Find Out Which Brands and Products were the Biggest Winners in Barcelona
Argus Insights has been monitoring social conversations at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Before MWC, we hosted a webinar highlighting the brands and products that drove the most mindshare heading into the showcase, for which the slides and presentation are now available to download. Simply fill out the form and we’ll send that your way immediately.
Now that the event has passed, find out which brands, products, and tech trends were sparking interest during MWC. Argus Insights would also like to offer a free Post MWC 2015 Report (usually valued at $3,000) as a gift. The stories that we are finding are just too good that we believe everyone can benefit from the data. The world is talking and we’re listening, take advantage of our comprehensive analysis:
Discover what topics are most important to consumers
Examine market trends and consumer preferences
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If you want to stay up to date with trending social content, sign up for our weekly newsletters in the Smartphone, Wearable, Home Automation, and SDN/NFV markets. Leverage Argus data to gain an upper hand in the marketplace.
A couple weeks ago we examined the effectiveness of Sprint’s ‘Cut Your Bill in Half’ promotion, and now CNET has reported that Sprint “added close to a million customers during its fiscal third quarter,” putting them “just ahead of T-Mobile in terms of total customers.” Sprint has introduced a slew of promotions in an effort to surpass T-Mobile and secure its spot in the top three US carriers. Sprint’s increase in customers came with an increase in delight. However, despite this internal growth, Sprint consumers are some of the most unhappy smartphone customers.
Sprint Saw Increased Buzz & Delight from Fiscal Q2 – Q3 2014, but Remains the Least Delightful US Carrier
Buzz and delight have both gone up for Sprint as it gained more customers through various promotions, but Sprint’s overall delight scores remain lower than all other US subscribers. Sprint slashed access fees and increased data to attract customers, but Sprint’s users continue to report the problems with the speed, performance, and reliability of their phones. Will these recently acquired customers stay with Sprint if they do not invest in upgrading their network?
While Sprint has seen an increase in their personal consumer delight scores, indicating better satisfaction within the company, they are still the least delightful major US carrier. With T-Mobile and other carriers constantly looking for ways to shake up the mobile market, pushing their own promotions like allowing customers to roll over unused data, can Sprint retain their underwhelmed customers with low rates? Or will they seek greener pastures with the next another carrier to offer them an appealing promotion? Argus Insights will continue to track the feedback from Sprint’s new consumers to report if they can maintain the momentum they have gained through promotions.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been available in the US for almost a month now, but if you are one of many affected by the shipping delays, we have some advice for you. Looking to consumer reviews, we have determined the best and worst retailers from which to buy an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.
Consumers who did business through China Unicom and Sprint have been the most satisfied so far. New iPhone models did not go on sale in the Chinese market until early October, so that explains China Unicom’s abrupt increase in review volume. Even so, their high Net Promoter Score proves that Chinese consumers are happy with their new iPhones. Sprint, Best Buy, and US Cellular are the most delightful iPhone 6 and 6 Plus retailers in the US, all boasting an NPS over 60 percent. Verizon saw the most consumer reviews for the new iPhone models, most likely as a result of aggressive upgrade promotions, but that volume is shrinking as we approach the end of October.
At this point, it is safe to suggest that people should buy their new iPhones from Best Buy or Sprint. Although Sprint has a higher NPS at the moment, that score is dropping slowly as more reviews are written. Best Buy’s review volume is slowly shrinking, but there has been no dramatic drop-off, and their NPS continues to rise as large amounts of customers report satisfaction. Consumers are happy with these retailers for different reasons. Sprint’s vast improvement over their 3G with new LTE is netting praise. One Sprint customer said that “the change is amazing,” since they were used to the “super slow 3g network,” but now “the LTE is faster.” This was not an isolated incident either, as several other customers wrote about the “great mobile service on the iPhone 6 with Sprint Constant LTE.” At Best Buy, consumers were pleased with the speed and quality of service. Reporting that they had “a hassle free experience at Best Buy,” and even that they were “out in 20 minutes with $25 dollars more than Verizon offered” for their trade in. The consumers have spoken, and they are having the best iPhone 6 and 6 Plus experiences with Sprint and Best Buy.
If you would like to know more about iPhone 6 and 6 Plus performance, or any other smartphone, wearable, consumer technology, appliance, or home automation products, for that matter, please contact Argus Insights. You can sign up for our free weekly newsletter to keep up with consumer trends, or visit our website to subscribe to our data, schedule personalized consultation, or order custom reports.
The smartphone market in China is quickly growing, but mobile provider China Unicom is struggling to maintain consumer mindshare. As competitors China Mobile and China Telecom continue to grow their user base by leveraging new 4G and LTE networks, China Unicom’s growth is stagnant.
In the current scramble to provide high speed access to users in China, China Unicom was “unsure on whether to use the home-grown TD-LTE standard or wait for the FDD-LTE license to launch 4G services.” Forbes reported that their sporadic transition strategy from 3G to 4G and LTE service set them back in expansion. Examining consumer reviews confirms that consumer subscriptions are dropping along with consumer mindshare for China Unicom. Therefore, Forbes simply confirmed the decrease in consumer interest that our consumer data has been displaying for months!
Buzz about China Unicom by Brand
This chart displays smartphone buzz by brand for China Unicom over the past few months. The amount of buzz about all brands has shrunk showing a loss of interest in this specific provider. Is China Unicom’s inconsistent high speed internet upgrade to blame for the decline in consumer interest?
Forbes will track China Unicom’s stock for you, but visit our website to see how Argus will investigate what is driving the reported changes. Let us help your business, contact Argus Insights for portal access, tailored reports, and more. We will investigate products in your market of interest.