Apple Sneaks Up on Motorola in Mobile Phone Sales, Android Surges Past iOS

[powers74]

iOS

Fine with me. I'd rather not have something that everyone else has. Mac, iPhone, '74 VW Karrmann Ghia convertible, custom furniture, Cutco knives..

Android can have their market share for all I care.

 

[NebulaClash]

Uh, slow down everyone. Does it matter that Nokia has the #1 spot and has had that spot in the past? No. We never cared.

So if Android (in total) moves ahead of just the iPhone by itself, why would that matter?

Apple's goal was never to be #1 in phone sales. Just to carve out a significant and profitable chunk of the market. The phone market is far too big for any one company to take it over. It will always be fragmented. The key is to pick up a big fragment. Apple has done that. Seems as if the Android combined market has done it too. Everyone wins.

 

[alent1234]

As a platform, Android will be the winner due to Google's ability to drive network effects. Clearly, the number of manufacturers making devices for Android far exceeds the what Apple can dream to achieve.

More devices and choices will in turn encourage consumers and businesses to adopt Android thereby kicking network effects into gear. Of course, the developers making apps are a key as well.

This reminds me of the Windows vs. Mac OS battle in the 80's/90's. It's likely to play out in a similar fashion.

Apple's end-to-end approach might once again leave them behind in term of adoption and market share despite a far superior user experience.

more like their crazy app store policies. with android market share growing a lot of devs are already releasing on android first or releasing new features of apps on android first.

 

[alywa]

Android is clearly the winner here as far as marketshare, but apple is king when profits are concerned.

Figure the number a few years from now. Nokia continues to lose share, its MeeGo OS is going to be a failure in the smartphone arena. BB will continue to have corporate customers, but will continue to lose the consumer market. Andoid (with dozens of vendors) will continue to rise. Apple will diversify to different carriers, but will stagnate in the overall marketshare arena.

Is this a problem? Probably not. Apple makes money on every stage of the game... hardware, wireless / data revenue, iTunes, App Store, licensing "made for iPhone", accessories, iAds, etc. Google currently gives its OS away... in the future they may charge for it, but even then it is a once only sale. Sure, they make money in search and ads, but they have nowhere near the revenue stream of the iPhone ecosystem.

So apple has a future of 15-20% of the market. Great. They will continue to make money hand over fist, continue to please their shareholders, and continue to innovate and bring new products to market. Google will do great, but they will not make anywhere near the revenue from Android that apple will.

MS hopefully will make some headway with WM7... I'd hate to only have 2 viable OS choices in the mobile platform.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Same here. If anyone I know is using an android they are hiding it. Almost everyone uses RIM and a smaller percentage use Apple, that I know.

My department here at work is about 75% Android users. We have 3 iPhone users (I just switched to Android) and the of the 3 iPhones 2 are switching to Androids in the next week or two. Company wide its a good mix of iPhone and Blackberry but with Android 2.2 released and our company supporting Android now the demand has sky rocketed.

 

[kalsta]

As it happens, I hadn't noticed anyone with an Android phone until yesterday. A work colleague just got one (she walked into the store expecting to get an iPhone I think, but that's sales people for ya!) Anyway, she is pretty happy with it and was showing it off. We were comparing notes, you know… 'Oh, my phone does this…', 'Yeah, so does mine…', and that's pretty much how it went. Conclusion: They're both amazing devices. Pick one. Enjoy it.

As for me, well I'm waiting for iPhone 5.

 

[vini-vidi-vici]

note...

the big takeaway here for me is that Android & iOS are the only ones growing share.

 

[RawBert]

iPhone users have more sex. That's all that matters.

 

[billyjoegibsonx]

Uh oh Androids taking over iOS lol.

This may sound bad at first, but I bet Steve will improve iOS/iPhone market share Which is obviously good

iPhone is on multiple carriers in the UK. O2/Orange/Vodafone/T-Mobile/Tesco/GiffGaff. Only AT&T in america. Bring it to Verizon/T-Mobile/Sprint (and whatever other carriers are there!) Do away with the AT&T exclusivity (another + is that it'll help their network). Doing that will improve iPhone market share.

iOS will need to be improved. I don't know how, I've never used an android phone. I'm happy with iOS, but I'm happy with new improvements

iPhone 5 and iOS 5.0, I cant wait

Let's hope Steve puts iOS two steps ahead

 

[spencers]

I love competition. Makes for a better next generation iPhone

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

As it happens, I hadn't noticed anyone with an Android phone until yesterday. A work colleague just got one (she walked into the store expecting to get an iPhone I think, but that's sales people for ya!) Anyway, she is pretty happy with it and was showing it off. We were comparing notes, you know… 'Oh, my phone does this…', 'Yeah, so does mine…', and that's pretty much how it went. Conclusion: They're both amazing devices. Pick one. Enjoy it.

As for me, well I'm waiting for iPhone 5.

Exactly. They both are great phones. They both serve different purposes. The Android is for those that really want the total experience and the iPhone is for those that want the total APPLE experience.

iPhone users have more sex. That's all that matters.

O-K

 

[dlewis23]

This isn't a surprise as there are many more Android phones for sale then iPhones. There is only 2 types of iPhones for sale right now.

Apples numbers are still really impressive considering they only have 2 phones right now and they are only on 1 Carrier in the US.

 

[aughsum]

I Love to hear how the RDF at Apple and Fanbois here spin this.

