RCR Mobile Minute: Smartphone retailers ranked

RCR Mobile Minute
An analysis of consumer reviews shows that only one of the top U.S. carriers made last week’s list of the most popular places to buy a smartphone. Verizon Wireless made the top five for the last week in November, according to data from Argus Insights, which ranks smartphone retailers based on the raw number of social media reviews and on the number of positive social media reviews.
Best Buy was the most positively reviewed U.S. phone retailer, and worldwide it was second only to China Unicom. Wal-Mart was No. 3 on the list. In addition to selling smartphones and tablets, Wal-Mart offers wireless service through T-Mobile US. Two carriers rounded out the list of the most positively reviewed companies: Rogers Communications of Canada, and Verizon Wireless here in the U.S.
Verizon got more reviews than any other provider. It is fair to assume that late November saw a number of neutral to negative commentary about Verizon since the carrier did not top the list of positively reviewed providers. On the list of most reviewed smartphone retailers, Verizon was followed by China Unicom, Amazon, Best Buy and Sprint.
“Amazon and Sprint both attracted enough feedback to make the list … but it was not predominantly positive,” said John Feland of Argus Insights. “Less popular carriers Wal-Mart and Rogers are delighting their smaller clientele bases enough to appear in the Top 5 most positively reviewed carriers this week.”
Argus Insights also ranks the devices that are generating the most buzz on social media, and those that are getting the most positive reviews. For more on that see today’s video below.