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iPhone Topping Android in Consumer Preference Despite Lack of New Hardware

MacRumors

MacRumors

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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ChangeWave Research today announced the results of a survey of over 4,000 professional and early-adopter smartphone users, primarily focused on the North American market. According to the survey, consumers looking to purchase a smartphone over the next 90 days are increasingly preferring the iPhone over Android by a count of 46%-32%, even with Apple holding off on introducing a iPhone in June as it has done every year since its original debut.

Historical tracking of consumer preference shows an interesting pattern, with Android rapidly gaining favor with consumers in the latter half of 2009 and equalling the iPhone by early 2010. And while the release of the iPhone 4 in mid-2010 gave Apple a temporary 20-point edge, it quickly returned to a neck-and-neck race over the remainder of 2010.

changewave_jun11_os_preference.jpg



But 2011 has seen Apple suddenly open up a decent-sized margin over Android, as Apple has continued to expand availability and introduced the CDMA iPhone running on Verizon. The survey also points to Apple's iCloud announcement as a positive for the iPhone with 21% of current Apple product owners and 13% of non-owners reporting that iCloud has made them more likely to purchase Apple products going forward.

Apple also continues to lead in consumer satisfaction with 70% of iPhone owners reporting that they are "very satisfied" with the device, although that number has dropped slightly over the device's four-year lifetime. Android and Windows Phone 7 sit in the 50-60% range for "very satisfied" scores, while Research in Motion's BlackBerry platform has fallen to a new low with only 27% of owners registering as very satisfied with their devices. The loss of customer satisfaction with BlackBerry has also bled over into future purchasing plans, with only 4% of consumers looking to purchase a smartphone within the next 90 days planning to turn to a BlackBerry device.

Article Link: iPhone Topping Android in Consumer Preference Despite Lack of New Hardware
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/18/iphone-topping-android-in-consumer-preference-despite-lack-of-new-hardware/
coder12

coder12

macrumors 6502a
Jun 28, 2010
512
3
Shouldn't the title say iOS, not iPhone, since that's how it's explicitly stated? ;)
 
AAPLaday

AAPLaday

Guest
Aug 6, 2008
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I wonder if the very satisfied Android number would be higher if they just included the top end phones and removed the lower cheap models. Most of the complaints i know of on Android involve the cheaper models. (resistive screen, slow, buggy, poorly performing apps, etc.)
 
M

mjillard

macrumors newbie
Oct 11, 2010
24
0
dethmaShine said:
Reaction 1: Just fake. We know Android is outselling iOS. 550,000 activations per day... omg!!

Reaction 2: Who cares?

/s
Click to expand...

1. The survey was conducted among professionals and early adopters. This is why apple makes so much more money selling so many less phones. 2. If you don't care, why read the article?
 
T

tbrinkma

macrumors 68000
Apr 24, 2006
1,651
93
dethmaShine said:
Reaction 1: Just fake. We know Android is outselling iOS. 550,000 activations per day... omg!!
Click to expand...

Let's be accurate here... The collective of all currently available android phones are outselling the currently available iPhone models, but when you compare 'Android' sales to 'iOS' sales, you've got to include tablets and (more significantly) the iPod Touch. With those in the equation, iOS is still significantly outselling Android.

dethmaShine said:
Reaction 2: Who cares?
Click to expand...

Obviously someone does. Not sure who though. :p
 
W

winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
dethmaShine said:
Reaction 1: Just fake. We know Android is outselling iOS. 550,000 activations per day... omg!!

Reaction 2: Who cares?

/s
Click to expand...

the survey is preferences not purchases, and come on google android is on over 200 devices is it couldnt outsell 1 there would be a huge problem
 
foodog

foodog

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2006
911
43
Atlanta, GA
AAPLaday said:
I wonder if the very satisfied Android number would be higher if they just included the top end phones and removed the lower cheap models. Most of the complaints i know of on Android involve the cheaper models. (resistive screen, slow, buggy, poorly performing apps, etc.)
Click to expand...

Take the low end Android phones out of the total sales figures too.... you will see the Android phone aren't nearly as popular either.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

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Feb 5, 2009
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roadbloc

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
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215
UK
North America != The World. I'm afraid Android is still king in the broader spectrum of things and it is remaining that way for the foreseeable future.
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,557
6,058
AAPLaday said:
I wonder if the very satisfied Android number would be higher if they just included the top end phones and removed the lower cheap models. Most of the complaints i know of on Android involve the cheaper models. (resistive screen, slow, buggy, poorly performing apps, etc.)
Click to expand...

