“The inability to understand the product setup process was cited as the primary reason consumers returned their Smartphone, ” said Kevin Wood, VP and Senior Technology Analyst with Opinion Research Corporation.

“Electronics technology continues to be a very popular choice among holiday shoppers, with 34% of the US population above the age of 16 claiming to have purchased and/or received an electronic technology product during the holiday season, ” said Manuel Flores, Director of Opinion Research Corporation ’s Information Technology and Telecommunications practice. “With technology getting more sophisticated, the pressure is on customer experience managers, product managers and product marketing personnel to design products that are ready for consumers to use out-of-the-box. ”

“Irreparable damage to a brand ’s reputation and perception of the company itself is at stake when a product is not easy to setup and use, ” Wood added. “Nearly 16% of the respondents we surveyed indicated that their poor setup experience significantly worsened their perception of the company that manufactured the product. ”

Opinion Research Corporation (ORC), in partnership with Market Basics LLC, will be hosting a roundtable discussion with a panel of ORC ’s global technology experts in March 2008 on the implications of poor customer experience with set-up or installation and the impact this has on product and/or brand consideration and preference. ”

Notes to editors:

An online survey of 2,000 respondents was carried out from January 11 to 16, 2008 with a representative sample provided by international online data collection and panel specialists Research Now. The margin of error is +/- 2.18%.