News: iPhone Retention Rates High

This is surely something that would make any college administrator jealous—AppleInsider is reporting that UBS Investment Research surveyed a sample of users and it looks like 89% will be sticking with the iPhone for their next smartphone purchase.

Although brand loyalty is one thing, could it be that people bought into the iOS ecosystem? Maybe, but looking on the other side of the fence, things aren’t the same for other manufacturers:

The next nearest competitor to Apple in terms of hardware manufacturers is HTC, which earned a 39 percent retention rate among users surveyed by UBS Investment Research. The biggest loser in the survey was Research in Motion, whose retention rate has dropped from 62 percent to 33 percent in the last 18 months.

Rounding out the top five companies in terms of retention rates were two more Android vendors: Samsung and Motorola, earning 28 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Android fared better when users were asked solely about software, as 55 percent said they would stick with Google’s mobile platform. But an additional 31 percent of Android users also indicated they are likely to switch to an iPhone for their next handset, leaving Apple a sizable chunk of Android users.

We wonder what it would’ve looked like had the question been phrased what operating system people would use for their next purchase. Oh, and UBS had to have an obligatory mention of an Apple TV set:

“Demand for iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro remains robust, with a leading ecosystem that creates sticky demand,” they said. “We believe new opportunities such as TV sets are not factored in by the market and we view the valuation as attractive.”