Possibly, but that's the price they pay by playing in the low end market. Apple doesn't play in the "we cut the price so low that we had to sacrifice quality and ease of use" market.

Also, it looks to me like the graph shows a battle between Android and Black Berry more than anything else. Android's rise pretty perfectly mirrors Black Berry's fall. Maybe this was the case amongst "professional smart phone users" (what the hell does it mean to be one of those, anyways? Back to the person I quoted, would one of those people even bother buying a low end Android phone? Maybe because we're only looking at these people, we've already cut out the crappy Android phones from the picture.)
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
tbrinkma said:
Let's be accurate here... The collective of all currently available android phones are outselling the currently available iPhone models, but when you compare 'Android' sales to 'iOS' sales, you've got to include tablets and (more significantly) the iPod Touch. With those in the equation, iOS is still significantly outselling Android.
Click to expand...

Yes, iOS is still by far the dominant mobile OS.
 
itslowry

itslowry

macrumors newbie
Jul 18, 2011
5
0
After conducting the most important survey of all, namely myself, I agree iOS is significantly better than Android and it is the top seller in my abode.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
ericmooreart said:
I Never believe surveys because you can always find one that supports your way of thinking

for example:

http://www.businessinsider.com/android-iphone-market-share-2011-4
Click to expand...

That's market share. It's old news. And a completely different measure.

We're talking about consumer preference among those currently looking to buy, over the next 3 months. Read this article again:

According to the survey, consumers looking to purchase a smartphone over the next 90 days are increasingly preferring the iPhone over Android by a count of 46%-32%, even with Apple holding off on introducing a iPhone in June as it has done every year since its original debut.


Don't just reference surveys blindly. Understand the difference between them and what's being shown.
 
the8thark

the8thark

macrumors 601
Apr 18, 2011
4,628
1,735
And it does not matter how much iOS phones or Android phones are sold. The iOS ones make the most profits by a bug margin. Apple left the "most users/sales" a long time ago and focuses on the most profits. So in short Apple does not care how many Android phones are sold.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
the8thark said:
And it does not matter how much iOS phones or Android phones are sold. The iOS ones make the most profits by a bug margin. Apple left the "most users/sales" a long time ago and focuses on the most profits. So in short Apple does not care how many Android phones are sold.
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't license out their OS to every box-maker under the sun.

Be thankful. It means Apple has standards.
 
B

Bobby Corwen

macrumors 68030
Jul 16, 2010
2,723
474
We all know what the public perception is.

Its funny when, due to competitive insecurity, those on the underdog side try to warp public perception to make it seem like they are not only not the underdogs, but rather inversely on top.

"If we just pretend we are the best, and enough of us take that stance, maybe we can make it a reality!"
 
Xenomorph

Xenomorph

macrumors 65816
Aug 6, 2008
1,397
829
St. Louis
*LTD* said:
It's not the just the phone. It's the superior platform. That's what it's all about.

Developers agree as well:

http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/181693/20110717/developers-prefer-apple-s-ios-including-google.htm

The purpose of an Android device is a gateway to ad revenue.

The purpose of an iOS device is to provide the best possible user experience. And it shows.

This is why even Apple's old, outdated 3GS still outsells new Android handsets:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385153,00.asp
Click to expand...

This.

A MILLION times, this.

It's not all about the hardware. I remember the Droid (lol) commercials talking about how it has XXX hardware, and crap loads of RAM, and super-fast Snapdragon (?) processor. Basically, it will melt your face off with its hardware.
But you're basically running that sports car into a brick wall by loading Android on it.

A 2+ year old 3GS is still way, way better than most of the Android shovelware devices out there. Even when performance took a hit with iOS 4.x, it still runs better and is easier to use than Android OS.

Android came out in 2008. We're quickly heading into 2012, and Android is still a beta-quality experience at best.
Have you used an Android device to do any text processing? Bad keyboard, and completely nasty interface for modifying text. You know that little magnifying glass iOS has for moving the cursor around and selecting text? You'll find out how amazing and important it is on iOS within a few minutes of using Android and not having anything like it.
 
Popeye206

Popeye206

macrumors 68040
Sep 6, 2007
3,148
836
NE PA USA
I say "who cares". My personal preference is iOS. I have yet to pick up an Android based device that I think outshines the iPhone and iOS.

But... the reality of the market is most consumers don't even know what they're buying or get sold on what the sales guy sells them on. However, I do think most people who have an iPhone actually set out to buy an iPhone, not just a smart phone and ended up with one. Make sense?

Good to see Apple continuing to do well. Can't wait for iOS 5. :)
 
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