Previously, ChangeWave looked at the customer satisfaction levels of RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone. They saw an evolving two horse race in the U.S. smartphone market. Now, ChangeWave has looked at what customers of the two phones love most about them.

"The previous report showed excellent consumer satisfaction levels for the two smart phone frontrunners – with Apple sporting a 79% Very Satisfied rating for its iPhone models and RIM grabbing a highly respectable 54% rating for the BlackBerry.

"But what is it about these two brands that have consumers so very satisfied?"

ChangeWave surveyed 864 smartphone owners in March 2008. By an overwhelming factor, e-mail is what customers liked best.

ChangeWave Research

"BlackBerry owners also reported a few key dislikes, number one being the speed and quality of its Internet browsing experience (13%). A second major dislike was the size of the keypad (11%), with owners complaining that the keys are too small and cause too many typing errors.

With regard to the Apple iPhone, ChangeWave reported: "By far the most lauded feature of the iPhone among its owners is the seamless integration of its phone, iPod and Internet browser (36%) capabilities." One iPhone owner said that it’s the integrated whole that makes it so much fun to use.

ChangeWave Research

"In terms of dislikes, there is no doubt about what iPhone owners hate most," ChangeWave reported. "It’s the speed of the AT&T EDGE network. No surprise then that the number two criticism is the requirement to use AT&T. Users also expressed unhappiness with the iPhone’s lack of copy & paste functionality."

ChangeWave’s founder, Tobin Smith, also reported that both these companies, with very loyal customers, and in the process of working to overwhelm the competition.

Finally, ChangWave reported: "For all the iPhone’s momentum, there are still some core issues owners want to have resolved – and first among them is 3G capability. According to the survey, that’s the number one feature iPhone owners want integrated into the next generation of the iPhone (19%) – even more so than third-party software (18%), GPS functionality (15%) or email integration (10%)."

iPO notes that from the looks of things, that’s just about what Apple customers are going to get in the next generation iPhone.