Apple Makes Gains in U.S. Smartphone Market Share

[Masterkona]

Irrelevant to the conversation.

Those "toys" are gaining in consumer market share where Apple has seen steady declines.

Enterprise sales are pocket change in the bigger picture.
I've seen more iPad pilot programs at my company get closed down after the "coolness" factor wore off and workers realized they needed tools, not glorified displays. They're being replaced with new ThinkPad ultrabooks.

Apple may have lost relative market share, however, the overall market has grown. Their sales/Revenue has increased rather than decreased. Apple's revenue increased last quarter. Their Gross Margins decreased because they introduced new products, with less efficient yields, that caused a temporary decline.

Elementary and Middle Schools are buying up IPads. Kids today are being taught on IPads and Mac's. These are the people that will matter for the future. Windows was only popular because it is what people were taught to use. I've talked to teachers who informed me that people preferred the old Mac's, but Microsoft made it very difficult for them to compete. Notice a trend among college students and Elementary school students? They are being raised around IPads and Mac Books. My 7 year old cousin has a Kindle Fire (because it's cheap and has parental controls). He calls it an IPad, but knows enough to be able to tell the difference. He prefers to use my IPad. He is constantly begging me for an IPad. When he's old enough to buy an IPad, he will buy an IPad.

Anyone else noticed that on trains people are using IPad's rather than any other tablet? If I see a person using a Kindle Fire, they are usually exclusively watching a movie. If I see an IPad, they are writing emails/ reading or writing contracts/ watching movies. One is a toy, while the other is a quality device.

 

[iGrip]

The only reason anyone knows what the GS3 is has to do with the 12billion dollar anti-apple advertising blitzkrieg that Samsung has been pushing.

Naw. Everyone knows what the S3 is because all their cool friends use one.

 

[clibinarius]

I really don't think it's right to call android the largest "smartphone platform", because:

1. Really its "mobile platform" and when you look at the post-PC era, tablets, namely the iPad Market is a big chunk of mobil devices, and when you include these numbers- the iPad has really dominant share making iOS the dominant platform. Looking just at "smartphones" is selective reporting to try and exclude the market where Apple has had the most success, skewing the numbers in favor of android.

2. Android is hugely fragmented. iOS devices are mostly all running the latest iOS software and even ones that aren't can all run apps without modification. This is not true on android where covering %80 of the market requires changing your app to support 167!!! different devices.

3. I don't consider android to really be a platform, simply because it is so compromised. As a ripoff of iOS they had to rush it to market and in doing so compromised a lot of functionality.

4. Android is primarily sold to feature phone buyers as if it were a featurephone. These people walk in to get "a phone" and get sold android by the weenies at the carriers store... but they don't use them for apps or for even browsing the web, which is why the web stats on android are so pitiful. Android is really a feature phone operating system (hence the fragmentation and incompatibility)

5. You'd be just as correct to lump all the other Linux derivatives together and claim that there's a "linux smartphone platform".

6. We don't have real hard numbers for shipping devices for android. Amazon doesn't publish actual numbers. Google doesn't publish actual numbers. Samsung doesn't publish actual numbers. There's a lot of hype and BS claims that these devices are selling in huge numbers, but when samsung was forced to report actual sales in the lawsuit last year, it turns out that when journalists were claiming big sales the reality was pitiful. Most of these "sales" are actually non-android featurephones also sold by these companies who don't break them out because they want to seem more dominant than they are.

Get me real numbers reported in annual or quarterly reports that would result in an investigation by the SEC and charges of fraud if they were made up-- and use those.

Apple provides them. Until android manufacturers are willing to report the numbers under penalty of perjury like Apple does, they're just PR smoke, nothing more. (or analysts "projections")

These stats are being distorted by the propaganda of android fans who claim that it is a platform, and a smartphone platform at that and that it is dominant

I love comedy. How about you give me stats that aren't "distorted" by "propaganda"? I'd love to see where you base your facts on. I have my i-devices, but I can tell you, Android is useful and good and using it or not is a matter of taste.

 

[rjohnstone]

Naw. Everyone knows what the S3 is because all their cool friends use one.

The S3 is fugly.
My wife has one. Odd shaped phone and the physical middle button killed an otherwise clean face.

