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The march of the Androids - Apple iPhone pushed into 4th place as Android models dominate online discussion


Samsung is the most discussed smartphone brand on the internet, accounting for 30 per cent of total customer smartphone comments online.  Samsung, along with other Android models HTC and Motorola are the top three most mentioned smartphone brands accounting for over two thirds (68%) of all measured customer comments. Samsung models attract the highest share all positive mentions with 30%. HP achieves highest Net Sentiment Score with 50%, slightly ahead of Nokia (47%).

London 05 JanuarySocial media research specialist DigitalMR releases latest findings on what customers are saying about smartphones on the internet.

DigitalMR analysed over ¼ million customer comments about smartphones across September-October 2011. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of these customer views are positive, compared with 38% negative.

Android models are the most mentioned smartphone brands. Samsung attracts the most mentions with a 30% market share of all positive comments and a 31% share of the smaller, negative comments group. Next placed is HTC with 22% positive mentions and 19% negative, followed by Motorola with 17% positive and 15% negative.

Together, the three Android brands account for two thirds (68%) of all measured online customer comments regarding smartphones. Although Apple has fewer overall mentions it attracts more negative mentions than Motorola with a 17% share of all negative comments. This may well be related to customers experiencing teething problems when switching over to the new iOS operating system in October.

Results are based on comments posted by consumers on the major smartphone brands: Apple, Motorola, Samsung, RIM (Blackberry), HTC, LG, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera and HP across Sep-Oct 2011.

Established smartphone models from Apple and RIM (Blackberry) only account for 14% and 7% of total customer comments respectively.DigitalMR’s analysis (powered by SocialNuggets) is based on comments posted via a range of relevant websites and open access social media platforms. It measures, not only the number of comments posted by consumers on the internet, but also their sentiment – whether posts are positive or negative in nature.

Managing Director of DigitalMR, Michalis Michael commented: “The march of the Androids continues with their increased sales and market share gains being matched by consumers’ conversations online.”
All the brands measured, achieve a positive Net Sentiment Score (NSS) for Sep-Oct. NSS provides an overall percentage score of net positive posts.

The average NSS taken across all the brands measured is 24%. This shows customers are generally very happy with their devices and are sharing the good news online.

Of the three most talked about brands on the web, HTC had a NSS of 31%, followed by 29% for Motorola and a slightly below par score of 23% for Samsung.

The highest NSS is achieved by HP with 50% (although this is derived from a relatively small base number of mentions) followed by Nokia (47%) with the lowest NSS recorded by Sony Erickson (4%) and Apple (6%).

 

Key Findings:

Positive Posts for Smartphones

Negative Posts for Smartphones

Overall Net Sentiment Score for Smartphones

 

Features :

DigitalMR measures thousands of customer posts regarding the services and features attributed to smartphones.

“Operating system” and “Service provider” features generate the most comments overall. “Operating system” attracted a 17% share of positive mentions which was outweighed by 28% share of negative ones. The next most mentioned feature “Service Provider” produced 23% positive vs 19% negative. “Body” – the design and shape of the handset - received far more positive comment than negative (20% share positive vs just 8% share of negative).

In their words – Customer comments for models with the highest and lowest Net Sentiment Scores.

 

HP:

“Facilities are numerous especially when considering its small size. It is user friendly for all operations, but unable to use all the icons that are that is displayed. The AT&T menus are not all available when selected. Also need to watch battery status during use as it only allows about 15 hours before a re-charge is called for. Have to get use to using it yet”.

“I loved my little HP Veer. I didn't care that the screen was small and I didn't care that the keyboard was small. I actually love the keyboard. The buttons are soft plastic so your fingers do not slip around while typing. My Veer would tell me when I had messages with a soft little white light while it was locked”.

 

Nokia:
“Excellent Choice. It still remains Nokias best phone despite other models released after it. I have one, its the most amazing device and i know i'll be keeping mine for years and years and with easy free updates for the next five years atleast, its a solid investment”.

“Well because Nokia N8 cheap now because its been on the market for so long, but its a pretty solid phone as is”.

 

Apple:

“Agreed! I do feel disappointed - I ordered on the 7th but my order still says processing. Every person I know who wanted a 4S now has one except me - the difference - I'm the only person to pre order directly from apple rather than turn up at a store or get one through my phone company! Seems pretty unfair really!!!!”.

“Only issue I have with Iphone 4S is the way it drains the battery so quickly! Always keep a charger handy!!!”.

 

Sony Erickson:

“After a week of normal usage, plastic cover makes some noise - it's not as solid as it sholud be. I've found the same problem with PS3 pads. Looks like Sony want to save on plastic and is trying to advertise it as recycled materials (probably plastic collected on waste dump)...”

“After upgrading from x10 mini pro, the mobile BRAVIA screen just blew me away. Not really a Smartphone fan as I am using a tablet for anything else other than calling / messaging and now, sweating out!”.

 

How can smartphone brands use social media to their advantage?

Smartphones can use analysis of data from websites and other social media in the following ways:

  • Engage in a one-to-one dialogue with their customers and respond to negative  comments.
  • Invite some of the customers to join online forums and chat groups to further express their views.
  • Positive sentiment can be leveraged in advertising.
  • Operations can learn about and fix specific retail and product performance issues.

 

About the syndicated smartphone report

DigitalMR produces monthly reports which monitor thousands of customers’ online conversations through comments posted on open-access social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, forums, blogs, microblogs and commercial websites, for comments regarding smartphone services.

The report is available on annual subscription with updates provided on a quarterly, monthly or weekly basis. Results will be updated to the press on a monthly basis.

 

Contact
For regular reports and more information:

Michalis A. Michael
mmichael@digital-mr.com,
tel: +44 751 571 0370
www.digital-mr.com

 

About DigitalMR
DigitalMR understands what people think and feel when they share views online. It is a specialist agency which provides a holistic approach to web based market research. It specialises in utilising social media research, especially active web-listening, and online communities to enhance its business consulting approach. The agency has pioneered new methods in online focus groups alongside tools such as video diaries, bulletin boards and online ethnography. DigitalMR is headed by founder and MD, Michalis Michael and has offices in London UK, Nicosia Cyprus, and Columbus Ohio, in the US.

 

About SocialNuggets
SocialNuggets technology delivers real-time market intelligence for fast moving industries by analyzing data from various social media sources with a mission to liberate social media data and sentiment analysis for use in real-time research of brands, products and features. SocialNuggets delivers ready to use market intelligence for various industry verticals including consumer electronics and banking. SocialNuggets data is delivered in bite size, ready-to-consume, infographics and is also available in the form of a full access to our data warehouse for analysis and integration with customers’ data. SocialNuggets, a Serendio company, was founded in 2011 with headquarters in Santa Clara, CA.

 

 




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