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Apple Estimated to Retake Title of World's Largest Smartphone Vendor

Consultant said:
That's because Samsung throws different models out to see what sticks.

Apple designed iPhone to be useful for most people (as the AT&T 80% iPhone market share shows)
Click to expand...

Another way to look at it is; Samsung are catering for a diverse range of customer needs, Apple on the other hand have decided one handset fits all - as long as you're holding it right.

No one would doubt the popularity of the iphone over other products, but not so long ago everyone had a Nokia, and look where they are now...
 
Good

I think that Apples most valuable asset in regards to selling its iPhone line is that there is only one that is new each year. While with other companies including Samsung and LG they seem to release a new phone every month and the average consumer is more inclined to purchase a phone that they have heard about for a while. Its easier to say that you want to buy an iPhone instead of saying I want to buy one of a million Android devices. But I guess its all personal preference. :D
 
shompa said:
Please explain to me why you need more then 21megabit from a Phone?

iOS 6 will have some fun NFC stuff. Apple will probably do what they always do: they invent an own standard to leapfrog the competition. Apple will bring this standard around the world. That is the only way it can get Apple quality, not some subpar play technology.
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A couple of comments:

You want LTE if you want high quality video for things like Facetime (don't be surprised that Facetime video chat works under LTE) and live video broadcast over cellphone networks such as NFL Mobile. And video is by far the biggest bandwidth hog out there, so LTE is a must here.

As for NFC support, I think Apple will NOT develop its own proprietary standard, given that the Sony-developed FeliCa standard has been around for some years (and widely used on feature phones sold in Japan and South Korea) and with the new ISIS mobile payment system jointly supported by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile USA, why waste resources on developing another incompatible standard? As such, the next iPhone will include NFC mobile payment support that will be both FeliCa and ISIS compatible.
 
mutantteenager said:
Another way to look at it is; Samsung are catering for a diverse range of customer needs, Apple on the other hand have decided one handset fits all - as long as you're holding it right.

No one would doubt the popularity of the iphone over other products, but not so long ago everyone had a Nokia, and look where they are now...
Click to expand...

If Apple stops innovating, I HOPE someone will make to them what they did to Nokia.

(which also means - Nokia deserved it)
 
MarioS said:
I think that Apples most valuable asset in regards to selling its iPhone line is that there is only one that is new each year. While with other companies including Samsung and LG they seem to release a new phone every month and the average consumer is more inclined to purchase a phone that they have heard about for a while. Its easier to say that you want to buy an iPhone instead of saying I want to buy one of a million Android devices. But I guess its all personal preference. :D
Click to expand...

People on this forum tends to be quite (Well it's an English speaking forum) North America centric. What some don't realize is that Samsung's been doing the new phone as fast as you can blink since the 90s. It's how things works in Asia where people there switch phones as often as you and I change underpants. And actually you can see the same habit continuing with a lot of Asians in north america. Majority of my friends are genetically from the orient and they swap phones so much I always get to play with the new stuff.

And I think that culture might be catching on with other ethnicity. You have to wonder what percentage of Apple's or any vendor's sales in any quarter is due to user churn. If we are talking anecdote I know one girl who over the past 2 years went 3GS ->LG android->blackberry->while iphone 4->white iphone 4S. That's a heck of a lot of phones and of course she sells her old phones which means 2 activations per switch counted against various vendors. (Come to think of it she switches boyfriends at about the same rate, there might be a correlation LOL)

So I don't feel all consumer buys a phone they have heard for a long time. There are a hardcore band of phone aficionados who are band agnostic, OS agnostic and only wants to have the latest.

And if in Asia people are more inclined to buy what's hot at the moment. Samsung's game plan is exactly right for that market. And if you think about it that market is a much better proposition in the long run. Where unlocked phone is the norm or legally required, there's a much more active market in used phones (they have bloody malls with hundred of stores that only sell phones). Which means people can switch to new phones much more often. Unlike those of us in North America getting tied down in our 3 year contracts.
 
cotak said:
People on this forum tends to be quite (Well it's an English speaking forum) North America centric. What some don't realize is that Samsung's been doing the new phone as fast as you can blink since the 90s. It's how things works in Asia where people there switch phones as often as you and I change underpants. And actually you can see the same habit continuing with a lot of Asians in north america. Majority of my friends are genetically from the orient and they swap phones so much I always get to play with the new stuff.

And I think that culture might be catching on with other ethnicity. You have to wonder what percentage of Apple's or any vendor's sales in any quarter is due to user churn. If we are talking anecdote I know one girl who over the past 2 years went 3GS ->LG android->blackberry->while iphone 4->white iphone 4S. That's a heck of a lot of phones and of course she sells her old phones which means 2 activations per switch counted against various vendors. (Come to think of it she switches boyfriends at about the same rate, there might be a correlation LOL)

So I don't feel all consumer buys a phone they have heard for a long time. There are a hardcore band of phone aficionados who are band agnostic, OS agnostic and only wants to have the latest.

And if in Asia people are more inclined to buy what's hot at the moment. Samsung's game plan is exactly right for that market. And if you think about it that market is a much better proposition in the long run. Where unlocked phone is the norm or legally required, there's a much more active market in used phones (they have bloody malls with hundred of stores that only sell phones). Which means people can switch to new phones much more often. Unlike those of us in North America getting tied down in our 3 year contracts.
Click to expand...

Well said, and it's a two year contract, don't give those carriers any ideas.
 
mutantteenager said:
Another way to look at it is; Samsung are catering for a diverse range of customer needs, Apple on the other hand have decided one handset fits all - as long as you're holding it right.

