Apple Reportedly Retakes U.S. Smartphone Sales Lead from Android on iPhone 5 Strength

[somethingelsefl]

Originally Posted by GenesisST

I have nothing against two strong contenders! Of course, they will overtake one another every now and then.

I think that are 4 categories for Android and iOS:
1) Those who prefer iOS
2) Those who prefer Android
3) Those who despise iOS/Apple
4) Those who despise Android/Google

To each his own... Although those in #3 and #4 should get a life...

At this point, RIM and MS should just be included in "others". On the other hand, I welcome them for trying.

Well said. Competition is good for Apple. People forget that these are "preferences" not a religion or a lifestyle.

[mattkap]

Originally Posted by nrose101

Unfortunately Android will overtake the market cause carriers give them away for free. However I wish all those Android users would just use an iPhone once and realize it is worth the money!

As someone who has used both. I like both, but prefer the Android. The samsung galaxy 3 for 96 cents was the icing on the cake.

[nazaar]

Originally Posted by cambox

I live in the UK and a lot of people here are ditching the iphone as the screen is way to small, im sure its only a few but the screen issue is becoming a fact of life.

So how many focus groups have to conducted to come up with such a "all inclusive" statement?

When you say "a lot" that implies more than 50%... so I'm just wondering if I can see the actual results from the survey you conducted...?

[GenesisST]

Originally Posted by everything-i

Every time a new size of iDevice is introduced it increases the work for app developers. The reason Apples devices are so popular with developers is that its relatively easy to test on all the current available devices. The iPhone 5 has just introduced a new size and its been a lot of work to get apps updated in many cases. If you introduce yet another size that work has to be done all again and some apps get bigger because of all the different sizes of the same graphic that have to be included.

It really depends on the type of apps. The one I'm working on took me an hour to support retina4. And if apple went with larger, my autosize masks would do the job. Maybe a few missing masks here and there, since I'm alone with no reviewer and tired most of the time (overworked with two young kids).

And that's true on Android too: if you have good layouts, they will scale to whatever sizes.

Games or anything with openGL, that's a different thing, though, AFAIK (never did openGL)

[ncaissie]

Originally Posted by goobot

How is it too small? I remember people bitching it was too big in 2007. It's a phone, get a tablet if you want a big screen IMO.

I hate when people say buy a tablet. What a stupid thing to say. Tablets only work at 10 inch or bigger. Try making a phone call on a tablet. (And no skype is not an alternative.) You can’t have a 10 inch phone.
That said I like my iPhone 5 screen size. Sure I wish it was a bit bigger but I wouldn’t changes phones because of it.

[vito]

Originally Posted by Risco

Not where I am!

+1 - This, past few weeks I've come across more iPhone 5's then ever before!

Originally Posted by cambox

Its just to small for a business user and most people I know are business users, maybe its fine for you and for most, I'm just saying for a lot of web surfing its just a bit small.

As a business user my main uses on a mobile device are talking and sending emails etc.

The vast majority wouldn't care what size their screen is IMO.

[M-O]

Originally Posted by extricated

IOS is to Android as to what McDonalds is to ALL OTHER FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS.

Maybe a bad analogy, but my point is people aren't (usually) in the market for just an "Android", they're looking for a "Samsung Galaxy", or an "HTC Droid", or an "LG Nexus", etc.

Comparing operating systems has it's place, but we're talking about one platform versus multiple platforms.

In that respect, Apple is doing AMAZING.

people who buy the iPhone don't want a smartphone, they want an iPhone. people who want a smartphone buy an android.

[cambox]

Originally Posted by nazaar

So how many focus groups have to conducted to come up with such a "all inclusive" statement?

When you say "a lot" that implies more than 50%... so I'm just wondering if I can see the actual results from the survey you conducted...?

If you can read the answer is already there, I said I'm sure its only a few. Want me to repeat that or did you read it this time?

[somethingelsefl]

Originally Posted by kdarling

It's quite likely that Apple will eventually increase the iPhone screen size even more.

Yup. Apple is definitely planning on that. I prefer the size of the iPhone 5, but not everyone does. Apple knows that.

The SDK for iOS 6 allows for multi-screen sizes and auto-layouts (similar to what Android has with its scaling). At the WWDC this year Apple flat out said, "Do NOT assume that our screen sizes will be standard anymore. Adjust your apps to be flexible and do NOT hard-code pixels."

Which means that all this forum chatter about how the screen size of Android is too big, Apple is just right, etc will become real silly as apps and screen sizes start to fragment more on iOS. Which isn't a bad thing as long as developers are given the tools they need to succeed and Apple is far better at that than Android.

[KdParker]

Makes sense. After the huge 4 quarter apple had. Remains to see if android will recover.

They have lowered the price of the sgIII since they can't go head to head with the 199 cost.

[odditie]

Originally Posted by M-O

people who buy the iPhone don't want a smartphone, they want an iPhone. people who want a smartphone buy an android.

[Oletros]

it is amazing how different is the smartphone market in USA compared to Europe.

