Survey: iPhone Could Gain on Android, BlackBerry Very Quickly

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People love iPhones. Even a casual observer of the smartphone market recognizes Apple's dominance of the market. And despite threats from competitors, that love shows no signs of abating, according to the latest data. According to CNNMoney, Apple stands to double its market share as people make their next cell phone purchases. The 29 percent of those surveyed by Gene Munster at investment bank Piper Jaffray said they currently own iPhones, slightly edging out the businessman's BlackBerry (28 percent) and versatile Android (17 percent). What's remarkable though is that 64 percent said that the next phone they will purchase will be the iPhone.

At first glance, the numbers don't seem too worrisome for Android. The Google-powered smartphone keeps its 17 percent slice of the market in the next round of consumer purchases, with Apple's growth seemingly coming from those using BlackBerrys and other smartphones converting to the iPhone. And while it's true that the iPhone's growth is hurting the BlackBerry's market share more than Android's, current Android users are not signaling much confidence in the phones they've brought, according to Munster's data. 47 percent of Android users say they will buy other Android the next time they are shopping for a phone. The retention rate for the iPhone is 94 percent. 

The survey comes with a caveat: The 216-person sample size is somewhat small, and was taken by interviewing people at "food courts, on the street, near the entrance of a baseball stadium on a game day" in Minneapolis. Another research group claimed in January that Android was more popular than the iPhone. Still, it's a piece of evidence that puts the brakes on the narrative of Google's unmitigated growth into all things tech. Remember: Apple is still by far the richer company. 

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.