Study: BlackBerry has twice failure rate of iPhone
(Credit: SquareTrade)Apple's iPhone has half the failure rate of RIM's BlackBerry in the first year of use, a study carried out by a mobile-phone warranty firm has found.
The SquareTrade study, released Saturday, looked at more than 15,000 handsets that were covered by the company's policies. It found iPhones had a malfunction rate of 5.6 percent in the first year, compared to 11.9 percent for Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones. Palm's Treos fared even worse, with 16.2 percent having some sort of malfunction in the first 12 months of use.
Figures from the analyst firm Canalys, released last week, showed Apple has now overtaken RIM in the global smartphone sales stakes.
SquareTrade had to project their figures for the iPhone's failure rate over a two-year period, as the handset has not been available for that long--nonetheless, that rate came in at between nine to 11 percent. The equivalent failure rate for BlackBerry handsets was 14.3 percent, with the Treo coming in at 21 percent.
(Credit: SquareTrade)Breaking the figures down, the most prominent malfunctions for iPhone users appear to be touchscreen-related, accounting for a third of all reported issues with that handset. However, 12 percent of iPhone users reported accidental damage to their handsets within the first year of use--the average for other handsets is 9 percent.
"It's likely that any iPhone owner can guess the reason iPhone accidents are so common," the authors wrote. "After two minutes of handling an iPhone, it's impossible to escape noticing that the handsets are incredibly slippery. The form doesn't help, either. The dimensions make for a difficult grip, especially for those with small hands. These two factors conspire to make the iPhone more accident prone than just about any other handset model we've seen."
The report's authors also noted that fewer than half-a-percent of iPhone owners reported battery problems after a year of use, compared with around 1 percent for BlackBerry and Treo users.
SquareTrade's study did not take into account software issues handled directly by the retailer or fixed by firmware updates.
ZDNet UK has requested comment on SquareTrade's report from both RIM and Apple, but had not received it at the time of writing.
David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.
(Credit: SquareTrade)
Guess the massive array of covers that are on sale for the thing escaped the author's notice?
"What are you smoking? We're comparing handsets to desktops now?"
Well to be fair, you yourself compared the iPhone to Windows Surface, so... yeah. You've made the same comparison of the iPhone to a desktop as well.
And yes, the iPhone/Touch does crash frequently, far more than a deskop I would suspect. I know I experience a crash or two a day on my unit but that is typically caused by apps I've purchased through the Apps Store. I can't really blame Apple for another company's product there.
"far more than a deskop I would suspect."
Suspect much, know little? ;)
"Dan - lay off the drugs, plz. The iPhone and Surface comparison was about technologies, not form factors. "
Ah, now you are trying to change the past? You compared the two directly- device for device, OS for OS. Why am I not surprised you would try to change that now?
Geez, you don't even try these days. As for the drugs, perhaps you might need some for your failing memory?
(I know you won't becuase the truth is right there for everyone to see, and your assertions won;t quite hold up if that were to happen. ;) ).
Your pal,
;) WINK WINK
(cue the MS fanboi cult)...
c'mon - think here...
/P
Making the claim that there is no reporting bias isn't, in any way, proof that there is no reporting bias. This is why I asked the question - if you make the *assumption* that there is no reporting (or observer bias for that matter) in a study like this then you have serious methodology problems. Especially being that you may be dealing with entirely different classes of users. Unless you are saying that BlackBerry users and iPhone users are essentially interchangeable.
"The following disclaimers apply to our data and analysis:
- Only malfunctions reported directly to SquareTrade are included in the data. Other
malfunctions, including software issues handled directly by the retailer, problems
associated with product recalls, and those fixed by software/firmware updates, may not
be represented in this data.
- We did not take into consideration purchase location, network purchased for, or if the
phone was unlocked at the time of purchase. Other reports have shown that these
factors can contribute substantially to the incidence of problems, especially with Call
Quality issues. "
Which leads one to ask 'Who are the people making use of this warranty service?'. Do you have individuals buying them? Corporate accounts? How do the phone types distribute over the customer classes? Etc etc etc... Unless you understand the data you can't make any real analysis about the validity of the conclusions. Since they aren't making the data and methodology clear this study is of limited value.
"SquareTrade had to project their figures for the iPhone's failure rate over a two-year period, as the handset has not been available for that long--"
In fact, the iPhone has the lowest failure rate for all categories listed (even touchpad/screen/keypad): 30%*6%=1.8% of iPhones in a year compared to 20%*12%=2.4% of Blackberries in a year.
Indeed, a universal axiom. However, sometimes the " 'stuff' " that "happens" is 'carelessness'.
My S-O's 17-year-old, a world-class 'texter' and otherwise responsible teenager, is, seemingly, a vanquisher of mobile devices; they are texted to death, 'oopsied', accidentally snorkeled with, etc.
I, on the other hand, am *very* good to my electronics, the proof of which is the perfectly functioning first generation iPhone I purchased on day two (I'm not a 'line person') of their initial offering. Of course, I do not go snorkeling with my iPhone, do not toss it like a ball, so that someone further down the beach can read a text from so-and-so, or have worry of any tactile keys becoming stuck, or 'gummed up' because, well, their ain't any!
