Much of the Apple blogosphere consensus is that now that the Verizon iPhone is a real product, we should see a mass migration of Verizon users ditching their Android phones in favor of an iPhone 4. The rationale goes that the only reason Verizon has sold so many Android handsets is because it was the only thing close to the iPhone every Verizon subscriber really wanted.
That was always a perspective too black-and-white to be true, and now a new study has come out from Zokem, finding that while iPhone owners are most loyal to their existing smartphone, Android owners are the more likely to upgrade to a new Android phone than even iPhone customers.
Of course, you can argue that Android owners are so likely to continue buying Android phones for a number of factors, including the fact that they’re happy with their carrier but can’t get the iPhone on it… so I wouldn’t be surprised if these Android numbers dip in the wake of the Verizon iPhone… but I’d also be surprised if they dipped as dramatically as some people think they will.
Apple’s not going to win the numbers war with the iPhone: as always for Cupertino, it’s more about the quality of the customer base and the margins than ubiquity and market domination.