What? He's talking about Android being out of date and then you start chatting about Hardware being out of date??
Explain what I'm missing because that's not the same thing?
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Apple Executives Speak on the 'Low-Cost Phone', Android's Fragmentation Issues
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What? He's talking about Android being out of date and then you start chatting about Hardware being out of date??
Explain what I'm missing because that's not the same thing?
I picked up an Android phone which was about a year old at the time - HTC never upgraded it from Android 2.x. One minor update arrived at some point and the piece of junk doesn't have enough storage space to install it. So yes, it is an issue.
First - it's not me that wants anything. Second - if the start is about operating systems then it's about operating systems. Do your own research and chart of that's what you want. But don't try and dismiss the fact that fragmentation matters based on the chart provided.
Right, and it's not just the OS adoption that matters, it's also all the different screen sizes, and features available/not available on each phone.
Every week a new Android phone comes out with a different set of features. Can a developer count on using the eye-tracking feature? No - that only works with the Samsung Galaxy S4. What about using horizontal swipes in your apps? Better not do that on the LG G2 - the system uses those - won't work in your app. And so on, and so on.
But Android's fragmentation issues don't matter? Huh.
What percentage of new Android phone are using last year's tech?
Yes, that is true. But it's no more or less true than if Apple just sold the 5 as the $99 model as they sold the 4S last year. Anyone buying the $99 model, regardless of name, isn't interested in any of the features of the more expensive model. They just want to save $100. So again, how is this bad for consumers? The buying choices and price points are unchanged from previous years.
Apple are like a supernova.. growing huge before the big bang. The over reliance on the iphone is so dangerous it beggars disbelief. Once Apple was an innovative cutting edge company, now they have to make lower cost goods using old tech to make up the numbers. This is a typical way US companies become once they are over large and lose the big personality at the top. Share holders want a return, not new tech as thats risky. More tweaking and high volume sales of what we have now please, but once your share starts to slide we will jump ship. Typical stock holders making typical decisions. Its about money now not about new ideas. Tim Cook is a good accountant and we all know what accountants do to companies. Mac sales down year on year yet again!
The people claiming these phones will fail are the same ones who started the false rumors about the 5C being a "low-cost" phone, which no-one ever said it would be. They're just rigging the media against Apple, probably to bring the stock price down and short it.
Question: Are these "feature" phones included in Android market share numbers? Maybe the market share numbers should be filtered to include "Of devices 4.1 or later" or whatever.
I was my first impression & didn't meditate over it. My previous life was in PR so I know a little about the subject. I noted it was playful in my post, and that's fine, but wrong context for a business magazine who's main audience is investors more interested in Apple's bottom line than it's playful image. That doesn't mean the picture should have been stuffy, but this one is just too cute for the subject matter. It doesn't give off a measure of seriousness or confidence about their mission.
And that's why different opinions exist. Some people don't like the new iOS and aren't interested in 5c or even 5s.
? Are you for real? You cant have a CEO talking about their competition saying some part of their business offer is 3-4 years out of date when yours also is out of date, but even worse you want your customers to pay todays money for something thats 3-4 years old? Do you not get how dangerous saying that is? The Apple PR machine has just shot themselves in the foot, News wires all over the world are picking this up right now. Maybe if you worked in Media you would understand it better?
Yeah! If they all of the sudden, magically lost their phone business, and their tablet business, and their iPod business, and their content business, they'd have to settle for being the most profitable PC business in the world! Apple is really on the edge!
Tim Cook is not an accountant.
You're comparing software when I am talking about hardware.
And the biggest misnomer IMO is the fact that Android HAS to be running on current OS iteration to have a supreme experience. Any Android device running 4.0 and up will give virtually the same experience, save Google Now.
Oh no - Apple wanted to make even more money. Those basterdes should be hit with oranges! I too want the old phone. Nobody wants a refresh at the same price point dammit.
The only reason I see this as being bad for customers is the fact that in years past, it has been clear that the discounted model was last year's release.
This model - a iPhone 5 in a plastic case - gives the impression that it is a new phone, when it's really not. That's all
I love how people try to convince themselves and their mothers that the Android OS fragmentation is a non-issue due to the users not caring. Have any of you ever tried to develop an app, ever? Have any of you any idea how developers and people actually trying to make a living out of development are looking at this whole fragmentation?
Because that's what really matters in the end, because whenever the fragmentation is slowing things down for developers it's not only affecting the users that doesn't care, it's affecting those who live in the cutting edge, root their devices and whatnot to keep their phones with the latest and greatest.
I can fully agree that cheap Android phones, sold for less than a meal, used by users who love to just use their phone as they are, not updating, installing, doing nothing at all with their phones other than make phone calls, send a few text messages and use the built-in camera application and web browser like two times a month don't need be always up-to-date and running cutting edge software at all times.
