Greenman85
macrumors regular
Full of Win-->Full of FAIL.
Android Outpaces iPhone in Share of New U.S. Smartphone Customers for First Half of 2010
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Full of Win-->Full of FAIL.
Somehow I highly doubt that.
I disagree, but that's your opinion. People buy what works for them. If that's iPhone, it doesn't make them a "Mactard."
RebootD
macrumors 6502a
No because it specifically states "Smartphone Customers" and ipods/ipads don't fit into that category. If we did a survey on OS marketshare then yes.
But MS app store isn't built into the OS and never will be. That would be seen as an abuse of Microsoft's OS monopoly.
In a market where competitors products are similar enough, a head start is pretty much all one competitor needs to have a dominant advantage over the other. MS has an uphill battle, and most observers, including MS fans acknowledge this. WP7 can beat android but for that to happen MS needs to hit on all cylinders and google needs to mess up somewhere.
BaldiMac
macrumors G3
While true, you are taking my comment completely out of context. I was not discussing that graph. I was discussing OS marketshare. I was responding to a post that suggested that it was appropriate to look at OS marketshare, but still limited the discussion to smartphones.
1. People who say that this comparison is invalid because there are a dozen+ Android phones vs. 1 (really 4...) iPhone are missing the point. This is not a 3d grade classroom where you get points for trying; this is about marketshare, and it doesn't really matter how you get it. It's like complaining that you didn't really lose the war because the other army had a lot more soldiers and so the contest was invalid.
2. Having said that, as many others have noted, the data we're looking at ends just before the iP4 was introduced - looking at the date for the entire year of 2010 will give a more accurate POV.
3. I think that the iP5 will be critical for Apple. While I think that the IP4 is still the best smartphone on the market, some Android phones have almost closed the gap...and in relative terms have made huge gains.
4. Apple does still have some real advantages, though. Even though I'm not necessarily thrilled by the walled garden approach, I do like it much better than approaches where the *carrier* has control over what the phone does. I would prefer my smartphone to be like a computer (even with the walled garden), and the carrier to be like an ISP. I have too many bad memories of the verizon v-cast. (If google or someone came out with a vanilla "reference" phone that just ran the latest Android OS and could be updated whenever a new version came out, they would do a lot to mitigage this problem).
5. As others have mentioned, Apple is constrained by being only on AT&T in the US; I do think that there are many people who would have bought an iP but for the carrier. It would be interested to see how iP4 vs. Android looks in Europe, where there are more carriers.
2. Having said that, as many others have noted, the data we're looking at ends just before the iP4 was introduced - looking at the date for the entire year of 2010 will give a more accurate POV.
3. I think that the iP5 will be critical for Apple. While I think that the IP4 is still the best smartphone on the market, some Android phones have almost closed the gap...and in relative terms have made huge gains.
4. Apple does still have some real advantages, though. Even though I'm not necessarily thrilled by the walled garden approach, I do like it much better than approaches where the *carrier* has control over what the phone does. I would prefer my smartphone to be like a computer (even with the walled garden), and the carrier to be like an ISP. I have too many bad memories of the verizon v-cast. (If google or someone came out with a vanilla "reference" phone that just ran the latest Android OS and could be updated whenever a new version came out, they would do a lot to mitigage this problem).
5. As others have mentioned, Apple is constrained by being only on AT&T in the US; I do think that there are many people who would have bought an iP but for the carrier. It would be interested to see how iP4 vs. Android looks in Europe, where there are more carriers.
BaldiMac
macrumors G3
Why is it about marketshare? I'm pretty sure it's really about making money. What do you get for having the highest marketshare? A cookie? Apple is "winning" about every metric in the smartphone market that has to do with money. For that they get, well, money.
It does matter how you get marketshare, because if you do it without making money, it's unsustainable.
Marketshare is only important to encourage app development and other third party support. Apple has distinct advantages for developers in addition to smartphone marketshare over Android.
