Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Android Smartphone Sales Exceed iPhone in the U.S. for First Time

yg17 said:
Kinda like how the iPhone 2G can't be upgraded to 4.0, right?
Click to expand...

Your correct but there are a dozen of android devices that can't be upgraded Past 1.6 or even 2.0 and some and also the 2g was supported for 3 years so while it's not going to be supported after 4.0 it was supported longer than the g1 which is the orginal android device. While the life cycle of the early devices that can't be upgraded for android is shorter.

And the sw updates are in the hand of the carriers so it leaves you at their mercy. And if you have a device running sense then you have to wait longer than someone who has a non sense device. Sure you can go to xda and download a rom. But since were talking about official releases you have to wait till the vendor and carrier decides to do an OTA
 
iPhone 4 gen

Who would buy it if there are new versions coming up in just a few days.. I think in just3 weeks android sales will plummet, iPhone will rule again, muhahaha
 
PinkyMacGodess said:
The one question I have, and I'm sure many people have (and could have been asked earlier in this thread): If the iPhone had been open to other carriers (Verizon), would there be a market for the Android platform and would it stand a chance against a multi-carrier iPhone.

Perhaps in some parallel universe people are running around with iPhones that only work with Verizon here in the US and AT&T has died years ago...
Click to expand...

There would still be a market for it because it is driven by Google. Google would have still made it, and still been able to make deals with all the failing smartphone companies who completely failed in terms of developing real OS's for their phones pre-iPhone and post-iPhone.

Would they have a harder time getting deals with carriers? For sure, but Android itself would have still existed, because even if Google is the real evil out there they are smart and know the future is mobile and were not going to give up the space to Apple and the future.
 
LagunaSol said:
LOL! ROM hacking - what every Joe and Jill Q. Consumer wants to do!

There's "open" from a geek perspective and there's "open" for a typical user perspective. Apparently Android is not as "open" as people like to think.
Click to expand...

It's still more open than the iPhone.
 
JediZenMaster said:
Your correct but there are a dozen of android devices that can't be upgraded Past 1.6 or even 2.0 and some and also the 2g was supported for 3 years so while it's not going to be supported after 4.0 it was supported longer than the g1 which is the orginal android device. While the life cycle of the early devices that can't be upgraded for android is shorter.
Click to expand...

Check out the XDA Developers forum. http://forum.xda-developers.com/

Plenty of people porting newer roms to various Android devices. If the bootloaders can be unlocked, there is no such thing as no update.

The G1 already has a few Android 2.1 roms and I posted a vid of it earlier. Once the source code is out there and the people like Cyanogen do their magic, newer user genreated software and features are possible.
 
Phone vs. OS

The implied point of this article is “Oh, no, the iPhone is loosing market share to Android”.

But in reality you are referring to the Android OPERATING SYSTEM, not a phone. The number of different phones employing the (free) Android operating system is (at last count) approximately 56 different phones! About seventeen separate companies!This against one company, one model.

When spewing sensationalistic percentage numbers, they should be kept in the context of the above statistics. And operating systems should be clearly separated from phones. Surely, if you listed each phone separately, with with its market share, Apple would be number one.
 
Gazoobee said:
It's kind of shameful that this article doesn't even *mention* that this data is a result of an online SURVEY.

A survey is not a good way to judge sales of any kind. People, uh ... lie, on surveys. A lot.
Click to expand...

Lying is not the concern, instead I am concerned that their surveys rely on connivence sampling. From the NPD webpage:

Methodology: The NPD Group compiles and analyzes mobile device sales data based on more than 150,000 completed online consumer research surveys each month. Surveys are based on a nationally balanced and demographically-representative sample, and results are projected to represent the entire population of U.S. consumers. Note: Sales figures do not include corporate/enterprise mobile phone sales.

In all their blathering about "nationally balanced and demographically-representative sample" - no where do they mention its a random sample, which is a major methodological problem. I suspect its some sort of systematic or connivence sampling method is used.

Unless you magically know all the potential biases your methodology may encounter, without random samples all you have is junk. Even the US Government is having serious problems survey the population as less and less people have land lines, and it is illegal to use random dialers on cell phones.

That said, it doesn't mean the survey is outright wrong, it may be correct(ish) by luck. I just want to point out that there are likely some serious caveats with the methods employed.

And for the trolls, yes I am perfectly qualified to assess statistical methodology.
 
LagunaSol said:
LOL! ROM hacking - what every Joe and Jill Q. Consumer wants to do!

There's "open" from a geek perspective and there's "open" for a typical user perspective. Apparently Android is not as "open" as people like to think.
Click to expand...

