Despite slow sales growth over the past three months, the iPhone is still fresh in the minds of most smartphone users. So fresh that a lot of them wish they owned Apple’s handset instead of their own. A new study from market research firm Crowd Science shows that 40 percent of Blackberry users will be switching to an iPhone when their current plans are up.

It’s not just the iPhone. Some 32 percent of Blackberry users said they would switch out for a Nexus One when the time came. The real trouble, it seems, is RIM’s platform. While Android and Apple’s iPhone OS have matured into serious entertainment platforms, RIM has tried to rally a stalwart defense of its corporate clientele. Oddly enough, that defense has looked like offering more of the same that made the Blackberry a success in a pre-iPhone world.

It’s already too late for RIM to turn this ship around. The company needs a new operating system and a completely different pitch, neither of which are likely to happen in the next six months. By then the defectors will really start to hurt. Don’t bet on Android or iPhone users heading RIM’s direction, either. Some 90 percent of those users plan to stick with their current platform.

Do you ever find yourself wishing you had one of these Apple swimsuits? Are you the annoying guy that defends Apple’s every action? Has your iPhone turned you against other phone manufacturer’s despite its technical shortcomings? If so, you might be suffering form iPhone-induced Stockholm Syndrome, according to Strand Consulting.

The firm released a report entitled, ““How will psychologists describe the iPhone syndrome in the future?” this Friday, and it’s a decidedly strange read. The report opens with an anecdote just about everyone can agree with: “It is no secret that there has been a great deal of hype surrounding the iPhone and it is also no secret that Apple probably has the most loyal and fantastic customers in the world.” From there Strand posits that iPhone customers look past the phone’s shortcomings and go on to defend the worst parts of the device to the phone’s critics.

“When we examine the iPhone users’ arguments defending the iPhone, it reminds us of the famous Stockholm Syndrome – a term that was invented by psychologists after a hostage drama in Stockholm. Here hostages reacted to the psychological pressure they were experiencing, by defending the people that had held them hostage for 6 days,” reads the report.

It’s definitely a different take on what most people write off as fanboyism. You have to wonder, though, what you would call the fact that millions of cellular customers continue to purchase and pay for phones and services they are unhappy with. Bearing that in mind, it’s tough to fault anyone for defending one of the best phones on the market. Or is that just my SS flaring up?

Source: 9to5 Mac