No one would doubt the popularity of the iphone over other products, but not so long ago everyone had a Nokia, and look where they are now...
Click to expand...

Small detail in there ... Apple is not Nokia and Nokia never was Apple.
 
Digital Skunk said:
Well said, and it's a two year contract, don't give those carriers any ideas.
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Perhaps cotak is a canuck. In Canada 3 year contracts are the norm, eh?

cotak said:
And if in Asia people are more inclined to buy what's hot at the moment. Samsung's game plan is exactly right for that market. ...
Click to expand...

Excellent point. When the sales of Galaxy S2 reached 10 million units sold in September before it was released in North America, South Korea alone bought more Galaxy S2 (3.6m) than all Europe combined.(3.4m) As we've just heard Samsung sold over 5 million Galaxy S2 in Korea, it's very likely the single nation of South Korea, with just 50 million people, bought 1/3 - 1/4 of all Galaxy S2 sold globally. Also many of these people are the ones who were willing to pay the premium price for the latest handset which really helps the profit margin.

On the other hand, Samsung's overall profit margin from the telecom sector actually went down in the last quarter, surprising given that Samsung released its high end Galaxy S2 models in the North American market in the last quarter. Other than Apple, Samsung was the only company who was expected to have a higher profit margin than others since all the other makers have faltered, even HTC.

Some opine that it's a clear sign the smartphone market is now clearly becoming a "red ocean" with lowering profit margin for all participants, which will affect even Apple eventually.
 
mijail said:
If Apple stops innovating, I HOPE someone will make to them what they did to Nokia.

(which also means - Nokia deserved it)
Click to expand...

Apple did nothing to Nokia. Nokia management did it to themselves.
 
fertilized-egg said:
On the other hand, Samsung's overall profit margin from the telecom sector actually went down in the last quarter, surprising given that Samsung released its high end Galaxy S2 models in the North American market in the last quarter.
Click to expand...

True, the profit margin of their telecom division (which includes network equipment) went down quarter to quarter from 16.9% in 3Q11, to 14.8% in 4Q11. However, the latter is still above last year's 11.9% in 4Q10.

Samsung says it's partly because they were aggressive with "marketing expenses" (read: sales incentives in order to push more phones).

Everyone has their off quarters, so we'll see what happens next period. (For example, Apple dropped in revenue from 2Q11 to 3Q11 because of people holding back for the new 4S model to arrive.)

Samsung did sell more smartphones in 2011 (95 million) than Apple (93 million), but they need to cut expenses. You would think that as big as they are, they could figure out how to be as profitable as Apple. I've heard that they build a lot of their phones in Korea, where labor costs are higher. Anyone know for sure?
 
cube said:
Apple did nothing to Nokia. Nokia management did it to themselves.
Click to expand...

Nothing was happening to Nokia until Apple appeared.
Maybe someone else would have done it anyway; but it was Apple who did it.

----------
kdarling said:
True, the profit margin of their telecom division (which includes network equipment) went down quarter to quarter from 16.9% in 3Q11, to 14.8% in 4Q11. However, the latter is still above last year's 11.9% in 4Q10.

Samsung says it's partly because they were aggressive with "marketing expenses" (read: sales incentives in order to push more phones).

Everyone has their off quarters, so we'll see what happens next period. (For example, Apple dropped in revenue from 2Q11 to 3Q11 because of people holding back for the new 4S model to arrive.)

Samsung did sell more smartphones in 2011 (95 million) than Apple (93 million), but they need to cut expenses. You would think that as big as they are, they could figure out how to be as profitable as Apple. I've heard that they build a lot of their phones in Korea, where labor costs are higher. Anyone know for sure?
Click to expand...

That's really interesting, thanks for sharing.

About cutting expenses... that sounds funny. Will they move things in-house or outsource to Asia? ... ;)
 
mijail said:
Nothing was happening to Nokia until Apple appeared.
Maybe someone else would have done it anyway; but it was Apple who did it.
Click to expand...


Nokia was selling more smartphones than Apple and Samsung combined and things were improving one year ago.

It was not Apple or Android who brought down Nokia.
 
cube said:
Nokia was selling more smartphones than Apple and Samsung combined and things were improving one year ago.

It was not Apple or Android who brought down Nokia.
Click to expand...

Improving? What?
Almost exactly one year ago, Nokia's CEO wrote about their burning platform.
Bad timing, man.
 
mijail said:
As ready as RIM's and Palm's, yes.
Well, in fact, less than that; at least RIM and Palm actually shipped something.



Yep, their ex-Microsoft currently-current CEO.
Click to expand...

- The current CEO delayed the new platform phones launch
- The new platform boss resigned
- The new new platform boss was fired by the CEO
- When the new phones were finally launched, one was only given to developers, the other was sold only in secondary markets, and the CEO said they would not continue the platform even if they were successful.
 
cube said:
- The current CEO delayed the new platform phones launch
- The new platform boss resigned
- The new new platform boss was fired by the CEO
Click to expand...

Which of course means that MS is pulling strings, not that the new platform was DOA and Nokia hadn't had its act together for years anyway.

cube said:
- When the new phones were finally launched, one was only given to developers, the other was sold only in secondary markets, and the CEO said they would not continue the platform even if they were successful.
Click to expand...

Isn't that a typical way to start a new platform? Didn't Android start like that? Or OS X? Even OS X on Intel?

When I have in the past read about Nokia's problems, and when I try to find new information now, the common theme I find is "Nokia denial". If you have something substantial about how great was the old platform and how undeservedly it got nuked, please share.

(and anyway, even when Apple bought NeXT, there were outcries of "they're mad, they should have bought Be"...)
 
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