- iPad
- iPod touch
- A userbase that spends money on apps at a higher rate
- A more consistent, less fragmented platform
- High loyalty and upgrade rates to the latest platform
MadeTheSwitch
macrumors 65816
Irrelevant. Apple also doesn't have their OS (in this case iTunes) pre-installed on 90% of the world's installed desktop operating systems either. And yet, they have succeeded anyway. I'd venture to say they have more windows versions of iTunes in use then on their own Macs at this point. So, Windows pre-installing an iZunes type thing won't matter at this point. MS is late to the party with a decent Winmo device. THAT'S what matters. The reason you see IE used more in the browser segment, is for the same reason. Not that it just is there with Windows, but that it was also there before things like Firefox, Chrome and Safari came along.
awmazz said:
Microsoft would get slapped with an anti-trust violation pretty fast. Check out the EU-MS-IE fiasco. MS is being forced by the EU to show a "Browser Choice" screen on the first boot detailing the alternative browsers. This is why MS doesn't bundle all the Live and Security apps and instead makes them downloadable for free.
MadeTheSwitch
macrumors 65816
And where is Apple's? It's not pre-installed on a windows machine. Google on the other hand, could leverage it's serch business and make reference to it's app store with every single search that a person does on the internet. Bing does not have the same number of eyeballs hitting it's site, and Apple has no search engine at all. So Google does have an advantage as well. They all do in their own way, which is what makes this so interesting. Still, MS is way way behind. Their best shot is to somehow tie into the enterprise side of things and go after the corporate world. A world that Apple and Android really don't go after very hardcore (which has always puzzled me).
MadeTheSwitch
macrumors 65816
Usually, even more marketshare and more money. That's what. If you're marketshare is low, your developer ecosystem will be too. Look at Palm and the ghostown the Pre is, compared to iOS and Android. Marketshare is very important.
Drag'nGT
macrumors 68000
Apple doesn't whore out their OS on any of their devices. Isn't that one of the reasons that we love the company so much? I know it is for me.
Google pulled a Microsoft and let their OS go on any phone that wanted it. It could be tweaked to look a certain way for the front end of the system but you could still install any Android app on the phone. Basically it's Apple's idea but opened to multiple hardware companies.
It's comical that it takes 20 Android phones to outsell 1 Apple phone. Even thought Apple still holds more market share they will certainly have to expand to other networks both for sales of the phone and to keep iAds a viable advertising medium.
Android is the "I can't get an iPhone on my carrier so I'll buy the next closest phone" option. Once T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint have an iPhone in the next year it won't be that close. You'll see lines outside of every door for people to get one. I just hope Apple can get enough ready so that as soon as their exclusivity with AT&T is over they can offer it the very next day.
Google pulled a Microsoft and let their OS go on any phone that wanted it. It could be tweaked to look a certain way for the front end of the system but you could still install any Android app on the phone. Basically it's Apple's idea but opened to multiple hardware companies.
It's comical that it takes 20 Android phones to outsell 1 Apple phone. Even thought Apple still holds more market share they will certainly have to expand to other networks both for sales of the phone and to keep iAds a viable advertising medium.
Android is the "I can't get an iPhone on my carrier so I'll buy the next closest phone" option. Once T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint have an iPhone in the next year it won't be that close. You'll see lines outside of every door for people to get one. I just hope Apple can get enough ready so that as soon as their exclusivity with AT&T is over they can offer it the very next day.
BaldiMac
macrumors G3
Again, Apple is winning the money metrics by a landslide. How much money is Android making?
I asked what you get for having the highest smartphone OS marketshare besides third party support. For Android, it's mostly just less people that are encouraged to switch away from Google for search. For the hardware partners, it's less differentiation through software, so it comes down to competing on price. And any attempt to significantly differentiate through software fragments the market for developers.
Again, if you read my whole post, marketshare is important for third party support. But Apple has several advantages to other platforms that result in better third party support despite being in third or fourth place in smartphone OS marketshare.
I have a Moto Droid (the original) because I have Verizon for work, and I generally despise Blackberrys.
As good as it is, I still prefer using my iPT as a PDA/Internet device. Certain things, such as the virtual keyboard and copy&paste just aren't nearly as good, and I definitely use those features quite a bit.