I did, though, find an excellent anti-glare, anti-scratch film for my iPhone screen, which I have had in place for over a year now, and a very cost-effective InCase leather/leatherette holder for my iPhone, which, BTW, still looks brand-spanking new. And, in the spirit of full disclosure, yes, I have accidentally dropped my iPhone a couple/few times, and brandished it more than once in a drizzling rain.
BOTTOM LINE: Allowing that no manufacturing process is perfect, most often, the cause of equipment malfunction...is people (cue the 'Soylent Green" soundtrack)!
Because we don't have the individual Blackberry numbers, we'll have to average here...
12% failure rate / 16 phones = 1.3% failure rate per phone.
Seems to me the iPhone failure rate at 6% is a lot higher than the average 1.3% failure rate of the Blackberry phones.
Want to try that article again?
I can only do so much with the fuzzy numbers they provide in the first place. If you bothered to read the report, you would of read that they took a sampling of iPhone and combined Blackberry device issues - no averaging - and then ran the numbers based on the sampling. A fair comparison would of been device vs. device. They did not do that, so you have to divide the total Blackberry trouble percentage by the number of available Blackberry devices to arrive at a fair device vs. device comparison. Otherwise the numbers don't make sense.
Don't hate on me for trying to offer a fair comparison based on their report.
All you could really conclude is that 50% of each shape is red and the other 50% are blue.
I'm not agreeing that some BB's are more reliable than others, but you can't divide percentages like you're suggesting and get anything useful. My guess is that they found one unreliable BB, included it in the overall % to make the numbers look lower and used these stats to have a story about how wonderful the iPhone is.
The LESS iPhones I include in the study the LOWER the failure % rate I'll have when I compare it to the TOTAL number of phones used.
I am neither a iPhone or BB owner so there is no bias here. I am however an AT&T customer, but no bias toward iPhone (as you can see by my post). Actually, I'm in the process of determining if I want an iPhone or the new RIM Storm. So far, iPhone or Apple "fans" are NOT making strong arguments about WHY the iPhone is superior to a BB or other phones (more importantly the upcoming Storm). First and foremost I need a phone that can actually MAKE and MAINTAIN a call and from what I'm seeing online and hearing from my friends that are iPhone users they are constantly dropping calls, but they are stuck to the 2yr contract and can't switch carriers or choose to buy another phone since they shelled out 200 bucks.
the blackberry storm looks pretty good, the current blackberryies to me seem like old 1990s technology, and the iphone is old, 2000s technology, i cant wait till someone finally comes out with an up to date phone.
Perfect phone:
bluetooth
multitouch
8mp camera(with video)
802.11N wifi
microSDHC slot
3G
amazing battery
accelerometer
let you sync data with computer over wifi
GPS
light sensor
proximity sensor
intel atom processor(maybe)
-basically what the iphone 3G should have been, but instead apple decided to be cheap like microsoft and and only update minor things(gps, headphone jack--thats about all they changed other than the cover)
Do you really want a phone that has brilliant features but gives you just an hour or so of battery life, for while you list an amazing battery, phone manufacturers already include state of the art batteries and then eek out the available power by using an ARM processor and keeping power hungry features to a minimum or choosing the most power miserly version of a feature. It is noticeable that the GPS and other features of the iPhone, including 3G, drain the iPhone battery fairly quickly if over used. Rather than "being cheap like Microsoft" Apple was doing a very good job of balancing features and power needs.
While sitting down and distracted I dropped my iPhone in a glass of water. I probably noticed one or two minutes later. I took it out. Let it dry for 5 days by itself without much use (never turned it off because I was still able to receive calls). The iPhone kinda freaked out for a a couple of days but by the end of the 5 day, it was back to normal. Completely. The 1year warranty was over so I never took it to the store neither I bought a new phone.
I have also dropped it once on concrete and nothing happen to it besides a unnoticeable scratch.
I have also seen an iphone with the glass screen completely shuttered due to a drop from a hotel room. The phone didn't fall apart. And even though the glass touch screen was shuttered the multi-touch functionality still work without a hitch.
Seeing all this first hand makes an iPhone the top winner and that is not even counting on the ugliness and obsolete hardware / software design of the blackberry.
I now have a protective case. With any luck the new iPhone should last until the update next year.
I have not yet seen a mission critical system set up with iPhone as the end user notification. I would bet (and have had Fortune 100 companies bet) on Blackberry to get there mission critical support team the notification when the money is on the line.
In all honesty they wouldn't care too much about software fixes as these are not likely to effect what they would have to pay out on.
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by twitchell414
November 10, 2008 8:13 AM PST
- Pretty convenient leaving out problems fixed by firmware updates. I love the iphone but there is no way it more reliable then just about any model blackberry.
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by bigmc6000
November 11, 2008 5:13 AM PST
- Oh, right, because anecdotal evidence says otherwise. I mean, in my experience the iPhone is hands down better than my sister's Blackberry and she says the same thing. The point of a study like this is to take anecdotal evidence out of the equation. It doesn't what you or I think - it's just an analysis of the numbers, completely void of personal belief (outside of the whole "slippery" comment, which, btw, is idiotic).
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