Apple: Consumers chose Android over the iPhone because they didn’t want to ditch their carrier

Samsung brought out a market study today, published by Apple internally in January of 2011, as evidence in the two companies’ ongoing patent infringement debacle. According to the study, which only focuses on the United States market, the main reason customers bought an Android device instead of the iPhone was because they didn’t want to jump ship on their carrier.

According to Apple’s study, forty-eight percent of the people who participated in a 2010 survey said they chose Android because they “wanted to stay with (their) current wireless provider.” Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said they made their choice because they “trusted the Google brand,” while thirty percent said they wanted larger device screens.

By presenting this evidence, Samsung hopes to highlight some of the distinct reasons consumers chose to buy their phones — and to prove it wasn’t just because they got Sammy devices confused with the iPhone.

• Wanted to stay with current wireless service provider: 48%
• Trusted the Google brand: 36%
• Preferred larger screen: 30%
• Preferred the Android market for apps (Gmail, Google Docs, Google-Voice): 27%
• Wanted better integration with google services: 26%
• Wanted the latest and greatest smartphone: 26%
• Wanted turn by turn GPS navigation: 25%
• Wanted the latest technology: 25%

If you ask me, there are a number of reasons why Android trumps the iPhone that didn’t even make Apple’s list. There’s no mention of customization, open source, or other Android-specific features (widgets anyone?) anywhere to be found.

I’m also curious about where Apple’s data comes from. If the only people chosen to take part in the survey were soccer moms and hipsters in tight jeans, who couldn’t care less about flashing the latest version of a custom ROM on their phone, it would be unscrupulous to think these results aren’t at least slightly skewed, but that’s a completely different matter.

Right now, Samsung feels its best interest now is to use Apple’s own medicine against them. Will it work? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Stay tuned for more from the courtroom as it unfolds.

Via: Cnet