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British public favour Android predominantly because of price

M

mrochester

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 8, 2009
5,091
3,069
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/why-do-people-choose-android-smartphones/13619

I've said it before and I'll say it again, but by far the biggest factor as to whether someone chooses an iPhone or an Android device is price, and this poll of the British public reflects that. It's interesting to see that the respective marketting approaches (Android as an OS and iPhone as a device) are reflected exactly as you'd expect in the "OS Brand" and "Hand Brand" categories. Of course the biggest surprise is "Ease of use" where Android scores a marginal win; not a result that most people would expect. In addition, the "Network Operator" category appears to be an anomoly as the iPhone is now available on all of the major networks, so you'd have typically expected the scores to be about the same.

What we can devise from these results is that the introduction of a cheaper "iPhone Mini" would have the biggest impact on a customer's choice of device, and it'll be interesting to see if Apple eventually go down that route (as they did with much success in the iPod range).

M.
 
I'm not one of them

I will also pick iphone over anything. I love my iphone 4

but price is an issue, if i wanted to get the 5 it will likely be £510 for the 16GB which is alot of money and with a wedding next summer it just won't be possible to get the 5 for a wait so will likely wait for thr 6 when my contract is up.
 
My cousin in London, uk switched from n95 to iPhone 4 to htc sensation. When I asked why, he said he didn't like the hold-his-hand-use and preferred android because it made better sense over symbian than iOS for him.

Besides iPhone 4 is $0 on contract there like other phones.
 
Yeh.. IP4 is similarly priced or even lower at times compared to top end android phones here. dunno what op is talking about. I suspect he has never left his country and probably doesn't hold a passport like 80% of Americans.
 
therationalist said:
dunno what op is talking about. I suspect he has never left his country and probably doesn't hold a passport like 80% of Americans.
Click to expand...

The USA is about the same land area as Europe.

Its citizens can travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, plus Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii... all without needing a passport.

That's one huge country with incredibly diverse geography in the same amount of area that someone from Europe would hit over two dozen different countries.

There's just not as much need for a passport.

This has changed for a lot of people in the past few years, though, as now one is needed for travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. So now over 30% of Americans have passports and the number is rising.
 
The ease of use thing is a surprise considering the complaints that Android has for being "too complicated".

When it comes to cost, I've seen some amazing deals on Android handsets so I'd agree with the study easily.
 
I'm on a two year contract and still had to pay alot to be on this contract so no it isn't free just because it's a two year deal.

when my contract is up i should be able to get contract for how many other years/ Either way it will be free.
 
Maybe that's why AT&T dropped the iPhone 3GS price to $9?

Regardless, i think we'll see a solution to this issue as Tim Cook said that they want to sell a cheaper iPhone.
 
Doesn't surprise me at all. Android phones are generally cheaper here in NZ if you know where to look, while iPhone prices rarely fluctuate.
 
I would prefer they release an OS X netbook for cheap than a cheaper iPhone. Makes it easy for student developers who would like to develop for both iOS and Android.
 
Hi,


I think android o.s fones have also become slightly more popular because of the fiasco with Nokia, and the way they have managed their operating system changes.

ie: Changed from series 40 to symbian to maemo to symbian 3 and then soon the meego, all to be dropped for the wp7, with software patches for the first 18 months of release !

I'm a member of the Nokia Discussions Forum and quite a few have become disenchanted, and have either moved to android or are looking at other operating systems.

After 25 years of buying Nokia I was one user who decided to looked at alternatives.

Android just does not do it for me. I just don't like the o.s !

Also the growing problem of hackers creating virus's for the android platform is possibly going to be an issue too. With people using their smartfones more and more to carry out things such as internet banking I wanted a secure o.s.

I'm not in no way an apple crusader.

Its the o.s and hardware and support in my opinion that is way out in front of the market place.

I'm used to software patches from Nokia just providing a bit more speed and maybe a little more spec in a handset. With apple I'm excited to look forward to ios 5 with 200 improvements !

I concur its also down to price band and what disposable income one has.