[Chupa Chupa]

Originally Posted by M-O

people who buy the iPhone don't want a smartphone, they want an iPhone. people who want a smartphone buy an android.

And what about companies that buy them for the salesforce and middle management? Surely they are not concerned with such vanities.

It's rather silly to suggest an iPhone is less of a smartphone than Android. iPhone does just as much, if not more, than Android because of it's larger, more useful, app library. Most consumer companies develop iOS apps before Android, IF they develop an Android app.

[KdParker]

Originally Posted by GenesisST

I have nothing against two strong contenders! Of course, they will overtake one another every now and then.

I think that are 4 categories for Android and iOS:
1) Those who prefer iOS
2) Those who prefer Android
3) Those who despise iOS/Apple
4) Those who despise Android/Google

To each his own... Although those in #3 and #4 should get a life...

At this point, RIM and MS should just be included in "others". On the other hand, I welcome them for trying.

MS is doing more that just trying. In many ways they have out done android.

If they get their marketing in order and get more product out they will become a big player.

[pgiguere1]

Very impressive considering Android sales include a bunch of cheap, data-less Android 2.3 "smart"phones that are rather used as dumbphones and don't even compete with the iPhone.

[rhuber]

Originally Posted by KdParker

MS is doing more that just trying. In many ways they have out done android.

If they get their marketing in order and get more product out they will become a big player.

I have to agree with that. The new MS phone are really impressive. There might be a consumer confidence issue to deal with though. I hope they stay in the smartphone game though, because they really are incredible devices today.

[M-O]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

The mirroring of the two lines is pretty fascinating. They really are fighting over the same people now.

Gone are the days when they could both gain customers away from dumb-phones and both grow at ridiculous rates. Nope, now a sale for you is literally a customer stolen from the other guy.

just this summer the smartphone usage hit 50% of the US population. every day the mirroring effect you see will become closer to exact. if not disrupted, eventually they will stay constant as two parallel lines.

[rhuber]

Originally Posted by pgiguere1

Very impressive considering Android sales include a bunch of cheap, data-less Android 2.3 "smart"phones that are rather used as dumbphones and don't even compete with the iPhone.

Are the phones that you refer to even reflected in these statistics? I mean if they are "data-less" phones as you say, then they are not part of this demographic. Right?

[Chupa Chupa]

Originally Posted by KdParker

If they get their marketing in order and get more product out they will become a big player.

Maybe. Maybe not. Could be too late for them. A lot of consumers and businesses alike have been with iOS or Android for sometime now. Consumers have collected a library of apps; business have developed custom apps for employees.

Just like when Apple was touting Mac ease of use superiority in the 90s, but came up very short as consumers and companies stuck with Windows because change is hard AND expensive, likely same out come here. It's not just a matter of marketing. People are becoming set in their ways and the only thing that overcomes that is when the product they use fails them in some way. But Android and iOS satisfaction among respective users is very high right now.

[Radio]

I'm a huge apple supporter but iOS is now fragmented.

They should of made the iPhone screen proportionally larger

[SPUY767]

Originally Posted by nrose101

Unfortunately Android will overtake the market cause carriers give them away for free. However I wish all those Android users would just use an iPhone once and realize it is worth the money!

That's the thing though, the people who are getting the free androids aren't really smartphone people. They're using them as feature phones and wouldn't benefit from the features of an iPhone. Some poop stain at the VZW store conned my grandmother into getting an android phone when all she wanted was a freking phone, she now has trouble using it for the her purposes because at its heart, it just isn't a very good phone.

[everything-i]

Originally Posted by rhuber

That doesn't apply to android though (unless you are a game developer).

While its true there is a certain latitude for Android apps to scale if you want then to look good across a wide range of devices you really have to do some work there for each screen size you want to tailor for, this is why so many Android apps look kind of sparse on bigger phones like the Note or cramped on the smaller ones. iOS wasn't designed to scale apps in that way because the screen sizes were controlled so your going to be left with more work for iOS.

[iGrip]

Apple does this with one phone. They pit the iPhone against all the various different Android phones all put together. These results are amazing.

[everything-i]

Originally Posted by GenesisST

It really depends on the type of apps. The one I'm working on took me an hour to support retina4. And if apple went with larger, my autosize masks would do the job. Maybe a few missing masks here and there, since I'm alone with no reviewer and tired most of the time (overworked with two young kids).

And that's true on Android too: if you have good layouts, they will scale to whatever sizes.

Games or anything with openGL, that's a different thing, though, AFAIK (never did openGL)

Its the bigger apps like games or professionally produced stuff with lots of graphics that are the problem. Text based stuff with a few widgets are pretty trivial to update as you say.

[swarmster]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

The mirroring of the two lines is pretty fascinating. They really are fighting over the same people now.

Gone are the days when they could both gain customers away from dumb-phones and both grow at ridiculous rates. Nope, now a sale for you is literally a customer stolen from the other guy.

You seem to be reading the graph wrong. This is sales share of smartphones for the quarter. If one company gains a greater share of all sales, the others have to have a lesser share. It does not necessarily mean anyone is 'switching'.