NOKIA proves QWERTY still preferred input method around the world

**jamezalexander** · 08-13-2012, 02:42 PM

Follow the link here

Breaking down the results country-by-country was also revealing. European countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland were representative of the poll as a whole, and voted by a clear majority for the Qwerty keyboard.

However, the United States, with a smartphone penetration of 47% according to the latest ComScore survey, stood alone and opted for the touchscreen. The breakdown of the voting in the USA was almost an exact reverse of the findings as a whole.

Touchscreen: 47.22%
Qwerty keyboard: 33.33%
Voice command: 12.5%
Number keypad: 6.94%
Compare that with an emerging country like the Philippines, which has the fastest growing smartphone market in Asia, but yet still lags behind the US with just 29% penetration. Their results was much more in keeping with the rest of the world.

Qwerty keyboard: 40%
Touchscreen: 30%
Number keypad: 15%
Voice command: 15%

**BBPandy** · 08-13-2012, 03:53 PM

Very interesting, thanks for posting

**SCrid2000** · 08-13-2012, 04:15 PM

Very cool!
$20 says that the low QWERTY interest in the US is tied to the lack of a well advertised qwerty phone.

**jamezalexander** · 08-13-2012, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by SCrid2000

Very cool!
$20 says that the low QWERTY interest in the US is tied to the lack of a well advertised qwerty phone.

$25 says that the lack of low end qwerty interest in the US is tied to superior, well advertised touch screen based phones

. But I guess our statements go hand in hand. It's refreshing to see RIMs strategy as they aim for the new year. They've dominated the QWERTY sector, now it's on to tackle the touch screen, and there has been fierce competition these last 5 years but I feel that the scope of BB10 will put it right up their with the likes of Samsung and Apple.
Here's to hoping!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

**SCrid2000** · 08-13-2012, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by jamezalexander

$25 says that the lack of low end qwerty interest in the US is tied to superior, well advertised touch screen based phones

. But I guess our statements go hand in hand. It's refreshing to see RIMs strategy as they aim for the new year. They've dominated the QWERTY sector, now it's on to tackle the touch screen, and there has been fierce competition these last 5 years but I feel that the scope of BB10 will put it right up their with the likes of Samsung and Apple.
Here's to hoping!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

Lol! depends on your definition of superior

For the thing that Americans are most interested in (that is, watching movies/tv/porn), a touchscreen (with flash) is definitely superior to a qwerty - more screen space.

Too bad the survey was only available on the Nokia website, I'd love to see the results of a poll like that done on a mass scale.

**jamezalexander** · 08-13-2012, 04:32 PM

Mobile nations should rally as a whole and do one big survey on a range of topics--to a range of users. KEVIN make it happen!!!

I agree it seems like a narrow field of submissions in general, but interesting nonetheless.

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**avt123** · 08-13-2012, 06:27 PM

So touchscreen is only off by 10% around the world and it wasn't made "popular" until 2007 (iPhone). It took 5 years in the US to overtake the physical QWERTY and in the same time is only 10% off worldwide.

How fast is touchscreen use climbing and QWERTY use falling in the rest of the world? This is the more interesting question, because if touchscreen is gaining more than QWERTY and QWERTY is on the decline, touch will be the world wide choice soon enough.

**mikeo007** · 08-13-2012, 06:49 PM

Interesting, but...

Proves? I don't think that word means what you think it means.

**rarsen** · 08-13-2012, 07:41 PM

Also repeated in ZDNet article confirming preference for keyboards:
Nokia poll finds consumers prefer keyboards on smartphones | ZDNet

rarsen

**SCrid2000** · 08-13-2012, 07:45 PM

Also posted on OpenSourceBB lol.
Nokia Poll: Qwerty (and, by extension, BlackBerry) is King. ← Open Source BlackBerry – OSBB

**crackcookie** · 08-13-2012, 09:54 PM

Well it also really depends what you use it for. I don't think kids, who are just texting each other crap and sexting and BSing care about spelling/proper grammar whoop whoop whoop you know?

Polls are great, but numbers still need to be broken down and utilized. What if women with nails hate touch screens, or old people hate them? What if people who run internet based sites love them, or hair salons or bar owners/promoters........

**JR A** · 08-13-2012, 10:47 PM

Not surprised Philippines still prefers QWERTY Keyboards.

Probably because Magic Mic's still use physical buttons, so that's what they're use to.

We Filipinos sure love our Karaoke

**SCrid2000** · 08-13-2012, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by crackcookie

Well it also really depends what you use it for. I don't think kids, who are just texting each other crap and sexting and BSing care about spelling/proper grammar whoop whoop whoop you know?

Polls are great, but numbers still need to be broken down and utilized. What if women with nails hate touch screens, or old people hate them? What if people who run internet based sites love them, or hair salons or bar owners/promoters........

Or Nokia owners? lol.
Yeah, it seems to be a pretty lousy study. But it's still somewhat encouraging. At least some segment of the population wants a keyboard, and that segment will hopefully go BB10.

