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Apple Executives Speak on the 'Low-Cost Phone', Android's Fragmentation Issues

samcraig said:
No - it's really not an issue. "feature" phones are the ones running older OSes and those phones aren't used or need to be used in the same way as the newer smartphones.
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Google's Android version stats only include active Google Play users.
 
absurdamerica said:
Seperate specs- That has nothing to do with fragmentation in any way, they run identical operating systems. You don't even know what you're talking about.

Legacy App program- Will actually mean users have a better experience on down level iOS versions making iOS "fragmentation" to the extent it exists less painful.

iPod Touch - So you buy a device with a processor that came out in 2010 and expect it to run the latest and greatest stuff in 2013? Give me a break. What you're doing is the equivalent to me being upset my first gen iPad (also with an A4) doesn't run iOS7.
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So it's perfectly fine for Android to be bashed for phones with different specs and legacy devices to not run the latest OS, but for Apple devices, it's perfectly reasonable to think so?

That chart that's been posted many times - how many of those devices running Gingerbread were sold in the past 2 years? Virtually none. But it's FRAGMENTATION! with Android, but my LESS THAN 2 year old iPod - it came out in 2011 with the 4s, my friend - it's outrageous for me to think it would run iOS7. Hypocrisy at its finest.
 
Great cover. Looks like a cool trio of happy, confident, people.

Another, and perhaps even bigger, fragmentation issue is the wealth of screen sizes, aspect ratios and resolutions on Android. This does give designers way more challenges when designing apps.

The comparatively few screen sizes of Apples phones and tablets have a very positive effect on creativity and ultimately on apps themselves. It is one of Apples strongest cards.
—I for one, am hoping that when Apple releases a phone with a 4,5-4,7 inch display, it will have the exact same resolution and aspect ratio as the current 4 inch (yep, I know many people would hate this — I think it would be the right move).
 
applefanDrew said:
Nice straw man. Whether people care or not is not the issue companies need to worry about. If you're two years behind on an Android OS, you're missing features. Features that most likely Android had before iOS. But the person with the 2 year Android phone starts looking at the newer iOS on, say, a friend's device and thinks, "Oh, nice features." And the seed to switch is planted.
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Or they buy the newest android phone?
 
samcraig said:
Well for one - his comment about making a less expensive iPhone is a bit spin. They were looking to "refresh" their phone and appeal to a wider demographic by producing options in a phone which previously had no options (IE - colors) without "harming" their premier brand.

As for fragmentation. That argument is old. Especially because most people switch phones around 2 years (or less). And even though they might be running an older OS - it's still feature rich and the core apps get updated regularly. So you might have an older OS - but the core apps aren't "old."

But I wouldn't expect the CEO of Apple to state otherwise - just like I wouldn't expect the CEO of Google to talk about how a closed ecosystem is a great choice.
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Well said 🙂 Each company (Apple, Google, Microsoft) will naturally reinforce its strengths and boast why their business model / product approach is better. If Microsoft is able to successfully leverage Nokia's hardware expertise and develop a Windows phone that garners market share, it'll be interesting to see how Apple reacts. MS, in a way, is borrowing from Apple's playbook of being a verticalized provider of both the hardware and the software. Since Windows phones aren't as popular and there aren't as many models available, the fragmentation argument against MS/Windows phones may not be as strong.
 
samcraig said:
As for fragmentation. That argument is old. Especially because most people switch phones around 2 years (or less).
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You have any sort of stats to back that up? People that like gadgets update their phone a lot. But how many people that is....who knows. I know plenty of people that buy a phone and use it until it breaks.
 
Apple has fragmentation in it's iPhone range too. It's just not as proliferate compared to Google. Look at the iPhone 3 for example. It's stuck on an old iOS version, and some major apps are not available for it. Facebook comes to mind quickly.

Apple has now introduced that legacy app ability, where your phone can keep a older version of the app if the latest version refuses to run on your iPhone. It wouldn't be needed if there wasn't any fragmentation.

You could also argue the fact that because Apple doesn't really offer a cheaper phone the fragmentation is at a Snail's pace.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
That doesn't really answer the poster's question -- how is the 5C @ $99 bad for customers? Just because it's in a plastic shell doesn't defacto make it a less usable phone? And the reality is it's likely going in a plastic case upon purchase.
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Because it's not really $99... it's $528 made to look like $99.
 
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Tim using the 5C, Ive using a Gold 5S and Craig a white/silver maybe?
 
Their smugness does worry me if all that is really their opinions, I hope the stock price and low sales teach them a lesson not to fob people off with minimal design updates.
I still believe the majority of people wanted a larger screen and a new package design not the same phone year after year, that said I applaud they way the repackage the same size case with new internals. But thats not really great design or great innovation, replacing that with gadgets and gimmicks like Siri and the fingerprint scanner is just another way of selling the same basic phone design. I expect great things for iPhone 6..
 
ugahairydawgs said:
You have any sort of stats to back that up? People that like gadgets update their phone a lot. But how many people that is....who knows. I know plenty of people that buy a phone and use it until it breaks.
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The same people you speak of probably don't care what OS they are running.

