241 days

Suzanne Choney

Richest phone owners use BlackBerrys

The wealthiest smartphone owners prefer BlackBerrys over iPhones. The iPhone, in turn, trumps Android when it comes to the moneyed class. But Android looks to be the people's choice among the middle class.

What's wealthy? In this case, a household income of $150,000 or more a year, according to Prosper Mobile Insights, which surveyed 25,000 respondents in June for its "Simultaneous Media Usage Survey."

In that top income category, 11.3 percent of smartphone owners said they have BlackBerrys; 10.9 percent, iPhones; and 7.2 percent, Android.

The same is true in the $100,000 to $149,999-a-year category, where 21.2 percent have BlackBerrys, 19.1 percent iPhones and 15.8 percent Android. At least in these categories, BlackBerrys are maintaining their lead, while in the real world, the devices once considered the Cadillac of smartphones have been losing significant ground to Android and Apple's phone.

The iPhone rules in households with annual incomes of $75,000 to $99,999 a year; among smartphone owners, 19.6 percent have Apple's phone, 18.7 percent, a BlackBerry, and 18.2 percent, Android.

But in all other income categories, from $74,999 a year and less, Android is the people's phone of choice, with 23.7 percent of smartphone owners who have household incomes of between $50,000 and $74,999 opting for Google's mobile operating system; 22.4 percent for iPhone and 21.2 percent for BlackBerry.

Android's lead widens as income levels lessen. That's largely due to it being widely available in a number of devices and prices, and the fact that Android phones are made by several manufacturers and offered now by all major wireless carriers.

Among those who have a household income of between $35,000 to $49,999 a year, 14.3 of smartphone owners have Android, 12.6 percent BlackBerry, and 12.5 percent the iPhone.

The iPhone and Android phone definitely dominate when it comes downloading apps; 85 percent of iPhone owners and 84 percent of Android users surveyed said they do so, compared to 59.5 percent of BlackBerry owners.

And while "Angry Birds" is popular on Android phones (24.6 percent of Android owners say it's the app they use most often), and on iPhone (19.1 percent say that's so for them), that's true for only 9.9 percent of BlackBerry owners. As most BlackBerry users know (and I am one, but not in any of those top-income categories), It's definitely harder to fling birds on most Berrys.

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