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Survey Says Most iPhone Users Love AT&T
Hugh Pickens writes "In a report sure to raise eyebrows, CNN Money claims that despite a very vocal group of detractors, the vast majority of iPhone users love AT&T. A survey released this week by Yankee Group reports that 73% of iPhone owners scored their satisfaction with the carrier as an 8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale. The results seem surprising, given the pounding AT&T has taken in the media and on the blogosphere about its service-related issues with the iPhone and AT&T's recent iPad-related security glitch. For its part, AT&T says its network really isn't as bad as many people think. 'There's a gap between what people hear about us and what their experience is with us. We think that gap is beginning to close,' says Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman. 'It doesn't mean we're perfect; we still have work to do. But that's no surprise to us, because we have a great network.'" Buried in the penultimate paragraph is the somewhat alarming note that "77% of iPhone owners say they'll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they'll buy another Android phone."
Obligatory
Around me, AT&T has nearly (I'd say 85-90%) of the coverage of Verizon, and probably 130-200% more coverage than the next best. When comparing my speed to those on Verizon about a year ago, my data was twice as fast. Then again, I'm not in a major metro area. I doubt we have a lot of iGoobers streaming youtube and pandora on every cell.
I will say that the iPhone appearance of speed in Safari is about twice that of any WinMobile phone I've had, though no faster or slower than the browser on the couple of Blackberries I've seen.
I suspect the satifaction, aside from the Apple factor, has more to do with the particular default setup of the OS than the actual OS efficiency. Android can do a hell of a lot more, but since most (80%? 90%?) of users never change the defaults, most of the people with Android phones are missing out a lot of the potential features. iPhones, otoh, are more of a WYSIWYG experience - if it doesn't exist in the default profile setup, it simply doesn't exist.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
77% of iPhone users are fan boys/girls
80% of Android users value freedom of choice
95% of all fanboys don't realize they're fanboys.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I have an iPhone and where I live voice and data coverage is great, much better than Verizon. I go to LA a lot and I usually have a lot of problems with reception there for some reason. As for the device itself, I can compare iPhone with Droid directly since my girlfriend has one and I can tell you I wouldn't swap the phones or the providers. She would though. They both do more or less the same things but iPhone UI is much nicer. Btw I can't make the antenna problem happen at all. The best I can do is get one bar to drop and that's with holding it in a completely unnatural way.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
I write apps for the android, I've compared 5 different models in my office full of engineers. I continue to stick with each iPhone version because I find the android interface and integration with my computers to suck frankly. I do not have reception problems, I've never been bricked.
I keep hoping android will do better, but the carriers are acting like music companies and screwing up the products in ways I find problematic. I'm not basing this on news, but on evidence from personal experience.
Am I in the reality distortion field or are you?
The vocal minority bitch and moan. The majority of people like the service. It can't be all bad otherwise people would flee. Also, Apple would have nothing to do with a company that its consumers don't support. If Apple is happy then the majority of people are happy.
So everyone who likes their iPhone is ignorant and has no technical knowledge? Is that how it works? That statement is a blatant lie and shows a lot of ignorance on your part. I have owned the last two iterations of the iPhone (I bought both the 3GS and 4 when they launched) and I love both devices. I don't suffer from a lack of technical knowledge, I am a college student majoring in a computer science related field, and have had an interest in all things technology since I was in grade school. I own an Apple laptop because I enjoy their above average battery life, their design, and the fact that I can install windows on it should there be anything I need to run. I don't think it is infallible, I had a problem with the battery but Apple's customer support handled the issue that day and got it replaced. Along with that laptop I own a windows desktop that I built over the summer, and have previously built and helped built other computers. I know the specifications of my phone compared to other phones on the market. I am aware of their faults, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't like the device more than any other phone. It is largely a matter of personal preference. I wouldn't mind owning an android phone, I think most of them are great, but I enjoy the iPhone more. I think the design is fantastic, it has an equivalent if not (for the time being) better hardware than other phones on the market, and I like the software. I can make the signal drop if I take the phone out of the case and hold it in my left hand, but I am right handed and I ordered my case with my phone before the antenna was even a problem, so it isn't like I wouldn't have used one anyway. For others it's a deal-breaker and I can't fault them for that. The incessant need for people the validate their own technology choices by berating others is unnecessary. People will use what they like.