You complain that 2.1 isn't on the G1 and then complain that it's a custom ROM running on the thing?

Aren't you one of the advocates of Jailbreaking to add features that other smartphones have? I'm sure you've mentoned it to me before. (If I'm mistaken then I Apologise.):)

EDIT: And I'd like to add, where is there any solution for 2G owners and 4.0?
 
fat phil said:
If only there wasn't so much fragmentation among Android devices.
Click to expand...

Good luck with updates for your 1G Iphone :eek:

Personally, I don't expect that a phone is like a computer and that I can expect regular upgrades to .0 versions of new operating systems.

As we're seeing with the Iphone, the older models lack the hardware support (memory, CPU power, ...) for the newer OS. Same for Android, WinMo and other smartphone OSs - the "replace after 20 months" mentality works against making big efforts to port new operating systems to older phones.

Just like PowerPC Apples, some earlier Android phones won't get the latest upgrades.
 
yg17 said:
It's still more open than the iPhone.
Click to expand...

"More open" but not "open."

And no one has ever claimed the iPhone to be "open" by any definition.

ChazUK said:
Check out the XDA Developers forum. http://forum.xda-developers.com/
Click to expand...

Awesome! "Hey grandma, you need to update your Motorola Droid Super Snazzy to the latest OS! Just go to the XDA Developers forum, download the custom ROM, and follow the step-by-step directions."

Fail.
 
ugh

sorry i hate verizon. I really do. Can't understand why? I just don't like their image. sadly I like ATT better, hah, never really had service issues. They should release it on T-Mobile if anything. At least it's GSM. I don't see Apple making an iPhone for an outdated technology. Apple is about making money, but not at the expense of sacrificing technology.

I mean look at their stance on Flash...

btw of course Android is going to outsell one phone. I think android is an awesome platform, but I am with the people here that say it's interface is just a tad too much for most people. It's that "linux-eey" feel that I don't like. And I like Linux... well on a server, never on a desktop it's just too... "Linux-eey"

Sorry.

Respect for android, but I like Apple's product model and technology scheme. I think it will keep working out for them. If you ask me, it's Nintendo who should be in fear of all of these numbers.
 
ChazUK said:
You complain that 2.1 isn't on the G1 and then complain that it's a custom ROM running on the thing?
Click to expand...

I'm saying that as a consumer electronics device, Android is not as open as its proponents argue.

95% (my made-up number, feel free to make up your own) of the Android-buying public has no interest in screwing around with custom ROMs.

I can do all kinds of stuff on my iPhone if I want to play around with custom hacks too. But the point is irrelevant to the vast majority of users.

ChazUK said:
Aren't you one of the advocates of Jailbreaking to add features that other smartphones have? I'm sure you've mentoned it to me before. (If I'm mistaken then I Apologise.):)
Click to expand...

I haven't jailbroken my own iPhone, but I may have stated in the past that jailbreaking one's iPhone does give much of the same "openness" provided by Android (as well as the same headaches). Because it does. So a jailbroken iPhone gives you both the superior spit and polish of the iPhone OS and application library and all the customization of Android. Win-win (if you're into that).

If you're going to advocate custom hacks and user-created ROMs, the iPhone is just as open and powerful a platform as Android. Fact.

Seems the ultimate device is a jailbroken iPhone.
 
People need to realize the hackability of any mainstream consumer device has an insignificant impact on its usefulness.

Being able to hack a less popular device might actually impact its sales numbers, but when you are talking about the iPhone and jailbreaking or Android devices and hacking roms, the ability to do whatever is essentially irrelevant.
 
LagunaSol said:
Do you really think we won't be seeing an OS4 hack for the original iPhone?
Click to expand...

I have no idea. Do the hackers have access to drivers for the 2G radio which will be comaptible with OS4? I have no ideas on the differences between the internals of the iPhone 3G and 2G but smart people have ported Android to both so anything is possible. :cool:

Why does grandma want to hack OS4 onto her iPhone 2g anyway? ;)
 
Lord Vader said:
And? What's to gain for a normal consumer? Nada.That's not an advantage it's just one of the ways to develop software.
Click to expand...

It gives the user more software choices. Don't like the default Android SMS application? Go to the market place and download a different one. Do you frequently find yourself turning WiFi on and off? Go to the marketplace and download a widget for your homescreen to toggle it with one click. There are no unauthorized APIs and Google won't block an app from the app store for using those APIs. And the fact that it's open source allows developers to dig through the Android code to discover ways to code those tweaks so they can be packaged into an app.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back