BANGALORE, INDIA: According to a new survey the best smartphone in both the business and consumer markets is the Apple iPhone followed by an LG phone and the Research In Motion Blackberry.  The survey which was released by JD Power, only days after Microsoft rolled out their new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system for iPhones.
   
Apple's score of 811 on the consumer side beat out LG's 776 and Research in Motion's BlackBerry (with 759). For business customers, the iPhone beat out the BlackBerry by a score of 803 to 724 (all out of 1,000.) In the waning character of "traditional mobile phones," LG took the top spot, with 723.

J.D. Power also found that overall satisfaction has risen by 14 points over the last survey six months ago, while satisfaction among business owners has jumped 43 points.

Satisfaction among consumer smartphone owners has increased by 14 index points (on a 1,000-point scale) from just six months ago, while satisfaction among business owners has increased by 43 index points from 2008 as these devices have become more stylish, customisable and user-friendly.

Among traditional mobile phone owners, overall satisfaction has declined by six index points from April 2009, likely as a result of heightened awareness among traditional mobile phone owners of advanced features available on smartphones.

In order of importance, key factors of overall satisfaction with traditional wireless handsets are operation (30 per cent); physical design (30 per cent); features (20 per cent); and battery function (20 per cent). For consumer smartphones, key factors are ease of operation (30 per cent); operating system (22 per cent); features (21 per cent); physical design (18 per cent); and battery function (9 per cent). For business smartphones, key factors include ease of operation (29 per cent); operating system (23 per cent); physical design (21 per cent); features (16 per cent); and battery function (11 per cent).
 
The studies also find the following key wireless handset usage patterns

Among consumer smartphone owners, 22 percent want Wi-Fi capability in their next handset, while 21 percent want touch-screen capabilities and 17 percent want GPS capability.

More than 40 percent of consumer smartphone owners report entirely replacing landline calling with mobile phone calling, while only 27 percent of traditional handset owners have done the same.

Among business smartphone owners, more than one-half report downloading third-party games for entertainment, while 46 percent report downloading travel software such as maps and weather applications-indicating business users are also integrating their devices into their personal lives. In addition, nearly one-half of owners (46 per cent) report downloading business utility applications to increase productivity.