News

Report: iPhone Users Most Loyal

• By Keith Ward
• July 27, 2010

The Android mobile platform is hot right now, with a lot of momentum in the industry; but if you really want to make money as a developer, Apple's iPhone is still the place to be.

The reasons are simple, according to a Yankee Group report: iPhone users tend to skew younger, richer and more interactive with their phones. For example, the average iPhone user is 32 with an income of $100,000, compared to other smartphone users, who average out at 34 and $85,000 per year.

Yankee's data has more good news for Apple: 77 percent of iPhone owners intend to buy another one, and fully a third of all smartphone owners report that they'll buy an iPhone next.

The numbers even work in Apple's favor among Android users: Yankee reports that 36 percent of Android owners plan to buy an iPhone next; that's higher than the 32 percent who will buy another Android as their next smartphone.

The news isn't all depressing for the Android crowd, however. The author of the Yankee report, Carl Howe, blogged about his belief that Android has a bright future. He writes:

"Yankee Group still believes that Android will become the next breakout mobile phone platform, making it the third most popular platform behind iPhone and RIM's Blackberry in installed base for at least the next five years."

He pointedly didn't include Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone 7 in the discussion. But for now, it seems to be clear that Apple is still the low-hanging fruit for developers to harvest.