A new UBS survey suggests Apple currently holds the top spot in smartphone retention rates by a long shot, holding a strong 89% rating over the nearest hardware competitor HTC at just 39%. Apple also had no trouble beating out the Android platform in general, although being a platform gave Google an added “stickiness” of around 60% retention among consumers.

Despite Android holding a higher rate than most other hardware manufacturers in this space, roughly 31 percent of current Android device owners are planning on jumping ship to the iPhone as their next purchase.

UBS also noted that the app catalog for platforms has had limited importance in the determining factors involved when consumers choose their next smartphone. That really says something about the iPhone 4 specifically, of which the hardware is over a year old yet still continues to beat out the newest, cutting edge smarthphone offerings.

[AppleInsider]

Ouch. Don’t know what else to say. Verizon told Apple they didn’t want the iPhone so Apple went to AT&T (and the mostly GSM world still thanks Jobs for that). To make up for it, Verizon — almost 2 years later — rushed the BlackBerry Storm to market. Still, during the iPhone 3G’s second quarter, it outsold the BlackBerry Storm in the US by almost 2 to 1 (1.9 million activations on AT&T vs. 1 million in sales on Verizon).

Now BGR brings word that Verizon is finally asking former customers — customers who left their network to go elsewhere — if they would have stayed for the iPhone.

Think maybe Verizon really really regrets saying no to Apple back in 2006? TiPb knows you want it. And if you left for the iPhone, would Verizon getting it encourage you to switch back? Even if it meant waiting a few years for LTE?