Apple ranked first in the overall customer satisfaction among business wireless smartphone users, the most recent J.D. Power and Associates’ Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study revealed. This places Apple over rivals such as BlackBerry-maker RIM, or Palm, receiving in four out of five categories the highest number of points compared to other companies.

Apple was considered to be among the best in operation, operating system, physical design and features categories in which no other company scored as high. This added to an overall smartphone customer satisfaction score of 778 on a 1,000-point scale, leaving RIM (703 points) and Samsung (701 points) behind.

The study took into account several factors, such as the ease of operation (27%), operating system (24%), physical design (21%), handset features (18%) and battery aspects (10%).

This is of course the result of Apple’s most talked-about product, the iPhone. “With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Apple has clearly differentiated itself from the competition in areas that are most important to business smartphone users,’ explained Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services for J.D. Power and Associates. “By making basic applications and features easy to use and providing functionality in a thin, lightweight device, Apple has performed well in exceeding customer expectations.”

Speaking of customer satisfaction, the study also revealed that one fourth of users reported experienced software-related problems in their smartphone devices, such as the need to reboot, application malfunction or freeze, or touch-screen malfunctions. In addition to that, 44 percent of these users have also reported having to reboot their device at least once a week during the past 12 months, while 34 percent of them reported an application malfunction or freeze occurring at least once a week.

Parsons explained that as smartphones are actually mini-computers, such issues are not unexpected. But as the number and features for these devices increase, so should the devices’ reliability, if smartphone-makers want to increase their market penetration over time. “It’s critical for manufacturers to offer a complete package of functionality that is easy to use and has minimal operation malfunctions,” Parsons said.

While Apple seems to rank the highest in consumer preferences, it also ranks the highest in average purchase price, the study finds. Furthermore, only 60 percent of Apple iPhone owners reported using a wireless headset device, compared to 86 percent of Motorola owners.

The study also revealed that consumers are looking for five main aspects when purchasing a smartphone: Internet capability (45%), ability to use e-mail account (41%), overall design (39%), Bluetooth capabilities (37%) and keyboard style (37%). Keyboard style ranking fifth is another element supporting iPhone’s success over other smartphones, despite the fact that it doesn’t have a QWERTY keyboard.

Furthermore, 34 percent of smartphone owners download third party software, and unsurprisingly, almost half of the applications downloaded are games, followed by business applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel (43%) and travel-related programs (36%).