Mark Bridge writes:

At the end of our weekly podcast covering the latest mobile industry news, we usually finish with an “And finally...” report. Something that’s lighter that the rest of the headlines. You know the kind of thing; kittens using mobile phones, puppy-powered mobile phone chargers...

For a moment, I thought a recent press release from the US-based Gazelle electronics trade-in service would be this week’s final news story - but now I don’t think it will. Why not?  Let me explain.

Gazelle was at CES in Las Vegas last week, asking attendees about their mobile phone ownership and their outlook on life. It discovered, believe it or not, that iPhone owners are the most up-beat about life, Android customers keep themselves busy and BlackBerry users are pessimists. Incidentally, when I say “believe it or not”, I’m choosing “not”.

But Gazelle insists it’s true. Zero percent of BlackBerry users usually expect the best, contrasting with 29% of iPhone users and 60% of iPad users. Similarly, 52% of iPhone users are optimistic about their future while just 28% of Android smartphone users share that optimism.

Here’s a little more detail:

iPhone and iPad users are optimistic, calm and social

In uncertain times, 29% of iPhone users and 60% of iPad users expect the best
52% of iPhone users and 58% of iPad users are always optimistic about their future
25% of iPhone users and 26% of iPad users don't get upset too easily
65% of iPhone users and 52% of iPad users enjoy their friends a lot

Android users are generally optimistic and active

28% of Android smartphone users and 36% of Android tablet users are always optimistic about their future
48% of Android smartphone users and 64% of Android tablet users think it's important to keep busy
31% of Android smartphone users and 55% of Android tablet users often expect more good things to happen than bad
18% of Android smartphone users and 27% of Android tablet users don't get upset too easily

BlackBerry users are pessimistic and uneasy about their future

33% of BlackBerry users believe if something can go wrong for them, it will
33% of BlackBerry users rarely count on good things happening to them
16% of BlackBerry users hardly ever expect things to go their way
0% of BlackBerry users usually expect the best

Sorry, I’m not convinced. Never mind margins of error and sample sizes, it all seems rather implausible to me. Mind you, if those consumers had been asked about their optimism for the mobile operating system they’d chosen... perhaps those figures wouldn’t be so implausible after all!