Bear Stearns study shows iPhone overcoming corporate barrier
Although some executives still see the lack of explicit business e-mail support as an obstacle to buying the iPhone, a growing number of these users are sidestepping corporate demands and buying iPhones for their own use, Bear Stearns reports in a new survey.
While the absence of complete Microsoft Exchange support was still enough of a barrier to prevent 34 percent of non-iPhone users from buying the Apple device, the corporate issue was no longer the primary factor in their decision. More (41 percent) were either tied to their existing carrier or else had reservations about AT&T, according to Bear Stearns. And in what was labeled a positive new development, a small percentage of previous holdouts from July had bought the iPhone strictly for their own use, regardless of its ability to reach corporate e-mail that had kept them from buying in the past.
"We found several people who bought an iPhone as a 'personal device' for its other attributes," Neff said, referring to its iPod and personal e-mail services. "While we still view corporate e-mail as an important issue, this emerging trend could be a positive leading indicator as well."
Enthusiasm for the device also showed few signs of cooling, Neff added. Unsurprisingly, the initial surge of extremely content users had dropped after prolonged use, but a full 90 percent of customers were either "happy" (49 percent) or "very happy" (41 percent) with the iPhone roughly six weeks after its introduction. Less customers were inclined to return the phone at 5 percent, although the number of dissatisfied users had jumped to 10 percent.
Most had also come to accept the iPhone's controversial on-screen keyboard and calling ability, though again the number of extremely pleased customers had settled for both the keyboard (from 49 to 27 percent) and calls (from 90 to 33 percent).
Hardware defects weren't an issue, the study said. Complaints about battery life rose to 20 percent of owners, but significantly less users (33 percent) complained about the slow performance of AT&T's EDGE Internet serivce. The touchscreen dead spots reported by some users were absent in the survey sample, according to Neff. Only 5 percent reported issues that primarily related to freezing or lagging after touching a command.
The survey was too small to be completely representative of all executives or the population as a whole, the financial researchers warned, but the combination of a very positive overall reaction and the trend towards personal-use phones indicated to Bear Stearns that Apple was successfully building a third channel for growth beyond the iPod and the Mac.
"From a larger perspective, unlike a year ago when Apple's growth was primarily based on [the iPod], we believe that [the] Apple story has improved and can now benefit from multiple engines of growth," Neff wrote.
As a result, Bear Stearns continued to maintain an "outperform" rating for Apple's shares with a price target of $199.
28 Comments
All I can say is I said I wasn't going to buy one when they come to Europe, but I have since changed my mind. I need something for mobile email, so why not get a cool phone and iPod at the same time. I am thinking about an iWood case, anyone have one? Any reports on it, like do those wooden sleep and volume buttons work or not? Etc.
This author needs to learn the difference between "less" and "fewer," among other things.
While Exchange support is of concern, I believe an oversight of Apple's that seems to continually be absent from reviews is the lack of enterprise level WPA/WEP (802.1x) authentication. Currently the iPhone only allows Personal (preshared key) security, which is not an option when you leave the residential/small business environment.
If this is of concern to you, please take a moment and voice your desire to have this feature implemented.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
I going to put wheels on my iPhone and pull it around with a leash. The survey didn't address the number of people during that or potential downsides.
This author needs to learn the difference between "less" and "fewer," among other things.
The rule usually encountered is: use "fewer" for things you count (individually), and "less" for things you measure: "fewer apples", "less water". The author says 'less customers' and 'less users' like a jackass.