New research which is part of the ChangeWave Customer Satisfaction Survey shows that purchasers of Google Android OS powered Motorola (MOT) Droid handsets and HTC Android smart phones were satisfied with their decision to buy the products. The survey of 91 Droid owners and 49 HTC owners reports that 66% were “very satisfied” with their choice.
Forty-six percent of the Motorola buyers purchased their Droid handsets because of the Android system. Another 36% said they bought the phone because its runs on the Verizon Wireless network. Verizon (VZ) is in the process of mounting an aggressive campaign to market the superiority of its network over AT&T’s (T). Droid owners said the touch screen interface was the single Android feature that they liked the most. Forty-two percent picked the touch screen capability. This was followed by 31% who like the slide-out keyboard feature and the same percentage who like the handset’s GPS capacity. Twenty nine percent liked the Verizon Wireless network best among feature and the same percentage liked the handset’s web browser.
The Droid is not a complete hit. Thirty six percent said that the feature they liked least about the phone was its short battery life. Nineteen percent said they disliked the phone’s inability to interact with iTunes, a sign of the strength Apple (AAPL) has in the digital content field.
The ChangeWave survey shows that edge that the Android system has given to Motorola. Thirty-one percent of Droid users previously owned a Motorola phone, a sign that the product is good for Motorola customer loyalty. The Droid also got former users of the RIM (RIMM) Blackberry (20% of Droid buyers), LG (17%), and the Apple iPhone (6%) to switch. The low iPhone figure may show the level of customer loyalty for the Apple product. Along with the change in handsets as people bought Droids often came a change in service providers. Thirty-one percent of Droid buyers changed the carrier with which they keep their subscription. ChangeWave writes “Not surprisingly, the majority of those switching providers came from AT&T.”
It does not appear that the introduction of Google’s (GOOG) new Nexus One handset will hurt Droid sales significantly. ChangeWave reported, “We asked Motorola Droid owners whether they would have still purchased their Droid phone if the Google Nexus One had also been available on Verizon at the time of their purchase.” Thirty-two percent said they would stick with the Droid and only 13% said that they thought they would buy the Nexus One.
Android-based phones have only been in the market in any force for two quarters. If the customer satisfaction rating the software is getting now is any indication, the OS could become one of the most widely distributed in the industry fairly quickly.