Personally I buy a phone for what it does when I buy it. I don't buy it for what it might do in the future. Which is why I don't get the moaning that some do about not getting this feature or that one. Updates that fix problems I care about.
 
croooow said:
Do you ever post more than a few words?
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Sorry but this quote tied with your profile picture just made my morning. 🙂

When I had an original Droid, I couldn't download some apps because they were made for different processors or phones or whatever. Verizon wouldn't push the latest update to my phone. The volume buttons broke so I had to download an app to control the volume. Google's Music app updated itself and wouldn't play my m4a files anymore. A reboot would fix that problem. By the time my contract was up and I was able to upgrade, I purchased an iPhone 4.

I honestly have no reason to upgrade except to get better internal hardware. My iPhone 4 is running iOS 7 wonderfully. It stutters a couple of times but it did that with iOS 6 too.

My personal preference has been for iOS and Apple. Some of my friends disagree and I respect that but I believe Android fragmentation is real. A friend of mine is still running Gingerbread because the carrier won't let them update. Their OS is slow and unresponsive at times, constantly needing rebooting. Their hardware specs are equal to that of my iPhone.
 
applefanDrew said:
Nice straw man. Whether people care or not is not the issue companies need to worry about. If you're two years behind on an Android OS, you're missing features. Features that most likely Android had before iOS. But the person with the 2 year Android phone starts looking at the newer iOS on, say, a friend's device and thinks, "Oh, nice features." And the seed to switch is planted.
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The problem with that graph is that it paints a picture that devices being sold today as brand new are being sold with a version of Android that is pre-4.0 and while I am sure there is some pre-paid outlier out there, the overwhemling majority of phones sold in the past 2 years run a version of 4.x.

If everyone on this forum is bashing me for having the audacity that a device I bought as brand new, just released in 2011 for not running iOS7, why is it fair/reasonable to bash Android for having devices out there that run GB when they are just as old as my iPod that can't run iOS7?
 
TWSS37 said:
So it's perfectly fine for Android to be bashed for phones with different specs and legacy devices to not run the latest OS, but for Apple devices, it's perfectly reasonable to think so?

That chart that's been posted many times - how many of those devices running Gingerbread were sold in the past 2 years? Virtually none. But it's FRAGMENTATION! with Android, but my LESS THAN 2 year old iPod - it came out in 2011 with the 4s, my friend - it's outrageous for me to think it would run iOS7. Hypocrisy at its finest.
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🙄 It's a matter of degrees. A little bit of fragmentation is not the same as a lot of fragmentation. iOS 7 will probably be on more devices than Jelly Bean within a week. It will likely be on a higher percentage of active iPhones by the end of the day.
 
cambox said:
Can you please tell me what info you require? Which sales? Was it the Mac sales that I quoted? The ones that I quoted from MacRumors which they in turn quoted a few weeks back? Keep up! I'm no troll but I do ask questions you may feel uneasy about as you are a fanboy right?

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/1...ver-year-drop-expected-for-september-quarter/
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Lol that's what droid clowns always say. Must be a fanboy. I do like apple. Whether it means I am a fan boy I don't think so. First of all that speculative. It's flat in July, however apple users know a upgrade is around the corner. Summer always sucks for them. Second of all if we used the same stupid speculation you do there would be a lot of spin and bs on this forum. Third, uneasy? Do you assume since I have a response to a uneducated and aggressive post I would be uneasy? I called you out for your sources and it hasn't been accurate. You took partial data and tried to make something of it. Read some more numb nuts you are far behind.
 
samcraig said:
Right after you tell me why Siri wasn't available on the iPhone 4 despite being proven it world work fine. Perhaps because Samsung is initially pushing people towards the latest hardware. I don't believe they said it works only with the newest version of Android.

Silly argument anyway since the number of people buying the watch will be low ;-)
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Siri performance is contingent upon an Audience noise cancellation co-processor and algorithm, which in turn allows Siri to be better able to discern speech in outdoor conditions with lots of ambient noise.

The software for Siri itself running was never the source of the issue.

Something similar will happen next year when the iWatch needs M7.

Either way it's a hardware concern, where the Galaxy Gear situation is 100% android fragmentation.
 
TWSS37 said:
So on the eve of launching two separate phones with different specs and just days after launching a legacy app program and after yesterday's iOS7 release that I can't use on my less than two year old iPod, we're bashing Android for fragmentation?
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Your iPod model is more than two years old.

Apple devices get the latest os for at least three years. 25% of new android devices can not use the latest os. The two things are not comparable at all.
 
Technarchy said:
Siri performance is contingent upon an Audience noise cancellation co-processor and algorithm, which in turn allows Siri to be better able to discern speech in outdoor conditions with lots of ambient noise.

The software for Siri itself running was never the source of the issue.

Something similar will happen next year when the iWatch needs M7.

Either way it's a hardware concern, where the Galaxy Gear situation is 100% android fragmentation.
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You know that for a fact?
 
Jman13 said:
Fun with adoption....already, 1/3 of iOS users are on iOS 7 - only 21 hours after release. Meanwhile, it took Android a YEAR after Jellybean's release to gain 1/3 of users...and that's over multiple version of JB. Currently, only 0.64% of Android users are on 4.3, the most recent version of Android.

https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/ios_7
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It's not surprising at all. The problem with Android update is that user have to wait for manufactures to create an updated e.g. Samsung's ice cream sandwich OS, which takes another years or so. Most cheaper Android didn't even get any updates from their manufactures.
 
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