40% Will Switch to Android for Next Phone, Says Survey

A survey commissioned by independent third-party mobile application store GetJar found that 40% of respondents claimed they will switch to an Android device when it comes time to purchase their next mobile phone. In comparison, only 18% said they would switch to iPhone. This, proclaims GetJar’s headlining of the news, means Android will trump iPhone “two-to-one.”

Of course, there are a couple of problems with this data.

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For starters, surveys that ask consumers what they will do are often not nearly as accurate as those which show what consumers actually did. Sure, people may say they’re switching to an Android phone, but when push comes to shove (and when they discover the $49 iPhone 3GS), will these switchers follow through? We can’t possibly know.

Additional Data

The survey also measured other trends, including app usage. It found that nearly 34% of consumers spent one hour or more using apps per day, compared with the 49% who spend the same amount of time watching TV. 58%, meanwhile, said they use mobile apps more than once a day.

When it comes to app choice, the survey respondents said that the quality of the brand made the app trustworthy (80%). And 72% said they would engage with a brand more if the brand’s app was good.

Advertisements within the apps don’t seem to be discouraging users, either, based on this survey’s results. 73% said they had downloaded an app with ads and 60% said they would do it again.

The part of the survey that’s most pertinent to GetJar’s business is the part detailing issues with app discovery. Only 25% said they discovered the app they wanted by browsing through a mobile app store. 50% had discovered apps while browsing online and nearly 17% had discovered apps through friends or social media, the results showed.

A few other details from the survey:

• Gaming apps are the most popular, followed closely by social networking apps.
• The amount of free apps and the ease of search topped the list of things users look for in an app store.
• The cost of an app was the biggest deciding factor in whether to download an app or not.

Do You Trust the Survey?

While none of the findings seem all that incredulous, these survey results are really good news for GetJar, which, of course, makes one a little suspicious.  Even the press release notes the positive impact this has for the company, mentioning how GetJar recently announced it secured $25 million in Series C funding from Tiger Global Management.  The money will be used to “aggressively expand its offering to Android publishers in order to secure its position as the premier ‘open’ Android Market alternative.”

So Android trumping iPhone, two-to-one? Maybe. But we’ll wait for another source – one with nothing to gain by this news – confirms.

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