J.D. Power: Apple highest in smartphone satisfaction, LG highest in feature phone satisfaction

J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information firm that claims to conduct independent and unbiased surveys of customer satisfaction, released results from its most recent studies. Both the 2009 Wireless Phone Satisfaction Study - Volume 2 and the 2009 Wireless Business Smartphone Satisfaction Study measure customer satisfaction with both traditional handsets and smartphones (consumer and business). The leading factors used for overall ranking are operation, physical design, features, battery function, and for smartphones, operating system.

Study results show that overall satisfaction with smartphone users has increased, both with consumers and business users, mostly due to evolving features sets and usability. When it comes to traditional phone users, overall satisfaction is on the decline, which is most likely due to "feature envy".

The study shows that Apple ranks the highest in the personal smartphone category, followed by LG, and RIM's BlackBerry. In the business smartphone category, Apple is again ranked the highest, followed by RIM's BlackBerry. When it comes to overall customer satisfaction for traditionally styled handsets, LG wins in all factors, including battery, features, and operation.

Other interesting tidbits from the report include that 22% of personal smartphone users want WiFi, 21% want touch capabilities, and 17% want built-in GPS. Also, 40% of personal smartphone users use their handsets as their main calling phone, replacing landlines. You can peruse the entire report at J.D. Power and Associates' website.