iOS Grew to Capture 42% of U.S. Smartphone Market Over Holidays

[fourthtunz]

Because people in English speaking countries can be fooled easily by monthly plans. If you tell them that it costs 800$, they will balk at it. But if you tell them to pay 30$ a month for 36 months, then they are fine with it. Why do you think credit card business flourish in English speaking countries?

and then some of the carriers offer great deals when the iPhone comes out, you get it almost for free
with your old phone trade in. Most also offer interest free financing, if you can pay $25 a month instead
of the full price up front, why not have the latest iPhone? Point taken, sure some are fooled.

 

[ackmondual]

Yeah, Apple is always getting trounced by some rival company. There are so many people who believe market share percentage is everything and I'm not sure why. All a company has to do is keep lowering prices on a halfway decent product and people will buy it. The problem with that is that the company will impact their profit margins and that's bad for business. Market share percentage greed should not be the goal of any company. Once a company captures all that market share they're going to need to properly support all those customers and that's going to cost even more money.

I'm not saying Android OS doesn't have a place in this world. I'm only saying that there is definitely a problem with keeping all those devices properly updated. What percentage of each Android OS variant is ever reached before a new Android OS is introduced. Maybe 30% of all devices per year? Is that something to boast about? So, Apple is getting trounced by Android in terms of market share percentage but Apple's profit margins are still high, so it probably doesn't matter. How much profit margins can an manufacturer make on $50 Android smartphones? Not very much, for sure. If a company can sell a million smartphones and lose money on each one, what's so great about that. See what happened to Xiaomi and what the former CEO had to say about the company. Yeah, they were supposedly killing Apple's iPhone in China and yet bleeding cash. I'm sorry but that's no way to run a business, high market share or not.

Whenever someone says Apple is getting trounced it ALWAYS has to do with lost market share percentage. Why are there no continual Toyota trounces Porsche articles? Because it doesn't mean a damn thing for either company.

Well, if someone buys a $50 Android phone, they're not going to care if their device is getting updated. They're not using it for business, so security issues won't be as big of impact. For functionality and features, the 3rd party apps they used can be updated independent of the OS and security updates. If they really want a new OS, the phone was cheap enough in the first place that they could just buy a new phone.

For the $500+ Android phones OTOH.. manufacturers should be making enough $$ to put in better update plans.

However, some people do choose to reject or at least put off updates. My Ipad Air is still on ios8, and my Ipod Touch 5 is still on ios7. For the latter, I heard mixed reactions with ios8. I didn't want to risk making the user experience laggy, or run into compatibility issues with my games. Besides, many of the new features that came with the iOS updates were for the later iPhones anyways. I was going to get the later versions of iOS by buying the iPod Touch 6, but I passed on that since it still has the same dinky, 4" screen. At this point, there's no point in updating iOS on my IpT5. It's been running for over 3.5 years. The battery will die one day, and I'll just ride out ios7 till that.

 

[Stella]

Marketshare, the clue is in the article.

The consumer doesn't care about profits that are made.

Depends on what you mean by "trounced". If selling five $50 Android phones instead of one iPhone 7 means "trouncing", then Apple is getting "trounced". If you talk about putting money in the bank, Android is sooo trounced it's not funny anymore.

 

[gnasher729]

From the comments on here it seems there'll be plenty of demand for an expensive new iPhone. I don't understand it either. Why upgrade every 6-12 months? My old iPhone 4s still does what I need and I've saved thousands by not trying to keep up with the latest devices.

I think there is some statistics that only about 1% upgrade within a year. So very few iPhone 7 owners will buy an iPhone 8. A decent number will be sold to 6s and more to iPhone 6 users. But I think as an iPhone 4s user you are also in a "few percent" minority now.

 

[Stella]

Toucharcade app is still 32bit - I'm surprised it hasn't been updated.

( Toucharcade being related to this site )

And like the purchased music "ecosystem" in the prior decade, Apple's vaunted iOS app ecosystem has peaked and is headed for decline. Apple itself is getting ready to axe the 32-bit titles (over 200K) from the app store, and this will surely piss off quite a few loyal customers. Even devs who moved their apps to 64-bit are facing the reality that for most of them their efforts were in vain.

 

[gnasher729]

Marketshare, the clue is in the article.

The consumer doesn't care about profits that are made.

But Apple cares. And the Android makers care.

