category analysis - mobile handsets

• Disclaimer copy here TBC

Category analysis Depth reportSelected mobile brands and operating systemsBy James Withey – Head of Brand Insight

[email protected]

+44 (0)20 7264 6316

mailto:[email protected]

• Disclaimer copy here TBC2

Objective and scope

Our objective

To provide a unique perspective on consumer opinions of the leading handset brands and map consumer considerations and

barriers when it comes to handset choice, to inform device strategy

Scope and approach

We analysed all English language conversations within available social media around five of the leading global mobile

handset

brands (iPhone, Samsung, BlackBerry, HTC and Nokia), from 1 August to 13 November 2011, for the overall sentiment of

discussions and the key favourable and unfavourable themes of consumer opinion.

For Samsung (which operated in other categories) we narrowed down the content, excluding that which clearly relates to one

of the other categories in which Samsung operates, but including general mentions of Samsung.

We performed an equivalent analysis over the same time period for the Android operating system, in order to shed light on

consumer perceptions of this platform provider brand against handset provider brands, and understand how this might

influence handset choice.


Comparative analysis - handset brands by sentiment

iPhone BlackBerry Nokia HTC Samsung0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

35%

20%15% 14% 11%

14%

34%

10% 10%

7%

51%46%

75% 76%82%

Share of Sentiment by Handset Provider

Favourable Unfavourable Neutral

Sh

are

of

All

Co

nv

ers

atio

ns

iPhone and BlackBerry generated the greatest degree of polarisation within conversations about handset brands.


Comparative analysis - net sentiment of handset brands

Samsung

HTC

Nokia

BlackBerry

iPhone

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Favourable

Series1

-40% -35% -30% -25% -20% -15% -10% -5% 0%

29/12/1899

29/12/1899

29/12/1899

29/12/1899

29/12/1899

Unfavourable

The BB outage during the period researched

had a significant impact on sentiment and brand

perceptions

Net Sentiment by Handset Provider

Discussions in relation to all of handset brands are polarised despite positive net sentiment scores for all brands

except BlackBerry.


Comparative analysis - mapping by favourability and share of voice

Highly Favourable Conversa-tions

Strong negative reputational impact

NS: +4NS: +4

NS: -14

NS: +21

Lower Share of Voice

Low positive reputational impact Strong positive reputational impact

Low negative reputational impact

5

The much greater share of voice of iPhone amplifies its already high level of positive comments, resulting in a strong

reputational profile for the brand - way ahead of its competitors.

Highly Unfavourable Conversations

Higher Share of Voice

NS: +5

NS: Net Sentiment


Comparative analysis - mapping by perceived momentum and desirability

BB is not seen as innovative as in the past and therefore has lost some of its former aspirational pull. Those who have left the franchise (mostly for iPhone) miss BB Messenger and the key-board functionality.Samsung is seen as the next generation (sometimes ‘me-too’, but growing in de-sirability) yet most of the pull is driven by specific handsets and the Android OS rather than Samsung Brand itself.Once one of the flag-ship brands renowned for its functionality, Nokia is fondly re-membered but seen as not having moved on with the times, despite its association with Microsoft.The most aspirational brand and the most innovative in consumers’ minds. The key for Apple will be to maintain desirability as ownership be-comes mainstream – or per-ceived to be.AspirationalHTC is seen as the outsider and gets high levels of de-sirability especially among young fe-males, focused on specific models which compare fa-vourably against iPhone.HTC’s ongoing launch of new mod-els has helped drive the perception that HTC is at the fore-front of innovation.

Decline

6

Functional

Momentum

An aspirational image and perceived momentum are the key drivers of desire for consumers.

• Disclaimer copy here TBC7 * Excludes neutral content

iPhone: Themes of conversation

Consumers’ love for the iPhone is very strong and the

aspiration to own one shows little sign of abating. A huge

volume of people state they want an iPhone on a daily basis

and this surged in the run up to Christmas.

Apps act as a key driver of desirability and have helped to

maintain iPhone’s positive presence within social media, with

Twitter users in particular informing their followers of the

latest app they’d downloaded and why they liked it.

Like any major brand, iPhone has its detractors and its

dominant voice within social media means any minor irritant is

likely to be tweeted.

Battery life remains a frustration and a potential adoption

barrier, although it is doesn’t appear to be acting as a key

driver to switch handsets for current owners.

The autocorrect feature is also a prominent source of minor

frustration, although again not a cause to switch handsets.

Other favourable conversations

Look / Design / Interface

Quality of apps

Generic love of the brand

Range of apps

Aspirational ("I want/need an iPhone")

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

5%

4%

7%

15%

15%

17%

Favourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions

Other unfavourable conversations

Complaints about apps

Problems with or slowness of running updates

Automatic spellcheck

Battery life

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

7%

3%

6%

8%

12%

Unfavourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions



Look/Design/Interface

Battery life

Generic love of Samsung

Aspirational ("I want / need a Samsung")

Features/Apps



Phone isn't working

Battery life

Generic hate of Samsung

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%


8 * Excludes neutral content

Samsung: Themes of conversation

• Samsung benefited from Galaxy SII’s popularity over the

Christmas period, driving an increase in people talking about its

apps, and boosted its share of voice.

• The Galaxy SII is emerging as a more aspirational handset and

challenging iPhone’s status. However, its share of voice is

overwhelmed by that of iPhone, and the desire to own a

Samsung is very much focused on one particular model.

