Apple’s iPhone sits on the top perch in overall customer satisfaction among business wireless smartphone users, according to a new study from J.D. Power and Associates. The 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study, released Friday, measures business customer satisfaction with smartphones — defined as mobiles with advanced features and personal computer-like functionality.

Overall satisfaction is measured across five key factors. In order of importance, they are: ease of operation, operating system, physical design, handset features and battery performance.

Apple  scored 778 on a 1,000-point satisfaction scale, performing particularly well in the ease of operation, physical design and handset feature factors, J.D. Powers says. BlackBerry manufacturer RIM (703) and Samsung (701) ranked second and third.

“Apple has clearly differentiated itself from the competition in areas that are most important to business smartphone users,” says Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services for J.D. Power.

The top five reasons given for choosing a smartphone brand are Internet capability, e-mail access account, overall design and style, Bluetooth capabilities and QWERTY-style keyboard.

The average reported price of a smartphone is $216, down from $261 last year. Apple iPhone owners report the highest average purchase at $337 and Motorola owners report the lowest purchase price of $169,

The 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 1,388 business wireless customers who own smartphones.

For more articles like this, subscribe to the AppCraver RSS feed.

category: Breaking News, Utilities