WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

Fanfare research shows that smartphone owners are having problems with application glitches, compatibility issues, crashing, and freezing and don't understand why.  They are not sure if the problems are related to the handset, network, or applications.
 

• Over half of respondents (57%) are disappointed with the overall performance of their smartphone.  Streaming media, web browsers, and social networking applications are causing the most problems for smartphone users.  Nearly a third (29%) experience "continual" problems with newly acquired applications, and 64% of respondents have required some form of software patching to fix issues on their smartphone. 

• 55% of respondents cannot tell whether individual problems stem from the handset or the mobile network and, as a result, 53% instinctively blame the smartphone manufacturer whenever an issue arises.
• Smartphone owners are most likely to vocalize their dissatisfaction through social networking sites (58%) and to friends and family (57%).  At the same time, the purchasing decisions of 76% are influenced by criticisms from friends and family, and 64% will take heed of criticisms received via social media.

Overall the results point towards an end to the "honeymoon period" for smartphones and mobile applications. As the market has matured, consumers are no longer happy to accept quality issues as a consequence of choosing a new, innovative, or multi-functional handset, instead judging their mobile phones on how they perform on a day-to-day basis.

The research also found that 29% of respondents claimed to encounter problems "all the time", and they are more than willing to share negative experiences with others. The majority (58%) go straight to social networks to vent their concerns, while 57% will convey negative sentiment to friends and family. In terms of the consequent effect that this is having on consumer purchasing, 76% will take heed of smartphone criticisms from friends and family and 64% will acknowledge sentiments read on social networking websites.

Looking ahead, three quarters of respondents (74%) believed that handsets will become less reliable and that this is unacceptable. The vast majority (88%) said that they are happy to wait until handsets have proven reliability before purchasing - suggesting consumers are becoming more cautious as a result of negative experiences.

* "User expectations of smartphone performance" research conducted in January - February 2010, surveying 155 members of the public.