ANTenna Blog -- Mobile

A new survey indicates that business smartphone users are most satisfied with their BlackBerry handhelds. We don't call them CrackBerrys for nothing.

According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study, Research in Motion's BlackBerry ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction among business wireless smartphone users. Six main areas were measured: ease of operation; operating system; physical design; audio quality; battery life; and utility features. Devices from Palm and Samsung tied for second place.

Writes PC World: "RIM's specific strengths included the speed of its BlackBerry OS and the long-lasting battery life of its smartphones." It adds: "Palm's top strengths, according to the study, include the ease of use of its Treo keyboards, voice mail functionality and its simple to employ home screen icons. Devices that run on Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS were found to have impressive voice quality and the most preloaded ring tones."

In its reporting of the survey, RCR Wireless News notes that "RIM claimed 44 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter, according to data from ABI Research. Palm Inc. was second with 24 percent and Motorola Inc. third with 11 percent. RIM’s momentum is remarkable: in the year-ago quarter it held 33 percent of the market, tied with Palm."

Considering that BlackBerrys have become the drug of choice for workaholics the world over, that's not too surprising.

But RIM shouldn't get too cocky. Apparently, as Gizmodo points out, someone at J.D. Power and Associates forgot to poll iPhone users. "That offers some slightly skewed results, no?" he asks.