The iPhone is on track to become the most popular smartphone in the U.S. market, according to a new survey by ChangeWave Research. iPhone market share now stands at 30 percent, versus 40 percent for the current reigning champion, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry. Bringing up third is Palm’s webOS platform with 7 percent, which counts as a win for the company if only because its precipitous market share is no longer falling off a cliff.
The survey, taken over a week in September, questioned 4255 consumers about their phones. The smartphone continues to gain ground: around 39 percent of respondents said they owned one, compared to 32 percent at the same time last year. Looking forward, 36 percent of those surveyed are planning on purchasing an iPhone in the next 90 days, compared to 27 percent for BlackBerry and an anemic 8 percent for Palm.
Apple also came out tops with owners of its phone: 74 percent of iPhone users are “very satisfied” with their phones, which ranks as genuine enthusiasm in the cell phone market—though little surprise, given both the iPhone’s recent topping of J.D. Powers’s customer satisfaction survey and a stellar satisfaction rating of 99 percent of iPhone 3GS owners from ChangeWave’s own survey in August.
None of the other platforms achieve a majority ranking in ChangeWave’s September survey; RIM comes in second with 43 percent of BlackBerry users reporting very satisfied, Palm ranks just 33 percent, and Sony-Ericsson brings up the rear with a measly 17 percent.
Given the competition—or lack thereof—in the satisfaction area, is it really a shock that Apple’s finally within spitting distance of the number one market share spot?