CxOs rate Apple hardware - but they buy 'no-frills' smartphones and laptops

Fancy features are a turn-off for top execs who just crave decent battery life

While European execs consider Apple to be the top hardware brand, they're more likely to actually spend money on no-frills laptops and smartphones.

According to a report by analysts Frost and Sullivan, when it comes to laptops, European CxOs believe Apple to be the best manufacturer. However, few are likely to own kit by the iPhone-maker - with the greatest proportion of execs owning Dell hardware instead.

It's a similar story for smartphones: while BlackBerry is the most-owned make of smartphone, Apple is perceived as the better mobile brand.

CxOs think Apple has a better smartphone brand, but tend to buy BlackBerrys
(Photo credit: RIM)

European CxOs expect their hardware to be reliable rather than packed with fancy capabilities, the analyst noted.

"They perceive reliability as the core function of their laptop/notebook with all other features being secondary," Frost and Sullivan research manager, Krishnendu Roy, said in a statement.

In the case of smartphones, for example, battery life and ease of use are perceived as the most important features.

"Having a powerful feature set is least important to European CxOs as few of them use mobile multimedia content applications or mobile location-based applications," Roy added.

For those CxOs that use feature phones - a shrinking number, thanks to the rise of the smartphone - battery life and ease of use are also regarded as the most important features.

Most European execs do not frequently change standard feature phones, the research found, with the largest proportion of those surveyed keeping such handsets for at least two years.

Frost and Sullivan said that for CxOs, "Nokia is the undisputed market leader in the standard feature phone segment".