TMCnet Feature

Frost & Sullivan's recent survey, entitled “2011 EU CXOs' Choice: Mobile Devices,” reports that reliability and product quality are the most important features for mobile communications, while Apple (News - Alert) is the best brand in Europe.

The survey measured preferences regarding mobile communications such as laptop/notebooks, tablet computers, e-readers, and smartphones among C-level executives across various industries in Europe. The study found the importance of products and service features, usage rates, and satisfaction with brands as well as the intention to own brands.

The laptop/notebook has emerged as the mostly widely owned mobile communication and computing product among CXOs in Europe as 98 percent of the surveyed population used or owned one, according to Frost & Sullivan's (News - Alert) survey. More than 75 percent of CXOs surveyed have one tablet computer, while 20 percent own two or more tablet computers.

"Compared to Frost & Sullivan's 2009 research, desktop personal computer ownership is declining, while tablet computer ownership is rising," said Christina Alfaro, a Frost & Sullivan Research analyst with Frost & Sullivan's Customer Research Team.The survey found that European CXOs want their laptop/notebook to work every time they use it and all other features are secondary compared to reliability and product quality.

"Overall, European CXOs perceive wireless communication and battery life as the most important smartphone features," said Alfaro. "However, most CXOs also rate overall quality and ease-of-use very highly, while security and applications compatibility are viewed as less important."

Dell (News - Alert) continues to be the most owned brand of laptop/notebook since 2009, however, Apple is perceived as the best brand. Nearly all CXOs report owning/using Apple tablet computers. The survey reported that the most important attributes in a tablet computer are reliability, overall quality, and screen clarity.

According to the survey, there has been a dip in the use of smartphones for purely business purposes in 2011 compared to 2009, as smartphones are also popular for personal purposes.

In 2011, the most owned brand of smartphones was Apple, while in 2009 it was BlackBerry. As ownership increased for Apple, it declined for Nokia, HTC (News - Alert), and Sony Ericsson. Now, most CXOs perceive Apple smartphones as the overall best brand of smartphones, followed by BlackBerry.

The technology driver of smart devices is the mobile technology because it represents the largest and fastest growing segment of the electronics market. The innovation of the mobile market is being driven by four key factors: richer content, network access for communications and content, increased bandwidth to enable this access, and new technologies, according to Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist.