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iPhone 4S Closes Sales Gap on Android as Apple Sweeps Top Three Smartphone Models
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How is an Android device with ICO superior?
You probably mean because it's a cheap looking device made of plastic. Or the fact that the OS is based on Java, which is definitely faster and more technically advanced than anything else out there. Everything runs in a Virtual Machine which is always faster than not. Garbage Collection? Yep, those moments when your "technically advanced" phone just locks up for no reason? Yep, that's exactly what I want out of my phone. Have you heard of Automatic Reference Counting? I'm glad Apple went with that, because it's not nearly as advanced.
You're probably taking also about the development tools, which are so far superior to anything else out there, that it's extremely easy and simple to make apps. I can just fire up Eclipse and then go make a sandwich and program an iOS app while it loads up.
Fragmentation! Oh my, that's definitely technically advanced. I love that every single Android phone that I use is a completely different experience. Some are complete garbage and hardly respond to my touch. Some have terrible screens.
If technically advanced means the customer gets screwed because they never know what they are going to get, then you are right on.
Oh please. Most of that precious iPhone you love has parts that were not only designed, but manufactured elsewhere. The iPhone itself from manufactured elsewhere.
Has nothing to do with hate or jealous. Stop being geocentric.
LOL!!
The Year Android Had Multiple Personality Disorder
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/2011-the-year-android-had-multiple-personality-disorder/19486
The 3GS being in the #3 spot tells me that a lot of smartphone buyers aren't too smart. There are many phones better than the 3GS. IMHO, people buy it just to say they have an iPhone.
Or rather, they can get access to Apple's ecosystem (which currently has no peer) at a relatively low price.
With an iPhone, you're not just buying a phone, you're investing - your time and money as a user - in the platform, and Apple's ecosystem is a really, really big deal.
Have you bothered to use ICS 4.0 on the Galaxy Nexus? Or even 2.3.5 on the SGS II or HTC Amaze? They are quite good. My iPad1 has had its share of locking up with iOS5 and I've had to reset and connect it back to my iMac. The iPad2 is much better with iOS5.
Thanks, but no thanks to the iPhone.
Or you're just getting a decent phone at a good price. Newsflash - not everyone thinks of their phone or other devices as investments unto themselves or an ecosystem.
It doesn't matter. It's all part of the "just to have an iPhone" mentality.
You don't build mystique and brand power out of nothing.
Newsflash -- and many do think of their phone or other devices as investments unto themselves or an ecosystem.
what's your point?
Seems to me that you are the one who isn't very smart. No matter how smart smartphone buyers are, and no matter how many iPhones they buy, with Apple selling three models it is just inevitable that one of them can only be the third best selling phone. And another one has to be in second place. Only one iPhone can come first.
If I misunderstood what you are saying, you may try to respond with some sensible reasoning.
There are plenty of people who don't buy into hype/mystique/etc. Many people go into the store when they need a phone and just get one that is in their price range and has features they want.
I personally know plenty of people who have iphones and don't have a single app, nor do they even really know/care what phone they have. Shocker! I know it's hard for some people to wrap their heads around.
Perhaps I don't have your level of intellect, but I think it says a lot about a consumer buying a 3 year old phone. To me it says, I just want an iPhone, I don't care if it's outdated. As I stated earlier, IMHO there are several other smartphone's that trump the 3GS. By your logic, when the iPhone 5 comes out, Apple should have the top 4 selling smartphones. And when the 5S comes out, the top 5, etc etc.
So what would that tell "us" - that people want an inexpensive decent phone or that they needs/want the latest and greatest
That's a bit of a distortion, Ken. What the numbers say is that the iPhone 3G (free), the iPhone 4 ($99 for 8GB model), and the iPhone 4S ($199 for 16GB model) are all more attractive than any model from any other manufacturer. Apple has hit all three sweet spots in the price/feature tiering for their products.
Actually, the main difference between Apple's and Samsung's cell phone sales is profits that the businesses are reporting. The most recent report I can find (November 15, 2011) notes that Apple is receiving well over 50% of the profits of all US cell phone sales. Samsung is coming in at a bit less than 15%. Huge difference!
Samsung's sales are splintered: a variety of Android models, and a variety of Windows 7 models, and a variety of legacy models. Samsung's webpage lists 22 different models that they're selling with AT&T in the US today.
As noted above, there's no comparison between the three models that Apple is selling and the 22 that Samsung sells (on the AT&T platform). Any third-grader paying attention could tell you the difference between Apple's products: the $199 model is the newest one, the $99 a year old, and the free model is a couple of years old. On the other hand, there are probably three people on earth who could tell you what unique role the 22 phones from Samsung are playing in their product line. No consumer could possibly tell what role each of those 22 phone models are playing.
I'm not quite sure why you think this is significant. Perhaps it just means that the "free" Android market is even more fragmented than the rest of the Android market.
You're missing the forest for the trees. The main point was to suggest that multiple models of a product does not suggest a lack of confidence on the company's part.
That and offering a version for $0 (or close to it)
And make a bunch of $$$ still.
The thing is, Apple is selling old models to cover the tiers, while Samsung is offering 2 new models. I agree with the above poster, it was dumb to release 2 the same time (IIRC about its release dates).
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Could be an indication of desperation.
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Ummm.
Isn't getting an iPhone itself smart?
Then why exactly does Samsung have 22 different cell phones they're currently selling?
Where is there a guide telling me what phone is a better fit for my needs?
Is it too much to ask people to put aside their love for Apple or hate for other companies and just think a little logically for a bit?
There may be 22 different phones (on AT&T's website I see only 14 for purchase) but they're aimed for different target markets. Some are "dumb phones" and some are smart. Amongst the dumb, you have flip phones, slide phones, and candybar style phones. Why so many? So customers who don't want/need a smartphone can get a phone style that they prefer and at the price they want.
Then among the smartphones, you have Android, Windows, and other OS phones. Again, it's for different target markets. Some are older generation phones to sell to more budget conscious customers. Others are newer to appeal to those who want the newest technology. And still others are designed to appeal to specific groups of people (touchscreen + physical keyboard, military specifications).
Some are designed for prepaid use (which again ranges from dumbphones to touchscreen devices) while others are designed to be used with a plan. Need I go on?
It's a common business method... diversification and targeted marketing. It has nothing to do with confidence of one's product. Apple even used it for other products (such as when they sold their MacBook, MBP, and MBA lines simultaneously...they didn't lack confidence in their notebooks right?). They just decided they'd use a different business model for cell phones . And yes, it works for them. But that doesn't mean other companies are wrong or not confident.
And most people already know what their needs and wants are. It's not too hard to look at the various models and read the descriptions in the store. And if not, that's what the employees are for. I mean, you don't need guides telling you what clothes at the department store are better for you needs or what foods at the grocery market are better for your needs do you?
No, I don't think that is correct as concerning total SALES for the last quarter or year. The iOS has traditionally held a market lead in INSTALLED BASE but that began to shrink once Android (as an OS) was outselling iOS. I'm pretty certain that on a world-wide basis that Android is outselling iOS (on a per-quarter or rate basis).
Apple said that by the end of third quarter 2011 they had sold 250 million iOS devices (that includes iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch) but Google announced at about that same time that they had sold around 190 million smartphones (not counting tablets, e-readers, and other Android-powered devices). If you throw in those other devices for Android then I'm sure that the installed base for Android at the end of 3Q-2011 was over 200 million. However, that's INSTALLED BASE not total SALES for the quarter or even for 2011.
If you look at WORLD-WIDE sales rates then Android phones (alone) outpace the iPhone by more than three-to-one (Gartner said that Android accounted for 60.5 million smartphones in Q3-2011, while iPhone sales were about 17.3 million). Now, I'm not certain how many iPads and iPod touches Apple sold in that same quarter but I highly doubt that either of those products sold as many units as did the iPhone. Thus, on a world-wide RATE basis total iOS sales are probably below Android smartphones alone.
Thus, I'd claim that your rebuttal to my earlier post is misguided. I'd guess that installed base on the two platforms is nearing parity and the sales for ALL Android devices during 3Q-2011 were higher than for ALL of iOS.
The point I made in my earlier post is that the recent surge in iPhone sales could mean that in Q4 (and possibly for the U.S. only) that iOS actually outsold Android by a significant margin which would be a reversal from the earlier trends and thus something to note.