If the ip5 brings even more thats of interest to me to the table then I'll have no issue with paying the probable £500+ price band.

Thats the beauty of choice.
 
therationalist said:
LOL..you are so wrong and I live here
Click to expand...


Im so wrong how?
I checked the most popular carrier (O2) and that's the price
To get a free iPhone.

My point was in response to the other post that you can't just get a iPhone on normal contracts they're usually high end ones.
 
Makes sense. I mean at the moment you can get an SGS2/HTC Sensation for £99 on 12 month £30 contract giving 400 minutes, 1000 texts and 1GB data. I mean you can't even get an iPhone 3GS on a contract like that at the moment...
 
I've been saying the same as the OP(albeit without any hard facts, just a hunch).
Almost everyone who buys an iPhone(I'm willing to bet), does so, as a first choice.
Obviously there are those who do the same with Android, but I'm sure the majority of Android owners(especially those with mid/low-end handsets) consist of those who found their phone to be a cheaper option, with the salesperson pushing the "It's better than the iPhone, because it's open" line.
 
In Japan actually the iphone is cheaper than most android phones on the market. If you stick with a 2 year contract on softbank the 16 gb iPhone 4 is free. iPad 16 gb 3g is also free with a 2 year contract
 
BergerFan said:
I've been saying the same as the OP(albeit without any hard facts, just a hunch).
Almost everyone who buys an iPhone(I'm willing to bet), does so, as a first choice.
Obviously there are those who do the same with Android, but I'm sure the majority of Android owners(especially those with mid/low-end handsets) consist of those who found their phone to be a cheaper option, with the salesperson pushing the "It's better than the iPhone, because it's open" line.
Click to expand...

I've got a couple of friends who have just got Android phones because they are now so cheap. They had free handsets and are on £15 per month contracts and were straight replacements for the Nokia dumbphones they had before.
 
Last weekend I was at a seminar (not tech related) and there was 1,000 or so delegates. Every single person I saw within phone had an iPhone. No joke - literally every person I saw with a phone in their hand. Just saying... Lol
 
Come to think of it when I went to Queens Tennis Club for the tennis a few weeks back (very posh place, very expensive tickets, food is expensive as it gets) everyone I saw with a phone had an iPhone as well. :eek:
 
localboy28 said:
Im so wrong how?
I checked the most popular carrier (O2) and that's the price
To get a free iPhone.

My point was in response to the other post that you can't just get a iPhone on normal contracts they're usually high end ones.
Click to expand...

Go check out t-mobile, 3 and vodafone and orange.

My s2 is costing the same as my ip4.
 
Certinfy said:
Come to think of it when I went to Queens Tennis Club for the tennis a few weeks back (very posh place, very expensive tickets, food is expensive as it gets) everyone I saw with a phone had an iPhone as well. :eek:
Click to expand...

Man, queens is hella expensive. did you go to watch or actually book a court and play tennis?

My friends dad is a member there. Expensive as hell but he did see bill gates there once. :) and I can assure you bill gates wasnt carrying an iphone . lol
 
therationalist said:
Man, queens is hella expensive. did you go to watch or actually book a court and play tennis?

My friends dad is a member there. Expensive as hell but he did see bill gates there once. :) and I can assure you bill gates wasnt carrying an iphone . lol
Click to expand...
Go to watch. :) No way in hell would I book a court or anything there, way too expensive for my liking. I mean the last time I went my friend bought a sandwich which was £10 :eek:

I assume he's very rich then? And wow, had no idea Bill Gates had even been there, and yeah I'm sure he wasn't carrying one. :D
 
Certinfy said:
Makes sense. I mean at the moment you can get an SGS2/HTC Sensation for £99 on 12 month £30 contract giving 400 minutes, 1000 texts and 1GB data. I mean you can't even get an iPhone 3GS on a contract like that at the moment...
Click to expand...



Im on a payg contract with 02.

For £25.50 i get ;

300 cross network minutes.
Unlimited texts.
50 mms
1gb of internet.

and im not locked to a contract.

I use a ip4.
 
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