• The Samsung brand appears to be polarising consumers, with a

sizeable chunk of detractors who do not believe Samsung can

rival iPhone. This has increased even as the Galaxy SII has

gained in popularity.

• The battery life on Samsung handsets is attracting as much

unfavourable as favourable opinion, suggesting there may be a

discrepancy between expectations and delivery.


BlackBerry: Themes of conversation



Battery life

BlackBerry Messenger

Generic love of BB

Aspirational ("I want / need a BB")

Regret about switching phones ("I miss my

BB")

0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10%



Switching to a different handset provider

Battery life

Phone isn't working

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%


Despite the recent negative press around its outage, there is

still a real love of the BlackBerry brand and strong following

especially amongst younger consumers.

BB users who have switched miss its unique features

(keyboard and BlackBerry Messenger), which are highly

desirable among potential buyers, as is battery life.

The recent outage has definitely had a damaging effect on

the brand and prompted users to consider switching or to

decide to switch - mostly to iPhone.

While battery life is a driver, it is also a key source of

complaints. Higher expectations when switching to BB may

result in disappointment once consumers experience the

battery life for themselves.


Nokia: Themes of conversation


Dependable / Reliable / Unbreakable

Memories of playing Snake

Generic love for Nokia

Nostalgic memories of the brand

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20%



Not working / Problems with phone

Dated / No longer cool

Generic hate of the brand ("I hate Nokia")

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20%


Consumers are nostalgic about Nokia phones and what they

represented for them in their youth.

Their perceived resilience and reliability is still a latent

differentiator - and a potential driver of choice against iPhone

or BlackBerry for example. An opportunity for Nokia to

leverage its brand equity.

The flipside is that Nokia is also considered to be ‘tired’.

Consumers feel that Nokia has failed to keep pace.

The launch of the Lumia range has generated some

enthusiastic early buzz.

It will be interesting to see whether Lumia does turn the tide

for Nokia and create more relevance for the brand.


HTC: Themes of conversation



Features/Apps

Generic love

Aspirational

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%



Phone not working

Battery life

Text input

Generic hate

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%


HTC is a desirable brand - seen as innovative thanks to new

handset launches and with a higher proportion of aspirational

mentions (on a smaller base) than the iPhone.

HTC desirability is driven by specific models (Sensation, Inspire

and Rhyme), based on their look (especially among young

females) and features (e.g. swype keyboard).

Comparisons with iPhones are often positive (especially for

Inspire).

Text input is, as for other handsets, a frustration to users

(iPhone) - specifically around predictive texting, spell

checking and the swype functionality, but not motivating

enough to switch brands.

Poor battery life was also mentioned as with many

smartphone brands.


Android: Themes of conversation

Although a challenger to Apple – a positive role for its

followers - Android remains less aspirational than Apple and

favourable conversations focus very heavily on its range of

apps alone.

Android has acquired the status of a handset provider and

attracts a large volume of positive references on a daily basis.

Poor battery life was frequently attributed to Android and is

enough of a frustration that it was linked to hashtags such as

100thingsihate.

Whilst its advocates were keen to compare the technology,

there were almost as many people stating that the iPhone was

better, despite the ‘underdog’ status of Android meaning its

devotees were far more likely to feel a need to compare the

two.

Other unfavourable conversa-tions

iPhone is better

Problems with the apps

Battery life

-5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

6%

4%

4%

25%



Better than the iPhone

Switching or planning to move to soon

Generic love

Range of apps

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

11%

5%

6%

7%

30%



Key insights and implications

The key drivers of handset choice are emotional rather than rational (unlike barriers which are rational). This translates into consumers displaying a strong - almost tribal - loyalty to the handset brand they currently own. This is evident in the widespread use of team (handset name) hashtags on the Twitter and the hostility towards people who own rival phones.

Brand loyalty and love play a huge part in decisions and result from the fact that consumers’ handsets are an important access point to more and more aspects of life. There is evidence within social media that groups of friends stay loyal to the same brand and handset choice is often influenced by the individual’s peer group. This stems from the need of the individual to ‘belong’ to a tribe but more rationally their phone enables them to stay in touch with their friends. Therefore, the features of their handset need to be compatible with those used by their peer group.

Although brand loyalty appears deep and tribal, it is also strikingly transient and appears quickly transferrable, with the desire expressed towards specific handset product brands especially prone to be fickle.

With the exception of iPhone, and to some extent BlackBerry (more specifically because of Messenger), other brands do not appear to have successfully driven loyalty beyond handset models. However, Android has established a strong group of followers who do not necessarily take the handset functionality into account and for them, Android is performing the role that a handset brand otherwise would.

iPhone is the universal benchmark for handsets. Everything is compared and contrasted with iPhone. It dominates conversation and has by far the highest level of desirability. However, the impression that iPhone is becoming ubiquitous is an opportunity for other handset brands to respond to the desire of some consumers to challenge the status quo.

Although not expressed in this way by consumers, platform is increasingly a key influence. Consumers currently express this in terms of features and experience, but Android is increasingly a driver of choice for one handset over another. This means that Android needs to be considered alongside the handset brands as a brand driving handset choice.


ContactJames [email protected]+44 (0) 20 7264 6316

mailto:[email protected]

category analysis - mobile handsets

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