That's a good analogy. I definitely remember that one! I can't cite the reasons why that played out the way it did but I think one was the fact that the behemoth at the time IBM got behind DOS and eventually Windows (before OS/2, the audacity) and things took off from there. Talk about a fragmented environment though between Microsoft and all the pC makers that is playing out again right now with Android.
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Apple's U.S. iPhone User Base Overtook Android in June Quarter, Now Accounts for More Than Half of All Smartphones
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Not a subscription, and just a hand full of purchases won’t make Apple make a move.
The best phone ever made…
- Never becomes obsolete.
- No batterygate.
- Encourages kids to have real social contacts, instead of 999999 “friends”
- Enhances the creativity
- Costs almost nothing
So it’s nothing that Apple would ever be able to invent, because it’s a non-leeching product.
Phones in general, whether Android or iOS, can last years after OS updates have ended. Some people don't even bother to update the OS even if their device is eligible.
Android 13 recently launched but a fair amount of Android devices (especially globally) are still on Android 11 or older.
It's more complicated than that. Just because a company may have 50%+ share in a particular market doesn't mean they are destined to be broken up. It's anticompetitive behavior and the company's willingness or unwillingness to comply to regulations, court requests/rulings, etc. that can determine what happens.
I can see that. My students (aspiring law students, mostly 21-24) are like 95% iPhone, based on how rarely I see a green bubble.
Apple has never dominated the mobile phone market. They have never been #1 based on yearly sales.
It's so annoying when I do come across a green bubble. Life is too short to have to deal with Android.
Where Apple was dominating was not unit sales but % of available profits in the smartphone category. Curious where those numbers are nowadays.
This is what happens when people are too quick to jump on the Apple-bashing bandwagon, and leave their critical thinking at the door.
There are 7 billion people in the world today. A comparatively smaller market share can still mean a ton of users in an absolute sense, especially when you consider the target demographic that Apple markets to.
Today, Apple has well over a billion active iPhone users, and this number continues to grow with each passing day. This includes not just iPhone sales, but also sales of 2nd hand iPhones (as current users upgrade their handsets), which further grow the user base, but aren't captured by official sales numbers. This is aided by iPhones having better build quality (hence better longevity), longer software support, and easy battery swaps via Apple Stores.
This is also a user base with the disposable income to purchase additional Apple products like apple watches and AirPods, as well as spend on apps and services. And because of the stickiness of the ecosystem, Apple users rarely ever switch.
Apple also dominates in the stats that matter. It's no small secret that platforms like Facebook and Google make the bulk of their revenue from iOS users, which gives Apple a lot of leverage over these companies (eg: ATT). The iOS App Store brings in more revenue that the Google Play Store (funny story - I am currently setting up an android tablet for my mom, and I have yet to find an android version of bubble shooter that isn't infested with ads; the iOS version at least lets me pay to get rid of them altogether), and tends to have the better apps (eg: Apollo, Tweetbot, fantastical, overcast, 1password, spark).
Profitless market share is the only metic that critics can use to make it seem that Apple is all but dominating the smartphone market space.
Apple's iOS never had the level of dominance worldwide that it has in the U.S.
According to Statcounter, its share of the global mobile OS market has been between approximately 18% and 29% over the last ten years. During that same period in the U.S., it's share has been as high a 62%.
Excellent news for Apple. Maybe more will be switching from Android after iPhone 14 series launches.
I agree with you.
However, we don't know the details of the contract.
It's possible that there is a whole bundle of details that Apple can't partially get rid of.
You remember: If Microsoft had managed to dissolve its Office support commitment to Apple's MacOS, there would perhaps be significantly fewer Mac computers in market these days worldwide.
And I know that Pages, for example, is superior to Word in actually all capabilities, but Word is still preferred out of bad habit. I find this all the more astonishing because Microsoft successfully tortures its customers every few years with a fundamentally new GUI mix.
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There is a difference between the Apple / MS agreement and Apple / Google agreement. Apple had no options, considering the dominance of MS Office. Today is different, specially with search engines. Now there are other search engines, and some of them are privacy focused. IMO, If Apple is so serious with privacy as they say, the should have choose a privacy focused engine or develop their own. Now it looks like Apple privacy depends if it makes money to them.
Personally I don't think Pages is better than MS Word, just different. Word is more capable and has better integration with the MS ecosystem, for example MS 365. In a business / enterprise environment, MS Word is a better, more capable options, while for personal use Pages could be a better option since it's simpler.
There's something about iOS that seems a little more polished when I switched to iOS in march. The apps are a little better designed and I loved iMessage when transferring videos and photos. I enjoyed the ecosystem. However I switched back to the Galaxy Fold 4. I love the customization and the file manager is so much easier to use. Videos I now send over Instagram to friends. I'll switch between the Fold 4 and 13 mini depending on the occasion (use the mini while on jogs or cycling due to the light weight). Love both ecosystems.
The product also doesn’t scale up. In order to compete in todays environment it needs to be a leeching product.
If you use Word occasionally and Pages most of the time, it’s shocking when you go back to use word and simply can’t figure out how to do anything:
1. because it’s an interface disconnected from the evolution of GUI,
2. Because it’s far less clear than Pages
3. Because it’s likely changed significantly since last time you had to use word.
At least MS has a good help feature. They always have.
Are you guys quoting a devices sold number or are you quoting actually smartphone activity and usage? Devices sold is a proxy for the thing that counts (percentage of users and percentage of time spent using iOS versus Android OS).
Some truth to this. Anti-trust actions are coming for Apple eventually. And they will be serious. The market share of new devices where Android is larger even in the US has always been a great defense for Apple. I'm not sure that higher prices can even really put a major dent in this trend because Apple's iPhones are so good and so powerful, they kick around in the secondary market for years after the initial buyer moves on from them. If you put a new battery in an iPhone 6S, it will still be a solid phone now. The more recent phones with even more powerful chips will last even longer. These might even be phones that are functional for 10 years for simple users who do not crave the latest features. Insane, right?
I'd like to quote one thing from the international cell phone market share link you pointed to:
"Apple iPhone is now on the top position of phone brands for the people who want to lead an expensive luxurious lifestyle mostly to show off."
The idea that iPhones are a top seller because of people who desire to "show off" a luxurious lifestyle is so clearly wrong that only someone who is either very confused or has a major axe to grind would actually write it as one of the key summaries of the iPhone's market position.
What is going on right now is that iPhones are lasting a very long time. Both the original owners are now holding on to them for three or four years on a pretty regular basis and they are being resold (for hundreds of dollars) into the secondary market where they might get years of regular use by their second, third or even fourth owner.
I am pretty sure that if Apple were to do this, you would all be accusing them of abusing their platform control to screw over the competition.
There's plenty of diamond/Swarovski crystal and gold plating options for those who do want want to show off! No ordinary iPhone represents showing off where I am. And my case hides it from clear view which would largely defeat that.
There is no-one to see my iPhone most of the time, and most (but not all) of those few who do see it have got iPhones themselves.
I suppose it's possibly a show off possession in some countries - I really don't know outside the UK. But I get the distinct impression that phablet size is a bigger show off than make.
I honestly thought Apple already had more than a 50% market share in the US. Either way a good achievement.
There's just nothing special about having an iphone in the UK. Everyone and his dog has an iphone. Even people who are considered to be of a lower economical status (benefits) have iphones. They are very easy to obtain here.