I liked the S2 better. No physical buttons.

Elementary and Middle Schools are buying up IPads. Kids today are being taught on IPads and Mac's. These are the people that will matter for the future. Windows was only popular because it is what people were taught to use. I've talked to teachers who informed me that people preferred the old Mac's, but Microsoft made it very difficult for them to compete. Notice a trend among college students and Elementary school students? They are being raised around IPads and Mac Books. My 7 year old cousin has a Kindle Fire (because it's cheap and has parental controls). He calls it an IPad, but known enough to be able to tell the difference. He prefers to use my IPad. When he's old enough to buy an IPad, he will buy an IPad.

One word... Chromebooks.
I see a lot more schools opting for them over iPads and MacBooks as budgets get tighter.
My daughter's entire school district is phasing out their MacBooks and iPads for Chromebooks and Nexus 7.
They use Google Docs and GMail for all the students to communicate and collaborate on school work.

 

[Waterboy4]

What's interesting ...

... is the lack of movement of Microsoft.

 

[econgeek]

Sad sad post.

I think it's sad that you choose characterization rather than argument. I take it as a full, naked, and humiliating admission that you have no points to make, but are too much of a zealot to let my argument pass without comment. It's sad that you aren't being honest even with yourself here.

Your rationalization is hilarious.

Lastly - why so defensive and dismissive? Someone at Google kidnap a loved one?

It's also sad that you feel the need to just make up lies and attribute them to me in order to try and make an argument. I didn't make rationalizations- I have nothing to rationalize or be defensive about.

After all, the point of the Article is that Apple is in the lead, and kicking androids ass.

However, your need to cast aspersions on my character, rather than make counter arguments, shows your lack of integrity.

 

[samcraig]

I think it's sad that you choose characterization rather than argument. I take it as a full, naked, and humiliating admission that you have no points to make, but are too much of a zealot to let my argument pass without comment. It's sad that you aren't being honest even with yourself here.



It's also sad that you feel the need to just make up lies and attribute them to me in order to try and make an argument. I didn't make rationalizations- I have nothing to rationalize or be defensive about.

After all, the point of the Article is that Apple is in the lead, and kicking androids ass.

However, your need to cast aspersions on my character, rather than make counter arguments, shows your lack of integrity.

So you're not going to admit you were wrong about ICS and JB being rushed. And you're not going to list the way Android is a compromised experience?

That says a lot about you and your original post. More than it does about me.

 

[econgeek]

I love comedy. I have my i-devices, but I can tell you, Android is useful and good and using it or not is a matter of taste.

It is quite hilarious how the rabid cult of anti-apple zeolots feel the need to claim that they have "i-devices" (oh yeah? why be dismissive? Why not say "iOS devices" which is accurate?)

It happens every time.

Its as if you don't realize it has become such a cliche.

Such a joke that whenever you do it, anyone who isn't a rabid anti-apple bigot just laughs and laughs and laughs!

Too bad you didn't have anything of substance to back up your response, and thus the level of discourse here is as low as it is everywhere else in america-- uninformed ideology unable to respond to informed argument.

 

[Masterkona]

The S3 is fugly.
My wife has one. Odd shaped phone and the physical middle button killed an otherwise clean face.

I liked the S2 better. No physical buttons.


One word... Chromebooks.
I see a lot more schools opting for them over iPads and MacBooks as budgets get tighter.
My daughter's entire school district is phasing out their MacBooks and iPads for Chromebooks and Nexus 7.
They use Google Docs and GMail for all the students to communicate and collaborate on school work.

Google docs/mail for services is indeed happening. However, I suspect it depends a lot on what school district you are in.

http://www.acuoptimist.com/2013/03/...sophomores-freshmen-to-have-ipads-in-2013-14/

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/02/0...iscuss-4-5-billion-ipad-education-initiative/

http://www.k12.wa.us/EdTech/NaselleiPads.aspx

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-09-20/schools-education-ipad-students/50480836/1

http://articles.petoskeynews.com/2013-03-05/ipad-minis_37478370

 

[rjohnstone]

... is the lack of movement of Microsoft.

Too soon to tell.
They came in late in Q4 2012, so the numbers couldn't be compared.
Sure you can try and extrapolate, but it's still a guessing game.

