IPhone Tops Business Phone Survey

The business market, long desired by Apple, picked the iPhone to top a J.D. Power and Associates survey for smartphone customer satisfaction. Ease of operation and the Mac OSX operating system were named the two biggest reasons, according to the survey released Thursday.

The iPhone garnered 778 points out of a 1,000 total possible score. RIM’s BlackBerry scored 703 and Samsung received 701 points. Palm’s Treo took its place in the cellar, getting 644 votes.

Software problems accounted for a quarter of the complaints by corporate users regarding smartphones. Of that group, 44 percent said they were forced to reboot their phone at least once a week during the year.

Internet access topped the list of most desired feature by business phone users, followed by e-mail, design, Bluetooth and keyboard.

Despite the work atmosphere, games head the category of third-part software downloaded by smartphone owners, according to JD Power.

The results came as no surprise to Avi Greengart, a handset analyst at Current Analysis.

“Apple is clearly leading the market first with a dramatically different user interface for a phone along with the best mobile browsing solution, and then created a simplified distribution system for third party applications, App Store, that is similarly becoming an industry benchmark,” Greengart explained to Cult of Mac.

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