Holiday Gifts Drive New iOS Device Activations Sharply Higher

[cvaldes]

Amazon doesn't lose $20 per tablet, they lose around $3 according to
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/tec...le-fire-costs-20170-to-build-report-says.html

Sorry, BOM estimates from supply chain analysts are not COGS.

Nobody knows exactly what those figures are. You can't quote one BOM estimate and say that's the correct one versus somebody else's BOM estimate.

BOM estimates are entertaining to look at (most are laughably dismissed by the device manufacturers) but are only relatively within that analyst's history of BOM estimates; they aren't really valid to compare with another.

And unlike sports bookies, BCS computer rankings, Wall Street analyst predictions, etc., there's no way to figure out who is the most accurate since the device manufacturers never reveal actual COGS.

 

[whatever]

Amazon doesn't lose $20 per tablet, they lose around $3 according to
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/tec...le-fire-costs-20170-to-build-report-says.html

My point is that all Kindle devices are simply loss leaders for Amazon. What they want to sell you is content. Which is why Amazon continues to support the Kindle software on other platforms.

Where in Apples world the iTunes store is the loss leader and all they really care about selling is iOS devices.

And here is another story on how much money Amazon loses on each Kindle Fire:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/kindle-fire-said-to-bleed-a-bit-less-red-ink/

 

[Oletros]

What I would like to see are some dollar figures.

How much profit are the Android products making?

For example, the Kindle Fire loses/costs Amazon around $20.00 per tablet..

Kindle Fire is not an Android product

To a consumer it matters because the companies who are investing in Android mobile devices are not going to see a great enough return on their investment and will either abandon their mobile strategy, stop investing in it or switch to another OS. Leaving the consumer behind.

Any source to back this claim?

 

[*LTD*]

Why is Android always shown as a single unit compared to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch IOS devices. Certainly each manufacturer's unique version of Android installed on unique equipment is a different device. There should be multiple segments in the Android column for each manufacturer with it's customized Android software just like the IOS column shows the different IOS devices. Showing Android as a single column hides the terrible fragmentation that actually exists on the Android platform.

Very perceptive.

Ties quite well into the reality of the situation:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1295965/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1293614/

Android neither looks nor functions as a single unit across the board. There is little to no uniformity, and hardware/software optimization is few and far between. Even for higher-end Anrdoid devices.

http://www.neowin.net/news/google-delivers-christmas-cheer-complete-with-stuttering-android-devices

 

[Krazy Bill]

More iDevices being activated during Christmas. Imagine that.

 

[kdarling]

Why is Android always shown as a single unit compared to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch IOS devices.

Not enough info to accurately break out tablets from phones.

There should be multiple segments in the Android column for each manufacturer with it's (sic) customized Android software just like the IOS column shows the different IOS devices.

We also never see the iOS phone column separated into 3GS, 4 and 4S sections. They have different screen resolutions and capabilities.

Showing Android as a single column hides the terrible fragmentation that actually exists on the Android platform.

You mean the amazing selection that exists

--

Both Android and iOS have multiple screen sizes and resolutions.

Both have multiple OS versions in use. Just looking at new device sales doesn't speak to that issue. For example, less than half of iOS devices in use are running iOS version 5; the majority are still on 4.x, with a few still on 3.x.

However, from a experienced developer standpoint, the so-called "terrible fragmentation" on both devices isn't that big a deal. It's also not that big a deal to users, since smart developers target the lowest setup possible in order to have as wide an audience as possible.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Surprising to me that Germany is more an iOS country. I would not have thought that.

 

[rmwebs]

Activations do not equate to sales.

At the end of the day, the majority of the Android devices are not making a fraction of the net profit that the iOS devices are.

Wanna back that up and expand it?

Net profit to whom? Google's GAPPS license or the manufacturers?

I love how we get members here coming out with stuff like this with little to no knowledge on what the hell they are talking about.

 

[aerok]

Very perceptive.

Ties quite well into the reality of the situation:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1295965/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1293614/

Android neither looks nor functions as a single unit across the board. There is little to no uniformity, and hardware/software optimization is few and far between. Even for higher-end Anrdoid devices.

http://www.neowin.net/news/google-delivers-christmas-cheer-complete-with-stuttering-android-devices

Blah blah blah, useless blabber again.

 

[Oletros]

Android neither looks nor functions as a single unit across the board. There is little to no uniformity, and hardware/software optimization is few and far between. Even for higher-end Anrdoid devices.

http://www.neowin.net/news/google-delivers-christmas-cheer-complete-with-stuttering-android-devices

A link that posts a review from MG Siegler and shows a video that doesn't have any stutter? Really?

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Why is Android always shown as a single unit compared to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch IOS devices. Certainly each manufacturer's unique version of Android installed on unique equipment is a different device. There should be multiple segments in the Android column for each manufacturer with it's customized Android software just like the IOS column shows the different IOS devices. Showing Android as a single column hides the terrible fragmentation that actually exists on the Android platform.

I wouldn't mind seeing something similar to the apple breakdown: android PMP devices (itouch equivalent), android tablets, and android phones.

Kindle Fire is not an Android product

Oh. So what OS is it running?

 

[dokujaryu]

Both have multiple OS versions in use. Just looking at new device sales doesn't speak to that issue. For example, less than half of iOS devices in use are running iOS version 5; the majority are still on 4.x, with a few still on 3.x.

I agree. Perhaps we should do a simpler comparison to avoid all ambiguity. Let us compare only newly purchased and activated iOS 5 phone devices versus newly purchased and activated Android 4.0 phone devices.

