Study: 36% of iPhone 4S buyers defected from another platform

Thirty-six percent of consumers who purchased Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iPhone 4S jumped ship from a device running Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry or Palm's webOS, according to a new study issued by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Twenty-one percent of all iPhone 4S buyers switched from another type of handset.

Fifty percent of iPhone 4S buyers coming over from a rival smartphone operating system were formerly BlackBerry users, CIRP reports. Thirty-nine percent abandoned Android for iOS, with 10 percent dumping webOS. Twenty-one percent of all iPhone 4S buyers switched from another type of handset or made their Apple device their first-ever mobile phone purchase.

Eighty-nine percent of iPhone owners surveyed purchased the iPhone 4S, despite aggressive pricing on previous iPhone editions. CIRP adds that 43 percent of all iPhone 4S buyers upgraded from an older model iPhone, and 42 percent broke an existing operator contract to purchase the device.

Apple released the iPhone 4S on Oct. 14. Its iOS platform narrowed the gap on Android in the weeks to follow, with iOS's U.S. market share by smartphone sales increasing from 26 percent in the third quarter of 2011 to 43 percent in October and November, according to data issued earlier this month by research firm NPD. Android and iOS combined to power 88.7 percent of all smartphones sold to U.S. consumers during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new data published last week by Nielsen--Android generated 51.7 percent of sales, followed by iOS at 37.0 percent.

For more:
- read this CNet article

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