Low-end focus leads to lower Windows Phone customer satisfaction

JD Power have posted their bi-annual customer satisfaction survey of US smartphone customers by carrier.

For the first time in two years it shows Nokia’s numbers dipping after a dramatic rise as Windows Phones replace Symbian handsets.

The drop, which saw Nokia move from the second to second last spot, is likely due to the rise of low-end handsets such as the Nokia Lumia 520.

According to JD Power price of handsets have become increasingly important in choosing devices, rising from 13% to 21% over the last 3 years, and the importance of features has reduced from 57% to 35%, selecting a smartphone device based on price generates significantly lower levels of satisfaction (808 on a 1,000-point scale) and repurchase rates (18%) than selections based on product-specific reasons such as operating system (860 and 35%, respectively).

Consistent with this Nokia (and by extension Windows Phone) scored the lowest on T-Mobile, the carrier almost synonymous with the Nokia Lumia 521.

When asked which features they would like on their next device, smartphone owners most often cite seamless voice control (36%); built-in sensors that can gauge temperature, lighting, noise and moods to customize settings to the environment (35%); and facial recognition and biometric security (28%).

It appears the focus on price and the volume it generates can be a trap for OEMs like Nokia, who may create a large mass of customers that are not very satisfied or very loyal, and suggests continuing to strip features of their low-end handsets may not be a sustainable strategy.

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