Additionally, as many apps as they have, the Android Market sucks (IMO). The apps just don't seem to be nearly as good as what's available on iTMS. Maybe it's what I use, and that's largely anecdotal, of course. I'm just not overly impressed, when comparing it to iTMS/iPhone/iPT.
That being said, I still prefer Android by a longshot to RIM, WinMo, etc. It's a great OS platform with lots of potential.
As good as it is, I still prefer using my iPT as a PDA/Internet device. Certain things, such as the virtual keyboard and copy&paste just aren't nearly as good, and I definitely use those features quite a bit.
Additionally, as many apps as they have, the Android Market sucks (IMO). The apps just don't seem to be nearly as good as what's available on iTMS. Maybe it's what I use, and that's largely anecdotal, of course. I'm just not overly impressed, when comparing it to iTMS/iPhone/iPT.
That being said, I still prefer Android by a longshot to RIM, WinMo, etc. It's a great OS platform with lots of potential.
ChazUK
macrumors 603
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-gb; Dell Streak Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)
Be sure to grab the FroYo update that was just released for the Droid Polaris: http://phandroid.com/2010/08/03/manually-update-your-motorola-droid-to-froyo/
Far better than eclair.
polaris20 said:
Be sure to grab the FroYo update that was just released for the Droid Polaris: http://phandroid.com/2010/08/03/manually-update-your-motorola-droid-to-froyo/
Far better than eclair.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.6; en-gb; Dell Streak Build/Donut) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)
Be sure to grab the FroYo update that was just released for the Droid Polaris: http://phandroid.com/2010/08/03/manually-update-your-motorola-droid-to-froyo/
Far better than eclair.
Cool, thanks! I'll check that out tonight. Is the virtual keyboard any better? I hope so. I know it's faster; people have been raving about that. I am really looking forward to the wifi hotspot capability, but I fear Verizon will find a way to make us pay for it, as they have on the Droid X.
ChazUK
macrumors 603
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-gb; Nexus One Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
Word is Verizon haven't included the wifi hotspot stuff in froyo due to the Droid lacking certain hardware. (I bet Verizon come out with a version that works when you pay)
I've been using swiftkey keyboard on my Nexus which is decent once you get used to it.
Good luck with the update, It'll be nice if it does fix any niggles you have.
Word is Verizon haven't included the wifi hotspot stuff in froyo due to the Droid lacking certain hardware.
(I bet Verizon come out with a version that works when you pay) I've been using swiftkey keyboard on my Nexus which is decent once you get used to it.
Good luck with the update, It'll be nice if it does fix any niggles you have.
satcomer
Suspended
MadeTheSwitch
macrumors 65816
Why is that comical to you? It's logical considering the amount of advertising focus. Android, until the Verzion Droid campaign, wasn't really advertised. Also, Apple has the benefit of being to market sooner as well as all of the established iPod user base to build off of.
That's highly short sighted and a very limited view of what is really going on. It's also the:
- "I want a bigger screen" option
- "I don't like a walled garden" option
- "I like voice search and texting built in" option
- "I want wi-fi hotspot" option
- "I like the OS/Notifications/etc. better" option
- "I want flash on my phone" option
- And until the iP4, it was the "I need a camera flash" option
There's a variety of things that Apple or AT&T aren't giving people so they go elsewhere. It's not only because they can't get the iPhone on their current carrier.
maflynn
macrumors Haswell
Word is Verizon haven't included the wifi hotspot stuff in froyo due to the Droid lacking certain hardware.
Yes, I believe verizon confirmed that. I'm anxiously waiting for my Droid x to get the 2.2 update.
Also:
- I want AMOLED screen
- I want replaceable battery
- I want free GPS navigation
- I want more memory (48GB on Samsung Galaxy S)
- I want SD card
- I want file system (to be able to save e-mail attachments and other files)
AZREOSpecialist
Suspended
... and very very BAD for Apple! Didn't Apple learn anything when Windows killed it in market share and Apple struggled for decades before it finally found success with iMac?
Despite all the arguments to the contrary, this IS Windows vs. Mac all over again. Wait, it's all about profitability? Well, what's going to happen when you have 20 million Android smartphones vs. 10 million iPhones. Profitability will be determined by market share and the size of the prospective buying pool. It's inevitable.