If Steve really cares about his new "baby" the iPhone 4 as he said at WWDC X then Apple will Open the iPhone up to Verizon or Sprint (Both use CDMA) and t-Mobile.

Im an Apple fan, but if Apple cares about competing for Share in the Mobile Space, they'll need more carriers.

Stuff doesn't happen overnight. CDMA iPhone in 2011.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

What do they win?

Fans who like to look at large marketshare numbers?

Android is going to keep on growing at a great rate specifically because it can appear in everything from top-tier to (looks like this is going to be increasingly the case) low-end smartphones. Helps to have all the odd-balls in places like China, too. People are comparing an OEM OS to Apple's lone high-end phone line, and nobody should be surprised by this result.

The real numbers—the ones which are meaningful to developers, to hardware producers, to google, and to users in terms of actual user experience, are not tied directly into marketshare, especially when such a massive part of that market can't even participate in paid apps and other key fundamentals.

 

[hitekalex]

more like their crazy app store policies. with android market share growing a lot of devs are already releasing on android first or releasing new features of apps on android first.

Right.. The locked down ecosystem with draconian App Store policies is what will spell the ultimate demise of iPhone. Or perhaps if "demise" is too strong of a word - relegation to niche status.

 

[zacman]

Wow. Even though the iPhone4 had yet another sales record (with over 1.7 million in 3 days), the iPhone was still outsold by Android by over 2 million. Not bad for Android.

 

[7o7munoz7o7]

What do they win?

 

[dscottbuch]

Android is clearly the winner here as far as marketshare, but apple is king when profits are concerned.

Figure the number a few years from now. Nokia continues to lose share, its MeeGo OS is going to be a failure in the smartphone arena. BB will continue to have corporate customers, but will continue to lose the consumer market. Andoid (with dozens of vendors) will continue to rise. Apple will diversify to different carriers, but will stagnate in the overall marketshare arena.

Is this a problem? Probably not. Apple makes money on every stage of the game... hardware, wireless / data revenue, iTunes, App Store, licensing "made for iPhone", accessories, iAds, etc. Google currently gives its OS away... in the future they may charge for it, but even then it is a once only sale. Sure, they make money in search and ads, but they have nowhere near the revenue stream of the iPhone ecosystem.

So apple has a future of 15-20% of the market. Great. They will continue to make money hand over fist, continue to please their shareholders, and continue to innovate and bring new products to market. Google will do great, but they will not make anywhere near the revenue from Android that apple will.

MS hopefully will make some headway with WM7... I'd hate to only have 2 viable OS choices in the mobile platform.

Finally, someone on the forums that gets what is really going on. Apple has NO interest in market share dominance as long as their share is sufficient share to maintain a developer community, and, from that BUSINESS perspective, they have no worries with iPod, iPhone, iPad and future products. IMO Apple has now WON the desktop war as well. They have captured the profitable sectors of the desktop/laptop sector and have established a secure developer community to maintain that dominance. This is why they are larger than MS in market cap and cash-on-hand and quickly approaching them in net profits.

 

[ivladster]

great numbers

These numbers are great. I love how Apple sees a dominant market and enters it, then whole thing falls apart. I can't wait for Nokia and Blackberry to be after Apple and Android. The more choice the better.

 

[al2o3cr]

Great, another whole front-page article where the comments will be full of Android fanboiz jizzing all over themselves because their object of lust managed to outsell a phone that everybody knew was about to be updated (3 days before the end of Q2, ultimately).

Hopefully we'll get the nets installed around their houses before the Q3 results come out, or it'll be messy...

 

[batmccoy]

Stupid is as Stupid Buys

There are more stupid people in the world, than non-stupid people. Therefore, if a thing is marketed enough, stupid people will buy it. Capitalism in no way guarantees victory for a superior product.

 

[macsmurf]

Right.. The locked down ecosystem with draconian App Store policies is what will spell the ultimate demise of iPhone. Or perhaps if "demise" is too strong of a word - relegation to niche status.

Not really. Apple will probably adjust and hopefully open up a bit. They might even back down on their ban of programming languages other than Obj C etc.

That, of course, is a good thing for developers.

 

[bytethese]

What do they win?

62 silver dollars...

Well, it would make sense that Android will capture a larger market share given the sheer number of manufacturers making devices.

However, I have yet to meet a single person who uses an Android based handset. Not that *my* social circle counts for anything, but the smartphones that I personally see in people's hands are either RIM or Apple devices... so far.

Exactly what I think of when I read comparisons like this. of COURSE Symbian and Android have more market share, there are MANy different manufacturers who make hardware, and use that OS. A more fair comparison would be Apple/iOS to RIM/Blackberry or any other manufacturer who only makes 1 set of hardware to run their OS.

 

[KScottMyers]

My department here at work is about 75% Android users. We have 3 iPhone users (I just switched to Android) and the of the 3 iPhones 2 are switching to Androids in the next week or two. Company wide its a good mix of iPhone and Blackberry but with Android 2.2 released and our company supporting Android now the demand has sky rocketed.

I guess the question is "Why" are they switching? I see the opposite happening at our company.

 

[supmango]

We have a few people at our place using Android - but most have an iPhone. Don't see what people like about the Android platform. Seems very clunky in comparison.

As others have noted, it is not so much about the user interface as it is about the availability of different carriers. That is all it is for me. I would much rather use an iPhone any day. I just refuse AT&T.