BlackBerry slides, Samsung shines for smartphone users

Canadians are far keener on buying a Samsung smartphone and less interested in getting a BlackBerry than they were a year ago, a new poll has found.

"Intentions to acquire a BlackBerry have declined by nearly one-third when compared to this time last year," said Mary Beth Barbour, senior vice-president of Ipsos Reid in a statement accompanying the release of an online poll of 46,000 Canadians.

The poll, conducted in January, asked respondents about their brand preferences for smartphones, tablets and e-readers.

"Interest in Apple continues on a slight incline, while Android handsets are poised to pick up the lion's share of RIM’s losses, thanks in no small part to Samsung for which purchase intent has increased by 50 per cent over the past 12-month period."

BlackBerry remained the leading smartphone brand owned by Canadians (33 per cent) or planned to purchase (40 per cent). But that was down significantly from a year earlier, when 41 per cent of smartphone users had a BlackBerry and 58 planned to buy one. Thirty-two per cent of respondents planned to choose a Samsung smartphone such the company's Galaxy Android phones, a rise from 21 per cent in January 2011.

According to Ipsos, the estimated margin of error would have been plus or minus 0.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20 if the results were not weighted, but the error may be a little bit different due to weighting to ensure the demographics of those polled were similar to those of the Canadian population.

Apple tablet market share plunges

Overall, 31 per cent of smartphone owners had an Android phone, an increase from 26 per cent a year earlier. And 28 per cent had an Apple iPhone, up from 23 per cent.

While Apple's share of the smartphone market grew slightly, its share of the Canadian tablet market has plunged in the past year from 78 per cent to 47 per cent, as it faced competitors such as the BlackBerry PlayBook and a variety of Android tablets.

In the e-reader market, Kobo was a big winner this year, with 46 per cent of the Canadian market. Last year, it had just 27 per cent or roughly the same share as the Sony eReader (28 per cent) and Amazon's Kindle (25 per cent.) However, when asked what e-reader they were planning to buy in the future, 53 per cent of respondents in the January 2012 poll said they had a Kindle in mind.

Based on the January 2012 poll, Ipsos estimates that 34 per cent of Canadians own a smartphone, 10 per cent own a tablet and 10 per cent own an e-reader.