But this fragments the whole Android market in such a way that it makes things much more difficult for the developers, and it makes the whole "so many more use Android compared to iOS and Windows Phone these days" argument rather lacklustre because whom many do actually use competent Android phones? If these users with their cheap, not up-to-date phones are not to be accounted for in-terms of actual fragmentation of the Android ecosystem why should they even count for the overall Android market share at all?
For a developer seeking to ear money out of a platform, this is basically what builds a ecosystem to begin without, if there is no developer, if there is no development and no apps coming when they are relevant then there isn't much of a ecosystem by today's standards so for a developer it boils downs to two options:
#1: Build applications towards the majority of users, and considering so many are still running old version of Android that would include developing towards and optimise for older hardware and older software.
#2: Ignore the users on old hardware and old software, which means you can slice off over 30% of the Android userbase and all of a sudden Android didn't really have any higher market share relevant for developers to begin with.
Most developers goes for the #1: option, they want to include everyone in order to maximise their potential userbase making their applications more relevant and more likely to be adopted and provide the developers with a income, which is what this is all about for developers.
What this does is making "cutting-edge" hardware and software on Android phones barely utilised at all. This is why about every iOS app feels as fluid, featuring at least the same amount of detail and feature as their Android counterpart even though Android phones tend to boost more cores, higher frequencies and whatnot. There is no denying that mobile gaming is much larger on iOS devices compared to Android devices, there are simply more games, games featuring more advanced and better graphics all this running on devices like the iPhone 4 and 4S which are not remotely close to the performance and hardware of newer Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One etc.. And the one could ask what is the point of such hardware if it's not being utilised and optimised for by developers?
There are some exceptions, but there is clearly much better optimisation towards hardware on the iOS platform and this will always be the case when Android phones keeps coming in such a verity of flavours, some featuring 800MHz single-core SoC, others featuring 2.0GHz quad-core Soc, some featuring 3.0" low-resolution displays, others featuring 5.0"+ 1080P displays, some running Android 2.X, others running Android 4.X. It's just too many devices, too much hardware and software for developers to take into consideration making optimal optimisation towards all devices utterly impossible, good scaling and whatnot can only lead you half way there.
Because that's what really matters in the end, because whenever the fragmentation is slowing things down for developers it's not only affecting the users that doesn't care, it's affecting those who live in the cutting edge, root their devices and whatnot to keep their phones with the latest and greatest.
I can fully agree that cheap Android phones, sold for less than a meal, used by users who love to just use their phone as they are, not updating, installing, doing nothing at all with their phones other than make phone calls, send a few text messages and use the built-in camera application and web browser like two times a month don't need be always up-to-date and running cutting edge software at all times.
But this fragments the whole Android market in such a way that it makes things much more difficult for the developers, and it makes the whole "so many more use Android compared to iOS and Windows Phone these days" argument rather lacklustre because whom many do actually use competent Android phones? If these users with their cheap, not up-to-date phones are not to be accounted for in-terms of actual fragmentation of the Android ecosystem why should they even count for the overall Android market share at all?
For a developer seeking to ear money out of a platform, this is basically what builds a ecosystem to begin without, if there is no developer, if there is no development and no apps coming when they are relevant then there isn't much of a ecosystem by today's standards so for a developer it boils downs to two options:
#1: Build applications towards the majority of users, and considering so many are still running old version of Android that would include developing towards and optimise for older hardware and older software.
#2: Ignore the users on old hardware and old software, which means you can slice off over 30% of the Android userbase and all of a sudden Android didn't really have any higher market share relevant for developers to begin with.
Most developers goes for the #1: option, they want to include everyone in order to maximise their potential userbase making their applications more relevant and more likely to be adopted and provide the developers with a income, which is what this is all about for developers.
What this does is making "cutting-edge" hardware and software on Android phones barely utilised at all. This is why about every iOS app feels as fluid, featuring at least the same amount of detail and feature as their Android counterpart even though Android phones tend to boost more cores, higher frequencies and whatnot. There is no denying that mobile gaming is much larger on iOS devices compared to Android devices, there are simply more games, games featuring more advanced and better graphics all this running on devices like the iPhone 4 and 4S which are not remotely close to the performance and hardware of newer Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One etc.. And the one could ask what is the point of such hardware if it's not being utilised and optimised for by developers?
There are some exceptions, but there is clearly much better optimisation towards hardware on the iOS platform and this will always be the case when Android phones keeps coming in such a verity of flavours, some featuring 800MHz single-core SoC, others featuring 2.0GHz quad-core Soc, some featuring 3.0" low-resolution displays, others featuring 5.0"+ 1080P displays, some running Android 2.X, others running Android 4.X. It's just too many devices, too much hardware and software for developers to take into consideration making optimal optimisation towards all devices utterly impossible, good scaling and whatnot can only lead you half way there.
Yeah! If they all of the sudden, magically lost their phone business, and their tablet business, and their iPod business, and their content business, they'd have to settle for being the most profitable PC business in the world! Apple is really on the edge!
Glad you work in a blue chip company!
Tim Cook is not an accountant.
Tim Cook sorry to say is an Accountant. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22615146