Mobile technology news reveals user loyalty is to operating system

Consumers are far more likely to want to stick with an OS than to a handset brand, says a new study.

According to a mobile technology research report issued by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, smartphone and tablet users have a greater likelihood of remaining loyal to a specific operating system than to an actual brand of handset.

This is only confirming news that many brands, such as Samsung, have already realized.

Many manufacturers have already worked this mobile technology knowledge into the way that they design and market their products, in order to ensure that they continue to appeal to the areas in which consumers will become – and remain – loyal. They have found that it is exceptionally important to build brand relationships with their customers in order to boost and maintain sales, instead of focusing exclusively on products.

The mobile technology report found that only 41 percent of consumers stay loyal to their device brand.

At the same time, that same report indicated that while less than half of consumers will stay loyal to their brand of mobile device when it comes time for an upgrade, a massive 68 percent will prefer to use the same operating system to which they have become accustomed.

The Kantar report stated that “Apple is, of course, unaffected by this – iOS is Apple, Apple is iOS.” It pointed out that if those customers wanted to bail out on the operating system and choose Android, Windows, or even BlackBerry, instead, then they would be required to re-purchase all of their apps and would need to copy content from one type of operating system to another while they have to learn an entirely new operating system.

The Kantar Worldpanel global insights director, Dominic Sunebo, released a mobile technology news statement that indicated that manufacturers of mobile devices that are based on the Android operating system should be aware of not only the user experience that consumers are enjoying through the use of the product, itself, but also the emotional connections that are being built with that experience as opposed to the rational links. This can help them to better develop and maintain relationships with those consumers.