As for AT&T it also largely depends on who you ask. I live in a suburb of Philadelphia and AT&T provides pretty much the same coverage as my old Sprint phone and other people's Verizon phones. I have my areas and they have theirs, but overall it is a moot point. I have yet to experience a dropped call because where I live the service is fine. Chances are the vast majority of iPhone users live in a place where the service is not an issue. Other than the service the carrier is just like any other.
tl;dr The arguments are unnecessary, it boils down to individual preference / a personal choice.
Its not like they had the opportunity to try an iPhone with another carrier.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I think phone companies are much like banks. They're fine until something happens that causes the user displeasure, and then they become the most evil thing on the face of the earth causing them to change their service to some place else. The new place is fine, or even great, until something bad happens there, and then there are two most evil things on the face of the planet.
I'm with AT&T (and an iPhone). They have good service in my area ( I did ask around first for people's opinions of various phone company's service in my city), they had the phone I wanted (pre-iPhone), the store next to my house where I bought my phones, they give my company a discount, and I've never had any issues with them. Why shouldn't I like them?
Buried in the penultimate paragraph is the somewhat alarming note that "77% of iPhone owners say they'll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they'll buy another Android phone."
It's a throw away comment at the end of the story, but I don't believe that 'statistic' for a second.
The only way I can make sense of it, is perhaps the idea that only 20% would buy another Android phone from the same manufacturer. Due to the number of options, the grass always being greener and the effective 'arms race' between Android manufacturers etc that sounds vaguely plausible. But 80% ready to abandon the platform? That has to be nonsense. Apart from anything else, where are they gonna go?
FWIW I have an iPhone, never owned an Android, blah, blah...
Stockholm Syndrome?
"...but how am I ignorant for buying one?"
Obviously you're not. But people like your parent poster tend to base their hate more on emotions and wanting to be on the anti-Apple bandwagon than on real issues. Apple makes great stuff. Not perfect, but great.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Ah, the "Yankee Group".
Let's take a look at the "independent research organization" called the "Yankee Group" who was the publisher of this rather surprising "study".
The single-sentence introductory paragraph to the rather glowing Yankee Group Wikipedia entry reads as follows: "Yankee Group, a Massachusetts company, sells advice and market-research information relating to information technology".
The Yankee group makes a considerable amount of it's income from the "consulting services" it offers to corporations. Consulting about what? About marketing products.
You might remember the Yankee Group because they were the ones who Microsoft hired to do a study showing that Windows 2003 was superior to Linux "in terms of quality, performance and reliability and that the Windows users are more satisfied than Linux users (think about that). Who did Yankee Group hire to do the actual "study" part? Ah, well, they hired "Sunbelt Software, a vendor of Windows utilities, which publicised the survey solely through a mailing list called W2Knews, billing itself as "the World's first and largest e-zine designed for NT/2000 System Admins and Power Users"."
So, the impartial study about Windows vs Linux was solely published in a Windows user group's online forum.
When Yankee Group was criticized for the many press releases that they put out trumpeting Windows obvious superiority over Linux, this is what happened:
This according to ZDNet.
So, at a time when Microsoft was engaged in a FUD campaign against Linux, pushing their "revolutionary" 2003 Server, they hire the Yankee Group to frame "radical" Linux users as "extremist fringe" and "loonies" and are "disrespectful" and "threatening".
So you're an IT manager and you read that. You want "disrespectful and threatening loonies" working for you or do you want to hire the more satisfied Windows administrators whose platform is "superior" in terms of "quality, performance and reliability"? That was exactly how the press releases from the Yankee Group read.
So, all you iPhone users are just thrilled to death with AT&T? Fascinating...
You are welcome on my lawn.
I herby revoke your geek license.
Um, if you do a subjective survey of only people who use the service, of course it's going to get high marks. The people who are dissatisfied with it have mostly left for a different service. This is why you do random samples. So you get a representative sample of the entire population.
The only way the stat they measured carries any weight is if you compare to an identical survey of customers with other phone networks. The relative satisfaction rate between different providers can carry some statistical meaning. e.g. If AT&T's satisfaction rate is 73% and Verizon's is 90% (made up as an example), that tells you something. Otherwise, all you're doing is measuring the degree of self-selection of a self-selected population, which is pretty useless for market analysis.
If I were to write a Mac OS X virus and prove that it works, is there any chance you'll quit saying that? No? Didn't think so.
I think if you wrote a Mac OS X virus Steve Jobs would drive to your house and ask you to stop it. He's a very persuasive guy. ;-)
Excuse me, but I don't know how else to put this: fuck off.
