Treo Gaining in Popularity Over BlackBerry

Posted By: Ryan Friday, February 24, 2006 3:07:11 PM

A new marketing research report has been released that measures consumer sentiment in the smartphone market. The report looks at brand loyalty and online popularity of Palm Treo, Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry, HP iPAQ and Motorola Q devices.

Brandimensions searched over 150 million Internet sites and analyzed relevant consumer comments posted online between April 2005 and February 2006, specific to the smartphone market. The results conclude that while BlackBerry has the largest market share in this segment, it lacks a strong brand loyalty among its customers. Overall, consumers felt that Treo was a superior device compared to BlackBerry, citing greater functionality including camera and video playback.

To produce the report, Brandimensions captured online discussion and sentiment generated by users of the most talked about smartphones, using its proprietary technology engine that has mapped smartphone social networks on the Internet.

Key findings in the report:

  • While BlackBerry is the market share leader in the smartphone segment, websites devoted to Treo generate more discussion and are larger than their BlackBerry counterparts.

  • Overall, the total impact of the RIM lawsuit on the BlackBerry brand appears to be small -- however, people believe that RIM mishandled the lawsuit.

  • Consumer sentiment is higher for Treo, posing a threat to the BlackBerry brand, which ranked last in consumer sentiment. This indicates that users may be more inclined to use Treo, especially with the potential Blackberry service shutting down.

  • While it generated a small portion of discussion, HP's iPAQ is a favorite among its users as well as among general users, due in large part to IPAQ's Wi-Fi capability -- a feature that other smartphones may not have.

  • The Motorola Q generated the least amount of buzz but was perceived very well by consumers as a result of its styling. Given Motorola's presence in the wireless communications market, the Q could present a threat to both BlackBerry and Treo.

"Over the past six months, BlackBerry has been a hot topic among business users, investors and the media. As the smartphone market continues to grow, it is critical that manufacturers are able to establish band loyalty with their customers," said Bradley Silver, CEO of Brandimensions. "Today's report highlights how online market research can provide new insights into the smartphone market and identify opportunities for manufacturers to capture market share while improving brand awareness."

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Don't remember EVER discussing my pager(s)

SeldomVisitor @ 2/24/2006 6:27:06 PM # Q
Geeks talk about geek stuff.

Business people use their pagers and, AFAIK, never discuss them (certainly not online!).

What a bogus "study".

[The TREO is a geek early-adopter device; the Blackberry's are fancy pagers]

RE: Don't remember EVER discussing my pager(s)
ginsberg @ 2/24/2006 6:58:59 PM # Q
Agree with your sentiment.... this research is NOT measuring what the authors claim to be measuring.

But the BlackBerry is much more than a pager. There is some powerful software available for business users, such as Vaultus Dashboard. http://www.vaultus.com/solutions/dashboard.php

BlackBerry is a utilitarian device. Functional, but not much of an attempt has been made to appeal to consumer desires (e.g., no digital cameras or expansion slots in any models).

And as you said, BlackBerry users don't spend much time discussing their devices or posting about them online.

RE: Don't remember EVER discussing my pager(s)
SeldomVisitor @ 2/25/2006 8:04:56 AM # Q
I was using "literary license" to describe the difference between Treos and Blackberries - of COURSE Blackberries are more than pagers - that's why they have been adopted so much by gazillions of businesses and government entities.

But, virtually, Blackberries are nothing more than pagers to those who are buying them in quantity (as my post and your final sentences note).

The "study" is as bogus as they come.

RE: Don't remember EVER discussing my pager(s)
rsc1000 @ 2/25/2006 12:14:08 PM # Q
SeldomVisitor is correct: this is an absurd study that in no way measures or accounts for the BB primary market. This is aclassic 'apple and oranges' comparison.

RE: Don't remember EVER discussing my pager(s)
hkklife @ 2/25/2006 12:40:12 PM # Q
Can someone who follows the BB market more closely than I please tell me if the following:

1. Is there much dissent amongst BB users over the newer "phone" handset style BBs vs. the classic "pager" style BBs? I mean, are there opposing camps who prefer one FF over the other? I've only used the "pager" style BBs personally.

2. Is there much b!tching and moaning in the BB world over absent features such as voice recording, media functionality, expansion slots (recall the Palm community prior to the 2001 arrival of the m500s), entertainment titles etc?

3.Has anyone ever released a study showing what BB users do with their devices other than e-mail and talking on the phone? Does anyone even attempt to browse the WWW or create/edit text files or anything even up to the standards of a 2001/2002 era Palm device?

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

RE: Don't remember EVER discussing my pager(s)
Altema @ 2/25/2006 12:47:47 PM # Q
Yes you can browse the web... it's similar to using an early version of Blazer on a Visor Prism or Palm IIIc. The ones I used did not have a browser available until after you had the wireless setup and did the download. Aside from that ho-hum browser, I hated the thing. Everything is more difficult and less intuitive, and the user experience left me hating it. Moving to a BB from a high end Palm was like trading a very nice car for a used taxi.

I have no idea what relevance this "survey" has to do with anything... some researchers with too much time on their hands.

RE: Don't remember EVER discussing my pager(s)
rsc1000 @ 2/25/2006 6:32:01 PM # Q
Blackberrys have gotten a lot better - though RIM is quite slow at implementing new features and seems to take a very conservative, incremental approach. Can't blame them i guess, as it has worked well so far. The browser has gotten a lot better and on a device like the 8700 (VERY NICE 320 x 240 colour display and fast 312MHz intel cpu) the browsing experience has gotten even better. There are games and 3rd party apps - but 3rd party dev is only starting to really take off for Blackberry.
As for the intuitiveness of the interface - you get used to it and really learn tolove the keyboard (and i'm almost to the point where i don't try to 'tap' on the on-screen buttons!).
My preference is for Palm OS but I use BBs at work (our company makes software for both). I have learned to appreciate them after initially hating the things.

