iPhone rules in smartphone customer satisfaction: shocking!

A recently released survey of new owners of smartphones by 5 manufacturers report that Apple continues to top the satisfaction list. The phones were purchased in the past 6 months.

This survey of 1,212 smartphone owners was conducted by ChangeWave Research and covered phones from Apple (iPhone 4), HTC (EVO 4G, Droid Incredible), Motorola (Droid 2, Droid X), RIM BlackBerry (Torch, Bold, Curve) and Samsung (Galaxy S).

In an article at Investor Place, Paul Carton, ChangeWave vice president of research, said the results showed that the iPhone 4 "continues to outperform the industry in terms of customer satisfaction."

Here are the results for ratings of very satisfied by maker:

iPhone (77 percent), Motorola (71 percent), HTC (63 percent), Samsung (45 percent), and RIM (44 percent). The results for RIM and Samsung don't reflect much of the recently launched models such as the Samsung Galaxy S and RIM Torch.

Here's what Carton said about the iPhone 4 results:

The iPhone 4’s exceptionally high Very Satisfied rating (84% for 32GB; 78% for 16GB) confirms our earlier survey findings that despite the controversy surrounding its initial launch, the iPhone 4 has been extraordinarily well received by its owners. These iPhone 4 scores are even better than the ratings for the earlier generation iPhone 3GS models (81% for 32GB; 77% for 16GB) which were recorded in our May 2010 new smart phone owners survey.

Meanwhile, Carton also said a third of non-AT&T smartphone purchasers said they would have bought an iPhone if it was available from their current carriers. Ouch. And while the Motorola phones came in second place (a surprise he said), almost 40 percent of these owners wished they had an iPhone.