an Apple or Blackberry phone. Google just makes the software. Apple and Blackberry make their own hardware.

Therefore you can't really say "Android phones have a high rate of defect". More accurately, you could say "Low-end no-name brand Android phones for that cost under $100 have a high rate of defect". High-end Samsung or HTC Android phones are just as good as their Apple or Blackberry counterparts.

Low-end phones have existed forever, and they've always had more technical issues. They just never had a high-end operating system. Since Android is free you can get it on even the cheaper phones. This is a good thing because it allows cheaper phones to have top-of-the-line software on a budget price.

It's no wonder that if you search for the study all you find is links to this and similar articles about this bogus study, but no references to the company or the studies themselves. Obviously a paid interest study.

Your point about price points vs quality is actually very clearly pointed out in the study itself, so you are beating down open doors here.

And let me help you with googling the source: http://www.wds.co/news/archive/2011/20111103/20111103.asp . This is a study meant to have information of value to Telcos. Not everything that happens is focused on astrotrufing Slashdot. Even though we often seem to jump to that conclusion.

Forbes has a much better article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mobiledia/2011/11/04/android-phone-repairs-cost-carriers-billions/

A study by wireless services firm Wireless Data Service, or WDS

Their website: http://www.wds.co/

Seems I'm better at the google search game!!!!

From TFA: "WDS vice president of Marketing Tim Deluca-Smith said"

That makes it easy to google up the company, WDS Global: http://www.wds.co/

Heck, link to their original press release:
http://www.wds.co/news/archive/2011/20111103/20111103.asp

If not in the mood to go into the link, here is their company description:

Since 1995, WDS has been dedicated to helping both service providers and end-users get the most from their wireless products and services. Today, by optimizing the entire process of launching and managing wireless products and services, the company enlightens its customers with the knowledge and efficiency needed to deliver the best possible user experience.

To us, the wireless user experience is more than just the latest touchscreen or user interface; it's an appreciation of the device, network, service and the journey that the end-user passes through as they interact with their service provider.

By focusing attention away from 'managing' user experience problems and towards resolving the cause of an issue, and by sharing business critical intelligence through a common platform, WDS achieves the continued savings and improvements that naturally lower the support burden and improve end-user profitability. It's this ability to help customers identify preventable issues, improve future products and services and build long-term, profitable relationships with end-users that means many of the world's most recognizable mobile brands now trust the outsourcing of their user experience to WDS.

Seems I'm better at the google search game!!!!

From TFA: "WDS vice president of Marketing Tim Deluca-Smith said"

That makes it easy to google up the company, WDS Global: http://www.wds.co/

Heck, link to their original press release:
http://www.wds.co/news/archive/2011/20111103/20111103.asp

If not in the mood to go into the link, here is their company description:

Since 1995, WDS has been dedicated to helping both service providers and end-users get the most from their wireless products and services. Today, by optimizing the entire process of launching and managing wireless products and services, the company enlightens its customers with the knowledge and efficiency needed to deliver the best possible user experience.

To us, the wireless user experience is more than just the latest touchscreen or user interface; it's an appreciation of the device, network, service and the journey that the end-user passes through as they interact with their service provider.

By focusing attention away from 'managing' user experience problems and towards resolving the cause of an issue, and by sharing business critical intelligence through a common platform, WDS achieves the continued savings and improvements that naturally lower the support burden and improve end-user profitability. It's this ability to help customers identify preventable issues, improve future products and services and build long-term, profitable relationships with end-users that means many of the world's most recognizable mobile brands now trust the outsourcing of their user experience to WDS.