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BB is expensive

batmon @ 2/24/2006 7:30:29 PM # Q
don't know about anywhere else but I only see people using Treo 600 or 650 in CA airports. I would say 95% of consulatnts and sales who visited my office using Treo. I also use Treo for my employees because I don't have to buy another server, RIM software, and invest monthly fees for each users. My Exchange can talk to Treo through ActiveSync without any additional cost.

RE: BB is expensive
SeldomVisitor @ 2/25/2006 8:08:43 AM # Q
Very cool - free phone/data service per user for the TREOs!!

I =want= that!

Where did you say you can get it again?

RE: BB is expensive
dagwud @ 2/25/2006 2:55:56 PM # Q
Come to Washington, DC, batmon. Blackberries are everywhere. What is oddly common is for people to carry both a cell phone and a Blackberry at the same time.

And while I do see a fair number of Treos, it's nowhere near the competition for the number of Blackberries I see on the bus and subway during my commute.

--
PalmPilot Pro (1997) -> III (1998) -> Vx (1999) -> m500 (2001) -> m515 (2002) -> ???

RE: BB is expensive
rsc1000 @ 2/25/2006 6:30:31 PM # Q
In Toronto BBs definitely outnumber Treos.

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OMG! Treo is taking over the world!

Dr Opinion @ 2/24/2006 10:55:08 PM # Q
Oh, and wince is dead. :)

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS9651574577.html

Ha ha ha. :)

------
"People who like M$ products tend to be insecure crowd-following newbies lacking in experience and imagination."

RE: OMG! Treo is taking over the world!
Timothy Rapson @ 2/25/2006 7:18:24 PM # Q
You can scratch that Origami project and all the similar models ever made. There is no market for anything between the size of a Palm III and a full featured laptop. None. Not a single one of the hundreds of products that size has ever been what could be called successful. No a single one.
What in the world makes anyone, even someone as uncreative as Bill Gates, think that such a product will somehow succeed in the market now?

RE: OMG! Treo is taking over the world!
rsc1000 @ 2/26/2006 12:08:25 PM # Q
Timothy: you are correct but perhaps it is really a matter of a) getting it right, and b) marketing correctly.
Afterall - people seem to forget that mobile devices that could play mp3s were available for a couple of years before the iPod came along, but no-body knows about or remembers all of those.
For that matter, there were dozens of mobile devices with qwerty keyboards before the Treo, but none were really succesful.
I there is a market here but no company has done it correctly. If Palm had not massacred the Lifedrive with the stupid memory setup and compatibilty and other bugs AND had poured a ton of cash into say - a real ad campaign (you know - a REAL one with TV ads, lots of mainstream mags, etc) then it may have taken off. I think there is room there as there is currently no product in that category that is on the mainstream radar at all. none. just these geek devices that leak out in the same cautious, zero-visiblity way. I mean, where's the sex?

RE: OMG! Treo is taking over the world!
AdamaDBrown @ 2/26/2006 2:32:33 PM # Q
you are correct but perhaps it is really a matter of a) getting it right, and b) marketing correctly.

I'm not so convinced. I've had the dubious pleasure of working with two of these style micro-tablets: the Sony Vaio U50 and OQO Model 01+. The simple reality is that these things are way too large for people to carry comfortably without a bag, but also too small to have any effective input. While there's a niche for tablet PCs, it's stupid for Microsoft to push the idea that the entire mobile PC market is actually going to go backward, moving from keyboards back to handwriting, from large screens to small screens, and from more power to less power. Besides which, current micro-tablets are horribly expensive, $2000 and up. The current market is well served by the combination of laptops and mobile devices: together they cover most of the comfortable sizes, shapes, and price points. Trying to launch such an ill-advised new product in between them, at a price five times too high, is begging for disaster.

RE: OMG! Treo is taking over the world!
Dr Opinion @ 2/26/2006 8:45:49 PM # Q
Who cares about some random device MS is making? It will suck, as usual.

The point is, Origami does not run Wince.

It runs an XP derivative.

Wince is dead. :)

------
"People who like M$ products tend to be insecure crowd-following newbies lacking in experience and imagination."

Origami
SeldomVisitor @ 2/27/2006 5:21:49 PM # Q
Hmmm...

Unfair...
Surur @ 2/27/2006 5:47:49 PM # Q

Isn't it a bit unfair that the death of Win CE is getting no love, while the death of PalmOS gets 200 comments? What will D.O. think? ;)

Surur

They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...

Ban Dr Opinion!
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 2/27/2006 6:16:15 PM # Q
Show me some lovin' D.O.!

Surur, hengeem, Dr Opinion, twrock, Beersy, Marty, hkklife, Timothy Rapson: GROUP HUG and Kumbayah time!

TVoR

RE: OMG! Treo is taking over the world!
Timothy Rapson @ 2/27/2006 8:58:09 PM # Q
Hugs to all.

RE: OMG! Treo is taking over Billings, Montana!
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 2/27/2006 9:56:10 PM # Q
D.O. just tried to cop a feel off Kirvin. D.O. is a D-O-G!

I love you guys! *SNIFF*

TVoR

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