Q1 2013 numbers should shed more light on what people think of the Surface (RT version).
The Surface Pro launched almost mid-quarter, so no full quarter numbers for that until Q2.

Google docs/mail for services is indeed happening. However, I suspect it depends a lot on what school district you are in.

Yep.
We have a fairly well funded and large school district. (Paradise Valley)
The administrators are going for the most bang for the buck. And realistically, 99% of what they do is web based, so they're having a hard time justifying the expense of buying Apple products.

 

[samcraig]

Too bad you didn't have anything of substance to back up your response,

Ohhhhhhh the irony. Thanks for the laugh!

 

[econgeek]

So you're not going to admit you were wrong about ICS and JB being rushed.

I can't be wrong about something I never said. You telling a flat out, bald faced lie, and then attacking me with it shows your profound dishonesty.

There's no point in even engaging a dishonest person in debate.

You just lost, and showed us all what kind of a person you are.

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

I think it's sad that you choose characterization rather than argument. I take it as a full, naked, and humiliating admission that you have no points to make, but are too much of a zealot to let my argument pass without comment. It's sad that you aren't being honest even with yourself here.



It's also sad that you feel the need to just make up lies and attribute them to me in order to try and make an argument. I didn't make rationalizations- I have nothing to rationalize or be defensive about.

After all, the point of the Article is that Apple is in the lead, and kicking androids ass.

However, your need to cast aspersions on my character, rather than make counter arguments, shows your lack of integrity.

Nobody needs to cast aspirations on your character. You are doing a great job of making the case you don't have a clue what you are ranting about.

Apple is not in the lead as the 2nd graph shows
Google 52.3%
Apple 37.8%

Maybe you're using new math but the numbers don't lie. Android has the most smartphone market share.

 

[samcraig]

I really don't think it's right to call android the largest "smartphone platform", because:



3. I don't consider android to really be a platform, simply because it is so compromised. As a ripoff of iOS they had to rush it to market and in doing so compromised a lot of functionality.

Oh doooo tell me where I lied.

What's compromised about Android. What was rushed? Or are you just living in the past and haven't returned to 2013 yet?

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

I can't be wrong about something I never said. You telling a flat out, bald faced lie, and then attacking me with it shows your profound dishonesty.

There's no point in even engaging a dishonest person in debate.

You just lost, and showed us all what kind of a person you are.

It was never a debate. Android has more market share than Apple.
It's a fact.

 

[Masterkona]

Too soon to tell.
They came in late in Q4 2012, so the numbers couldn't be compared.
Sure you can try and extrapolate, but it's still a guessing game.

Q1 2013 numbers should shed more light on what people think of the Surface (RT version).
The Surface Pro launched almost mid-quarter, so no full quarter numbers for that until Q2.


Yep.
We have a fairly well funded and large school district. (Paradise Valley)
The administrators are going for the most bang for the buck. And realistically, 99% of what they do is web based, so they're having a hard time justifying the expense of buying Apple products.

Chrome books you say? When you're spending $5,000 -100,000 on software licenses per computer, I'd imagine you get more bang for your buck by buying something more expensive that students actually want to use, that is shown to provide a greater benefit, and won't break after one year. I can say with 100% certainty that Apple computers offer 1000x better warranty support. If your Chromebook breaks, it may take weeks to get fixed, assuming the problem is covered. With Apple, it can likely be fixed within a few days, if not the same day.

Chrome books are effective for poverty stricken regions. They were originally built for use in third world countries. At my high school, we paid $80-100 annually for insurance costs on a machine that came fully loaded with every software package imaginable. I went to a public school in a middle class district.

 

[Ryth]

Your quote was


You stated people use iPhones more. They don't. Maybe you need to be a little more specific next time to post a rant that isn't true.



The effing World is People. People in the US are a small percentage of People. So if more People in the world use plastic phones then your post holds no truth.

Nothing to get your panties in a ruffle over. People prefer Android given the overall percentage is larger for Android OS, that's why they have a large lead over Apple in overall usage around the world.

Compare Apples to Apples...

Until you only compare worldwide carriers that carry both Apple and Android...your post holds no actual proof either.

That's like comparing 5 towns, each with a Burger King and only one of those towns also has a McDonalds and saying Burger King outsells McDonalds...well duh....they have a 5 to 1 advantage.

