Android overtaking iOS in brand loyalty

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Android devices are gaining on Apple products and the Android operating system has topped iOS for satisfaction and brand loyalty, a U.S. research firm says.

Media brand researcher Brand Keys said Samsung and Amazon are beginning to overhaul Apple for brand loyalty in the smartphone and tablet markets, the website TabTimes reported Friday.

"It is an enormous switch-over," Brand Keys President Robert Passikoff told Mobile Marketer. "The more personal aspects beyond just connectivity are becoming the important emotional engagement factors and that, generally speaking, brands that cannot do that are not going to be at the top of the list.

"Apple has been at the top of the list for a long time but has kind of stalled in terms of this sense of personal innovation and Samsung seems to have taken that on for themselves."

Samsung has passed Apple in the smartphone loyalty stakes, Brand Keys said, while in the tablet marketplace Amazon has stolen a march on the iPad with its Kindle Fire.

"Apple was very reactive in terms of having to come out with a smaller version [of the iPad] because Amazon had [a smaller] one," Passikoff said.