This will avoid all problematic issues with multiple versions of the OS and will paint a clearer picture of consumer choice of a specifically available Android OS (edit: on a phone) over a specifically available iOS (edit: on a phone) . This will avoid all ambiguity caused by update lag on the android platform to older phones as well as iOS upgrade adoption rates. You could normalize this further by averaging your daily rate of consumption to avoid iOS's earlier release date. (Though, you probably need a larger Android 4 sample size at this point)

This will more directly show the impact of consumer choice of Android Ice Creme Sandwich (the operating system) over iOS 5 (the operating system). The same graphic could be generated for Froyo, Gingerbread, and Honeycomb.

This, of course, would simply be another graph of statistical information that can be argued or agreed with.

 

[Oletros]

Oh. So what OS is it running?

Kindle Fire is using a fork of Android, is not certified by the OHA and because so, is not an Android device and is not counted on those stats.

 

[ericinboston]

Talk about SKEWED statistics!!

Talk about SKEWED statistics.

So who in the world buys a product between Dec 1 and 20 AND OPENS AND USES IT BEFORE CHRISTMAS?! Pretty much only non-Christians.

Sheeeez. I bet if they compared it to Oct 1-20 or July 1-2 it would be FAR HIGHER than 1.5. Probably around 4...thus comparing 4 to 6.8 is a much different story (and still a positive story).

Yes, of course lots of people get iOS devices for Christmas...but trying to compare ANYTHING on Dec 25 to Dec 1-20 is terrible statistical analysis. Do you think there are more cell phone activations on Dec 25? What about new software/computer registrations that day? What about new tv unveilings? The examples can go on forever.

 

[nraudigy2]

Android's fragmentation is mostly in the graphics chip. All iOS devices only use PowerVR SGX graphic chips. WP7 is doing the samething with only Adreno chips and nothing else. WP7's next generation graphic chips will be Adreno from Qualcomm. On Android, there are Adreno, PowerVR, GeForce, MALI-400 and couple more different GPUs from phones in China. If Intel wants to join Android, there would be even more fragmentation.

http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/93760-how-android-fragmentation-actually-affects-users

 

[Ries]

Surprising to me that Germany is more an iOS country. I would not have thought that.

The graph doesn't say that It says IOS won a bit of the christmas market share, android lost a bit. What the graph doesn't say is, who sells the most. The graph could have been made from following made up numbers: Apple went from 100 to 245 and android from 100gazillion to 210 gazillion sold. The increase is from different base numbers.

Basicly if nokia normally sells one a month and this christmas suddenly sells 1000, they would dominate that graph and the media would go, OMG nokia rulez!

 

[juliusaugustus]

No matter which platform wins, the real winners here are the operators,retailers, and the folks at ARM holdings who make this stuff possible.

 

[henrystar]

It's amazing that there is still such massive growth, considering how popular these devices already are. It seems like there's no end in sight.

But what about those darned South Koreans and Swedes? Maybe we should go for the North Koreans? I mean Android! Surely!

 

[aerok]

No matter which platform wins, the real winners here are the operators,retailers, and the folks at ARM holdings who make this stuff possible.

Sadly not everyone thinks the same way, a lot of people here will always have to attack the success of another entity that is not Apple.

 

[juliusaugustus]

Sadly not everyone thinks the same way, a lot of people here will always have to attack the success of another entity that is not Apple.

Yah I agree their is no denying the success of either Android or iOS.

 

[PlipPlop]

Jesus, we knew Android was dominating but this is impressive. Well done Google.

 

[aerok]

Yah I agree their is no denying the success of either Android or iOS.

It's always the same thing over and over again, there will be a post stating Android has good sale numbers.

One person will come out to say sales number don't matter/are lies because:

1. the sales are fragmented (They love using that word)
2. Android manufacturers make less profit
3. Consumers are more satisfied with Apple

Then when one person says it does not matter because both are doing amazing, the fore mentioned reasons are irrelevant to the subject, he will be called an Apple-hating Android fanboy even if he never bashed Apple.

(All these based on past similar threads)

 

[PlipPlop]

2012 looks set to be another epic Android domination.

 

[juliusaugustus]

Sadly not everyone thinks the same way, a lot of people here will always have to attack the success of another entity that is not Apple.

Yah the real competition is between Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Nvidia, and the rest of the ARM vendors (not to discredit the work of OEMS like Apple, HTC etc). Personally it must be great to owner of one if these companies because the demand for ARM processors has never been higher and the cost of building and developing isn't an expensive or difficult. Not to mention that ARM Processors can be used in many kinds of computers/embedded devices and has a lot of longterm potential growth. But the company that makes money from all of the Work of SOC (System on a Chip) makers is ARMH (Arm Holdings). Almost every single smartphone, smart tv, tablet PC and pretty much every other embedded device.

 

[aerok]

Yah the real competition is between Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Nvidia, and the rest of the ARM vendors (not to discredit the work of OEMS like Apple, HTC etc). Personally it must be great to owner of one if these companies because the demand for ARM processors has never been higher and the cost of building and developing isn't an expensive or difficult. Not to mention that ARM Processors can be used in many kinds of computers/embedded devices and has a lot of longterm potential growth. But the company that makes money from all of the Work of SOC (System on a Chip) makers is ARMH (Arm Holdings). Almost every single smartphone, smart tv, tablet PC and pretty much every other embedded device.

With Windows 8 running on ARM SOCs, even Intel and AMD are about to receive some serious competition.