A new survey by MKM Partners analyst Michael Genovese shows that a majority of consumers are unaware smartphones running BlackBerry 10 or Windows Phone 8 have launched in the US and have no curiosity or interest in the devices.
The survey, republished by Barrons, asked a sample of 1,500 consumers in the US a range of questions about smartphone ownership and purchasing intention.
The survey showed 82.6% of US consumers were unaware of the launch of Blackberry 10, with 68% not interested in devices, such as the BlackBerry Z10, running the new platform.
“We were surprised that only 13% expect BB10 to be available in the US. immediately or within the next 30 days. In fact the survey was administered between March 7th and April 2nd, 2013, which bracketed AT&T’s (March 22nd), T-Mobile’s (March 26th) and Verizon’s (March 28th) [BlackBerry] Z10 U.S. launches by about two weeks,” Genovese states.
“The ineffectiveness of BlackBerry’s marketing plan is highlighted by the 63% of respondents who were completely unsure as to when the BB10 would be released in the US.”
The news was equally bad for Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, with 60.5% unaware of the launch of Windows Phone 8 and 63.9% indifferent to it.
Worse for Nokia, just 19% of survey respondents were aware the Finnish smartphone giant makes Windows Phone 8 smartphones, compared to Samsung on 26% and HTC on 21%, despite a large amount of advertising promoting Nokia’s flagship Lumia 920 smartphone.
“While the Windows Phone 8 is gaining in popularity, a disturbing number of respondents who were aware that WP8 handsets were available for purchase couldn’t associate a handset brand to the OS. In particular, Nokia is lost in the shuffle despite its early standing as a Microsoft partner,” Genovese states.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
