SquareTrade randomly selected 6,678 BlackBerry, 5,651 Treo, and 4,902 iPhone handsets
With a higher sampling, you recieve more precise data. Should not the selected phones for the study have been at the same amount?
Plus, "The Blackberry" could be one of several models, with one particular model having a much higher failure rate as opposed to the other models that may actually be lower then the iPhone.
It is like saying the Ford Focus has a much smaller failure rate then Chrysler.
Study: BlackBerry has twice the failure rate of iPhone
Summary
Apple's iPhone has half the failure rate of RIM's BlackBerry in the first year of use, a study carried out by a mobile-phone warranty firm has found.
Topics
Apple's iPhone has half the failure rate of RIM's BlackBerry in the first year of use, a study carried out by a mobile-phone warranty firm has found.
The SquareTrade study Figures from the analyst firm Canalysys, released last week, showed Apple has now overtaken RIM in the global smartphone sales stakes. SquareTrade had to project their figures for the iPhone's failure rate over a two-year period, as the handset has not been available for that long — nonetheless, that rate came in at between nine to 11 percent. The equivalent failure rate for BlackBerry handsets was 14.3 percent, with the Treo coming in at 21 percent. Breaking the figures down, the most prominent malfunctions for iPhone users appear to be touchscreen-related, accounting for a third of all reported issues with that handset. However, 12 percent of iPhone users reported accidental damage to their handsets within the first year of use — the average for other handsets is nine percent. "It's likely that any iPhone owner can guess the reason iPhone accidents are so common," the authors wrote. "After two minutes of handling an iPhone, it's impossible to escape noticing that the handsets are incredibly slippery. The form doesn't help, either. The dimensions make for a difficult grip, especially for those with small hands. These two factors conspire to make the iPhone more accident prone than just about any other handset model we've seen." The report's authors also noted that fewer than half-a-percent of iPhone owners reported battery problems after a year of use, compared with around one percent for BlackBerry and Treo users. SquareTrade's study did not take into account software issues handled directly by the retailer or fixed by firmware updates. ZDNet UK has requested comment on SquareTrade's report from both RIM and Apple, but had not received it at the time of writing.
Talkback Most Recent of 24 Talkback(s)
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GuidingLight10th Nov 2008 -
Useless.
What is the margin of error of such study?. 10%, 20% or even higher?.
magallanes11th Nov 2008 -
Getting more data points
Might not help much, assuming they used a statistically sound sample. Once you go past 1000 samples you don't get much better.
The fact that they ignore problems taken care of at the Retail store bothers me more, though. Why aren't those counted as problems? I'd say that would definitely skew the results.
tikigawd4th Dec 2008 -
How is it double?
Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but how is it double?
11% versus 14.3% isn't double
mrd948310th Nov 2008 -
That's for 2 years..
The 11%/14.3% figures were the cumulative total when projected over 2 years. The "twice the failure rate" presumably comes from whatever the figures were for just the first year (they aren't mentioned specifically in this article)
sirphunkee10th Nov 2008 -
The first year failure rates...
are specifically discussed in the study. Follow the link.
msalzberg11th Nov 2008 -
Introducing the iFail
The newest trick in journalism isn't to actually comprehend the statistics, but to make them up as we go along.
iFail @ Math
iFail @ Comprehension
iFail @ Writing
You to can learn how to be a ZDnet editor and use the iFail
nucrash11th Nov 2008 -
Try reading the article..
and follow the link to the study.msalzberg11th Nov 2008 -
Double = battery?
Perhaps they meant the battery rate.
In these ad-paid internet days, the truth of headlines is meaningless. It's getting people to click that's important.
kdarling11th Nov 2008 -
RE: Study: BlackBerry has twice the failure rate of iPhone
Many corporate Blackberry users fraudulently "fail" their devices in order to get upgraded handsets or to replace fully-working handsets that just have a lot of cosmetic wear and tear. I have seen this frequently in three different organizations...
JC Gator10th Nov 2008 -
Exactly. Need to compare Apples to apples
Pun intended.
They should be comparing consumer purchased and company purchased separately. People dont intentionally introduce failures to get upgrades if they have to pay for them out of their own pocket.
This is like the studies that find higher failures of birth control in women who want children than those who dont or already have all they want.
Johnny Vegas12th Nov 2008 -
RE: Study: BlackBerry has twice the failure rate of iPhone
Apple has learned from the mistakes of others. What was their failure rate this year?
sheryl@...10th Nov 2008 -
RE: Study: BlackBerry has twice the failure rate of iPhone
I never could get into BlackBerry, and I've bought phones three times the past 6 years. I finally ended up with this newest iPhone 3g and I think I've dropped it exactly once... I wouldda thought it was made by Timex the way it "takes a licking and keeps on ticking"...only in this day and age most people would worry if they heard a cell phone ticking!!!! eh oh!
MsDrPepper11th Nov 2008 -
RE: Study: BlackBerry has twice the failure rate of iPhone
That was probably all of the data in the failure claims database with more data being available for the older models. Statistically I would say they have pretty large data sets to pull data from, certainly as large as any I used in University level stats courses. With this large a sample their margin of error is probably in the under 2% range.
While there are multiple models of Blackberry and Treo available there is only one modle of iPhone available. Multiple models would smooth out the data from bad models so it is pitting the one Apple product, good or bad, against the averaged out industry trends. In that case I would say the iPhone is doing pretty well.
wboaz11th Nov 2008 -
Fail & SquareTrade
"SquareTrade had to project". Um, no they didn't. They could have simply used the time frame available, and if that was too short a time, then obviously the study shouldn't have taken place until data was available.
ejhonda12th Nov 2008
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
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