**sentimentGX4** · 08-13-2012, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by SCrid2000

Very cool!
$20 says that the low QWERTY interest in the US is tied to the lack of a well advertised qwerty phone.

It's actually faster to type on touchscreen than QWERTY phones. Predictive text as well as programs such as Swype make texting on a touchscreen significantly faster. Also, you simply don't have to press down as hard. World records for texting are achieved on touchscreens.

Typing on touchscreen just needs a little getting used to for many consumers.

**Bobert_123** · 08-13-2012, 11:05 PM

HA touch screen suck it!!!

**ynomrah** · 08-13-2012, 11:15 PM

I also type very fast and accurate on a touchscreen. Much faster in fact than on a QWERTY keyboard. 40wpm on stock ICS keyboard.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

**Bobert_123** · 08-13-2012, 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by Ynomrah

I also type very fast and accurate on a touchscreen. Much faster in fact than on a QWERTY keyboard. 40wpm on stock ICS keyboard.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

ya I can type pretty fast on a touch screen to but the keyboard just feels right

**Laura Knotek** · 08-14-2012, 12:10 AM

The survey might also be skewed in favor of QWERTY devices, due to the fact that those tend to be cheaper than touchscreen devices.

Folks in some of the countries included in the survey can only afford a cheap Curve or a cheap Symbian device.

**southlander** · 08-14-2012, 12:23 AM

Faster yes. More accurate? No. More enjoyable? Not for some. Speed is one aspect. Some folks find predictive text tedious to use even if it might be faster for them.

Sent from my flip-phone.

**sean000** · 08-14-2012, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by sentimentGX4

It's actually faster to type on touchscreen than QWERTY phones. Predictive text as well as programs such as Swype make texting on a touchscreen significantly faster. Also, you simply don't have to press down as hard. World records for texting are achieved on touchscreens.

Typing on touchscreen just needs a little getting used to for many consumers.

world records for texting? LOL...funny.

Sent from my BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps using Tapatalk 2

**Taigatrommel** · 08-14-2012, 02:28 AM

Originally Posted by Ynomrah

I also type very fast and accurate on a touchscreen. Much faster in fact than on a QWERTY keyboard. 40wpm on stock ICS keyboard.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Well I can also type slightly faster on most virtual keyboards. However the "feeling" while typing is just plain wrong. I mean seriously, if a virtual keyboard would so great, why our desktop keyboards haven't been replaced yet by some sort of large capacitive touchscreen for text input? Thinking of it, there are mostly benefits. However typing wouldn't be a good experience anymore.

**Splange** · 08-14-2012, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Taigatrommel

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ynomrah

I also type very fast and accurate on a touchscreen. Much faster in fact than on a QWERTY keyboard. 40wpm on stock ICS keyboard.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Well I can also type slightly faster on most virtual keyboards. However the "feeling" while typing is just plain wrong. I mean seriously, if a virtual keyboard would so great, why our desktop keyboards haven't been replaced yet by some sort of large capacitive touchscreen for text input? Thinking of it, there are mostly benefits. However typing wouldn't be a good experience anymore.

Because there's no advantage to that arrangement. A capacitive desktop keyboard would take the same amount of space as a physical one. Desktops are also not expected to be light or portable, abd the physical keyboard doesn't sacrifice screen real estate.

On a smartphone none of this is the case. Physical keyboards take away from the screen, sliders add weight to the device. There are serious advantages to a virtual keyboard that weighs nothing and disappears when you don't need it.

Typing on glass, like anything else, takes getting used to. I wouldn't be surprised if ten or twenty years from now there ate people who find typing on physical keyboards weird and unnatural.

Posted from Crackberry.com App for Android

**Tre Lawrence** · 08-14-2012, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by Alaric300

Because there's no advantage to that arrangement. A capacitive desktop keyboard would take the same amount of space as a physical one. Desktops are also not expected to be light or portable, abd the physical keyboard doesn't sacrifice screen real estate.

On a smartphone none of this is the case. Physical keyboards take away from the screen, sliders add weight to the device. There are serious advantages to a virtual keyboard that weighs nothing and disappears when you don't need it.

Typing on glass, like anything else, takes getting used to. I wouldn't be surprised if ten or twenty years from now there ate people who find typing on physical keyboards weird and unnatural.

Posted from Crackberry.com App for Android

Common sense. Good points.

Mobile post via Tapatalk

**ubizmo** · 08-14-2012, 02:04 PM

I find that using Swype is faster and at least as accurate as using the BB keyboard, and enjoyable too. IPhone doesn't have Swype, so that would skew the numbers a bit.

**papped** · 08-14-2012, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by SCrid2000

Very cool!
$20 says that the low QWERTY interest in the US is tied to the lack of a well advertised qwerty phone.

It's a cyclical problem.

Manufacturers either:
-refuse to make qwerty phones
-release very few of them with SIGNIFICANTLY lower specs in all regards

Then they claim that there is no interest in qwerty phones as a result, so they discontinue support on their existing qwerty phones....