Date post: | 20-Nov-2014 |
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Category analysis Depth reportSelected mobile brands and operating systemsBy James Withey – Head of Brand Insight
+44 (0)20 7264 6316
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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Other favourable conversations
Look/Design/Interface
Battery life
Generic love of Samsung
Aspirational ("I want / need a Samsung")
Features/Apps
Favourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
Other unfavourable conversations
Phone isn't working
Battery life
Generic hate of Samsung
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Unfavourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
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.
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BlackBerry: Themes of conversation
9 * Excludes neutral content
Other favourable conversations
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%
Favourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
Other unfavourable conversations
Switching to a different handset provider
Battery life
Phone isn't working
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Unfavourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
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.
• Disclaimer copy here TBC10 * Excludes neutral content
Nokia: Themes of conversation
Other favourable conversations
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%
Favourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
Other unfavourable conversations
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%
Unfavourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
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.
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HTC: Themes of conversation
11 * Excludes neutral content
Other favourable conversations
Features/Apps
Generic love
Aspirational
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Favourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
Other unfavourable conversations
Phone not working
Battery life
Text input
Generic hate
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%
Unfavourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
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.
• Disclaimer copy here TBC12 * Excludes neutral content
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%
Unfavourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
Other favourable conversations
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%
Favourable Conversation Themes by Share of Opinions
• Disclaimer copy here TBC13 * Excludes neutral content
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.