I love my iPhone, despite it's faults, and I'm a pretty technical person. How technical? I have a degree in physics, have worked with open source and Linux since 1995, was a senior Linux sysadmin for 10 years, and spent a few of the years in between working as an *embedded Linux developer* for mobile projects.
Do I go around telling people that OS X is completely safe and free from viruses and other malware? No. Do I tell them that it's a platform that lets them access the power of Unix without having to fuck around at the command line? Yes.
Same with the phone. Do I say "Hey! This phone was made by Jesus himself and is completely infallible"? Or is it more likely that I say "Hey, it's got its faults - but it's still a great phone ... especially if you're not a Slashdot commenter"?
Enough with the self-righteous anti-fanboy shit. Your generalization of "Apple users" is insulting and wrong.
You're asking us to choose from two quotes, that you've put in quotation marks, that you've made up yourself.
The answer behind the stupid question is that the Flash browser plugins crash browsers on OSX. They don't crash the OS.
(nvm that other OSes do fine when Flash goes bonkers)
i.e. The same story as OSX.
Enough with the self-righteous anti-fanboy shit. Your generalization of "Apple users" is insulting and wrong.
But... but.. but... the headlines on all the ad-supported news sites and blogs I read say that Apple phones don't work, the factory workers kill themselves, no apps get approved, moisture sensors get tripped, there are useful features on the phone but you don't really want to jailbreak it, and that the iPad is a clone of an unsuccessful device from the 90's. Based on that, only millions of exceptionally stupid people would buy the phone!!1!
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
1. What BSD had in the 80s and 90s, those were worms, not technically viruses. But you can be forgiven for not understanding the distinction.
2. OSX kernel is not a BSD variant. the userspace is a BSD variant. The kernel is a Mach variant with a BSD personality welded onto it. (If I showed you some BSD code in the Windows98 kernel would you claim that Win98 is a "BSD variant").
3. Apple's website specifically mentions malware. So any over-simplification is on your part, not Apple's in this case.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Android users come from a more diverse population who are probably not loyal to any one thing but want good 'product' in a smart phone but have no tying factor to the platform.
Let's just say this BS is right. That doesn't change the fac that *80 percent of them* don't believe Android is "a good 'product'". Ignoring how customers feel about competing products, if that isn't an indictment of the Android platform, I don't know what is.
That is 80% of AT&T Android users. AT&T only sells gimped Android phones.
I'll laugh my ass off, though, if the iPhone comes to Verizon and it drops calls constantly. If it doesn't, I'll be pissed that, for some reason, every other phone manufacturer can handle weaker coverage but Apple can't.
FWIW I live in europe and have an iPhone which I've used on several networks (and countries) and it performs the same or better as the other phones I've had (last phone was a SE-550.) YMMV, sample size of one and all that.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
Well.
I have an Android phone - an HTC Legend, running Android 2.1
So - what's it like?
Coverage issues aside (I am on Vodaphone in Australia and cannot get any reception at the desk where I work, it's infuriating. I actually have my number forward to another phone just for that problem), it's ok.
Not fabulous, just ok. As a phone it is average - I previously had a Sony Ericsson K660i which I loved, it was surprisingly capable (I could get GMail and sync my contacts, but not calendar unfortunately) and the battery lasted ages. Great little thing. Keypad starting to wear out after 2 years of light use.
The HTC/Android software feels mostly average. Not brilliant. It feels a bit - well - clunky. I find myself with iPhone envy.
Battery consumption - pretty high - if I actually use the phone, I need to recharge every 1-2 days.
WiFi - reception is not great. In my front room I can use a laptop on wireless, but not the HTC.
The main phone apps could be so much better. When I look someone up, I may want to phone them, or I may want to message them. This takes far, far too many clicks.
The games are great - and I love the app store with a lot of useful things. Bit hard to find actual good ones, but such is life.
Am I satisfied - yes. Am I overjoyed - no. Am I looking forward to 2.2 - yes. Would I buy another Android - maybe. Hopefully it will improve a lot!
"Cats like plain crisps"
You obviously need an iPhone. With a degree in physics, you need something to balance your vast uncoolness.
Too many options. I'm a fairly hard core geek but sometimes you just don't want to be bothered with all the options. They just make things confusing.
Sorry, you just lost your geek cred. Go astroturf on the Apple forums, please
Here's a novel concept for you - sometimes people just like to perform a task at hand without having to endlessly tweak the tools they want to use. Now if you'd please go back to the Gentoo forums, that'd be great.