Blackberry Cleaning Up

Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices claimed the top spot in a recent J.D. Power and Associates ranking of smartphone user satisfaction. Judging on a series of criteria including ease of operation, OS, physical design, audio quality, battery life and utility features, J.D Power cites the speed of the BlackBerry OS and battery life among RIM's key strengths.

According to J.D. Power, customer satisfaction will profoundly influence the future of the smartphone market--highly satisfied buyers are 50% more likely to stick with the same brand of when they upgrade devices. In addition, users who claimed they are "delighted" with their smartphones are 80% more likely to recommend their brand of device to friends or colleagues.

Additional J.D. Power and Associates findings:

-35% of smartphone owners download third-party software. Most common downloads: Games (51%), travel-related programs (42%) and business applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel (36%).

-Leading factors behind selection of a specific brand of smartphone are PDA/PIM functionality, Internet capabilities, Bluetooth options, general ease of use and overall form factor/style.

This is more good news in a banner year for RIM as their stock has more than tripled in value over the last 52 weeks and today Credit Suisse analyst Michael Ounjian announced that he believes the stock can go even higher as he lifted his rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral".

In his report Ounjian said RIM's global smartphone market share could grow to 12.1% by its 2009 fiscal year fourth quarter, and that the company should continue to dominate the U.S. smartphone market. According to Ounjian, RIM held 48.2% of North America's smartphone market share in the second quarter of its 2008 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 1.

So if you're looking for a nice Christmas gift for that someone special, buy them a new Blackberry - they won't be disappointed.