Btw, Japan's major carrier just cut Android orders since they are getting the iPhone...see, that's the same sandbox you can make logical assumptions.

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

Compare Apples to Apples...

Until you only compare worldwide carriers that carry both Apple and Android...your post holds no actual proof either.

That's like comparing 5 towns, each with a Burger King and only one of those towns also has a McDonalds and saying Burger King outsells McDonalds...well duh....they have a 5 to 1 advantage.

Btw, Japan's major carrier just cut Android orders since they are getting the iPhone...see, that's the same sandbox you can make logical assumptions.

Fact.
Apple is not in the lead as the 2nd graph shows
Google 52.3%
Apple 37.8%

If Japan's major carrier cut android orders doesn't come into play because the graph is for Oct 12 - Jan 13.

The next update will be different. I couldn't tell you if Android or Apple market share is going to go up or down. MacRumors has told you what the numbers are as of the end of January 2013.

I'm not even going to try and figure out where you were going with your Fast Food analogy.

 

[ghost187]

Not sure what unsubsidized prices have to do with anything.

If people actually bought unsubsidized phones, in any major numbers, then the 4 and 4S would have been gone due to low demand. How many do you think decide to save $200 and buy a 4 for $649 instead of a 5 for $849? ($0 vs $200, on the other hand, will trick a lot of low information customers, and that's why the 4 is still around.)

You do realize that there are human beings living outside of the United States? I might be well off but that doesn't blind me from the fact that not everyone can afford to pay $100+ per month to AT&T/Verizon.

 

[johnjefferson]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


comScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the November-January period, finding that Apple's smartphone marketshare rose 3.5 percentage points between October and January, up to 37.8% of both U.S. smartphone platform and hardware sales.

Samsung was second in hardware makers with 21.4%, up from 19.5% three months earlier. HTC and Motorola both experienced significant drops in market share, while LG gained slightly.

Image​

Google's Android was the largest smartphone platform with 52.3% of smartphone platform share, down from 53.6% three months ago. Android, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Symbian all lost share, to the benefit of Apple. As a result, Apple and Google control more than 87 percent of the smartphone market.

Image​

Notably, comScore's data tracks installed user base rather than new handset sales, making it more reflective of real-world usage but slower to respond to shifting market trends than some other studies.

Article Link: Apple Makes Gains in U.S. Smartphone Market Share

This is only because both Samsung's and HTC's flagship Android phones (Galaxy S3 and One X) were released in the spring of last year and sales had slowed by Oct allowing the iPhone to gain traction. With all the great new Android phones coming this spring and summer and the iPhone 5 getting older, expect the momentum to swing back to Android once again.

 

[samcraig]

This is only because both Samsung's and HTC's flagship Android phones (Galaxy S3 and One X) were released in the spring of last year and sales had slowed by Oct allowing the iPhone to gain traction. With all the great new Android phones coming this spring and summer and the iPhone 5 getting older, expect the momentum to swing back to Android once again.

But in the end - no stat is going to be accurate based on time and other factors. It is what it is.

 

[Fatalbert]

HTC down
Glad to see people are starting to go for quality over advertising. HTC is horrible compared to Samsung.

----------

[/COLOR]

Oh doooo tell me where I lied.

What's compromised about Android. What was rushed? Or are you just living in the past and haven't returned to 2013 yet?

Nothing was rushed. They spent a lot of time making it suck.

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

Nothing was rushed. They spent a lot of time making it suck.

Apple Maps...

 

[Fatalbert]

Apple Maps...

...is not a part of iOS. It's a service for iOS that Apple rushed. The app itself is very good. Also, they've fixed a lot of errors by now, and it always worked fine where I live. But what does this have to do with Android?

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

...is not a part of iOS. It's a service for iOS that Apple rushed. The app itself is very good. Also, they've fixed a lot of errors by now, and it always worked fine where I live. But what does this have to do with Android?

What does Android sucking have to do with the article or the fact that Android is leading the smart phone market share. By that logic most people in the world "choose" to use a mobile operating system that sucks. Doesn't make much sense does it?

Apple Maps still have many, many years to go before it will be safe and as robust as Google Maps (my opinion). The market share is fact.