Interestingly the the top vendor is "Other". I regard this as a positive, no single corporation controls the market, this is good for innovation. That said, I would have liked to see more manufactures listed rather than be included in "other".
Don't forget that "shipments" and "units sold" are not the same. Which puts Apple even higher, as we know they sold literally every iPhone they could make last quarter, but its highly doubtful this was the case with any other manufacturer.
I find it interest that the tables are caption "Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales", yet the columns are headed "shipments", not even close to the same thing (except in Apple's case).
This argument is so incredibly annoying. In the case of Samsung and let's say the Galaxy S2, You don't ship the millions of units they have unless they were selling, and they are. In some cases you may find that units shipped are greater than units sold, but that would be rare. You'd generally see only a few shipments over a very short period of time.
So enough of this "Units shipped isn't units sold" crap. How about accepting the idea that others other than apple are able to do well?
It has nothing to do with accepting a company is able to do well. They're not the same measurement. Retailers return product to manufacturers all the time. That doesn't mean that units shipped can't equal units sold. It's just that shipped is a little less clear than sold.So enough of this "Units shipped isn't units sold" crap. How about accepting the idea that others other than apple are able to do well?
It has nothing to do with accepting a company is able to do well. They're not the same measurement. Retailers return product to manufacturers all the time. That doesn't mean that units shipped can't equal units sold. It's just that shipped is a little less clear than sold.
indeed it doesn't matter as long as the market is big enough, but it's always fun to rub it in Android fanboy's face.
It has nothing to do with accepting a company is able to do well. They're not the same measurement. Retailers return product to manufacturers all the time. That doesn't mean that units shipped can't equal units sold. It's just that shipped is a little less clear than sold.
"Several observers have also noted that Samsung's number refers to shipments while Apple's refers to sales, although those metrics may not be vastly different. Apple's "sales" numbers actually refer to sales into the distribution channel rather than end users, - MacRumors - Oct 2011"
So why is it okay that companies report units shipped as units sold? It all comes down to accounting.
Companies need to determine inventory and cost of good sold figures in order to calculate earnings. Sounds simple enough. Diving deeper into purchasing contracts would show the more intricate interactions between a buyer and seller. Without jumping into the accounting bunny hole, let’s look at Apple’s most recent 10-K:
“(Apple) recognizes revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the sales price is fixed or determinable, and collection is probable. Product is considered delivered to the customer once it has been shipped and title and risk of loss have been transferred. For most of (Apple)’s product sales, these criteria are met at the time the product is shipped. For online sales to individuals, for some sales to education customers in the U.S., and for certain other sales, (Apple) defers revenue until the customer receives the product because (Apple) legally retains a portion of the risk of loss on these sales during transit.”
An iPad on a freight plane headed to a Walmart warehouse is no longer counted as an iPad in Apple’s inventory, instead it is counted as an iPad in Walmart’s inventory. Apple is able to recognize that iPad as sold and recognize the accompanying revenue (and profit).
- Business Insider, Mar 2011
I think items returned by the dealer would be subtracted from "shipped", just as items returned by the customer would be subtracted from "sold" (which is why it is possible that the number of items shipped or sold can be negative).
Apple specifically states in their SEC filings that they count all shipments as sales, and that if any are returned unsold later, Apple accounts for that lost revenue separately.
Out of curiosity - and really nothing more - I wonder what effect the genius bar has on products sold. Meaning (for example) Some people on here go through 3-4 phones at launch because the screen temp isn't right, there's a dead pixel, whatever. Does Apple count those as 3-4 phones "sold" or is it still 1.
Further - if the phones exchanged are then sold as refurbished - are those additional sales?
We do know that shipments to Apple stores are not counted as sales until an end user pays for it, but I don't know about replacements. I don't think it would count as a sale if it's exchanged for free.
However, replacements would certainly register as extra carrier activations.
Are Apple refurbished sales counted in with all the other sales? Good question. I would certainly think they do, since there is associated revenue from a new customer. (And there were two devices involved, a new one to the original customer and the original one to the new customer.)
Well it's been ages I've seen an LG phone actually owned by someone, and milennia since I've heard someone speak good about LG phones, so it was about time I guess.
So it's possible that one phone is counted more than once in both sales and activations. I'm not saying that's what happens. I'm saying it's POSSIBLE.
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Apple report products in the distribution channel so you can compare the number from the last quarter to the number from the current number to determine exact sold numbers?
Any situation we're missing?
-- Activations, definitely.
We know a single phone is counted each time a new person activates it. In addition, each replacement will count as a new activation.
Thus activation counts are inflated up to 20% by previously used phones being reactivated on another line, plus another 3-5% or more for returns and multiple returns where a single customer activates each replacement.
The high resale and hand-down rate of iPhones have boosted AT&T activation numbers for several years now, sometimes by millions.
-- As for sales, I think those are in sync.
It would seem fair that a warranty replacement that is refurbished and sold should also count as a sale, since there were actually two devices involved.
If a retailer sells a phone, then it's returned, then they sell it again, that's still only one sale because Apple counted it only once when they shipped to the retailer.
If an Apple store sells a phone, then it's returned and not replaced with another, then hopefully the store reduces its sold count and all is also well.
Any situation we're missing?
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Apple report products in the distribution channel so you can compare the number from the last quarter to the number from the current number to determine exact sold numbers?
"They suggested the inventory shortfall was more likely the result of parts shortages, or about accounting and revenue recognition. Their argument pointed out there was still ample supply of the phones at retail partners and across the UK, France and Germany.
"Because shipments to partner stores are recorded as sales and shipments to Apple’s own outlets aren’t, they argued, such an inventory alignment made good financial sense. It was a way for Apple to record more sales." - 2008 worries about iPhone shortages
Personally I think that puts you on the same level as the people you are insulting.
Just curious about where you're getting your numbers? I didn't think AT&T ever stated the numbers for used iPhone activations.
Also mighty impressive for Apple is that apparently 70% of all smartphone activations on Verizon and AT&T were iPhones. Very impressive, I think.
This argument is so incredibly annoying. In the case of Samsung and let's say the Galaxy S2, You don't ship the millions of units they have unless they were selling, and they are. In some cases you may find that units shipped are greater than units sold, but that would be rare. You'd generally see only a few shipments over a very short period of time.
So enough of this "Units shipped isn't units sold" crap. How about accepting the idea that others other than apple are able to do well?
You aren't really bright, are you?Not selling as many as they ship is the ONLY reason for Samsung to switch from sales figures to shipment figures. Period!