 

[pika2000]

I wouldn't say that. Microsoft's OS looked extremely promising, and from my tests from demo's, it was actually one of the nicest OS's to use. I much preffered it's styling over Android and iOS.

The problem wasn't the actual OS, or even the hardware. it was the 3 different versions Microsoft tried before finally settling on the last version. And each time software was incompatible. no old devices got upgrades (twice in a row!) and then developers walked away when they constantly had to re-write apps. at the end of the day, Windows Phone OS was great, there were just nothing to do on the device. none of your banking apps were there, none of your favourite social media had good apps. unless you were knee deep in Microsoft's ecosystem already, there was nothing to actually play or run on the Windows Phone

it's unfortunate, because I would have loved to see the Smartphone industry be a 4 player game and have some real good stiff competition. Both BB10 and Windows Phone actually brought some significant improvements to the smartphone world

Agree with you. The concept of the OS has so much promise.

Microsoft promised Windows Phone to be the best of both worlds, the diversity of Android (multiple OEMs) and the fluidity and OS updates of iOS. They failed on both fronts, creating a platform that is worst of both worlds (lack of variety outside Nokia and no updates at all). And then the apps, or the lack of. Add on the fact that Google refused to make apps for the platform (other than the single search app).

 

[Abazigal]

Am I the only one who is absolutely not interested in iOS or Android devices. I wish apple would invest more time and money in their mac line

Apple sells 12 iOS devices (10 iPhones and 2 iPads) for every new Mac they sell.

So no, you are not be only one, but you are also in the minority here.

 

[belvdr]

The title is incorrect. 42% of the market <> 42% of sales, unless the entire market turned over.

 

[jeyf]

its just the iPhone 7 didnt catch fire like the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

now what brand of head phones recently cough file on the Australian bound flight? This could be business opportunity for Beats?

 

[the-msa]

its a shame for windows phone. its the sleekest OS out of the bunch. if it wasnt for the non-availability of apps, i'd probably have one now.

 

[Winni]

Meanwhile, iOS is being trounced by Android.

Well, from the perspective of someone writing code/apps for mobile platforms, it's much more fun to do so for Android simply because of its openness and the freedom that you have there as a developer. (And no, you don't have to use ****ing Java to write apps for Android -- I don't.) Besides that, everybody can build devices running Android, but only Apple builds things running iOS.

Yes, Android is the new Windows -- but you know what, that actually is a good thing. It's a de-facto standard that EVERYBODY can use.

On the long run, the open platform ALWAYS wins. (And you don't have to be "open source" in order to be "open".)

 

[macfacts]

But Apple cares. And the Android makers care.

It is weird so many iPhone fans are happy that Apple overcharges them.

 

[C DM]

Marketshare, the clue is in the article.

The consumer doesn't care about profits that are made.

Well, from the perspective of someone writing code/apps for mobile platforms, it's much more fun to do so for Android simply because of its openness and the freedom that you have there as a developer. (And no, you don't have to use ****ing Java to write apps for Android -- I don't.) Besides that, everybody can build devices running Android, but only Apple builds things running iOS.

Yes, Android is the new Windows -- but you know what, that actually is a good thing. It's a de-facto standard that EVERYBODY can use.

On the long run, the open platform ALWAYS wins. (And you don't have to be "open source" in order to be "open".)

Seems like it's more than likely simpler than any of that: more variety of cheaper products will sell more than a much smaller variety of a more expensive product.

 

[I7guy]

It is weird so many iPhone fans are happy that Apple overcharges them.

And to add to that there seems to be a lot of evidence that people are happy with price to value ratio.

 

[fourthtunz]

It is weird so many iPhone fans are happy that Apple overcharges them.

Samsung charges almost as much for some of their phones... but people overwhelmingly choose the iPhone over Samsung...like 94%-4%. And Samsung has a lot of cheap phones in that 4%
The iPhone is just better

 

[LordVic]

It is weird so many iPhone fans are happy that Apple overcharges them.

Everytime a "fanboy" brings up profit as the reason Apple is the best at everything they do,

All i have to do is remind them of Backstreet boys.

Popularity, and the willingness of individuals to part with their money does not actually represent quality. I'm not saying Apple's quality is bad. its's fantastic.

But repeating the profit metric doesn't prove the point that they think it does.

i'm not going to harp on the "overcharge" metric. Value is going to generally be subjective. But when userse boast about Apple's profits, I don't think they realize that it is their pocket those profits are coming from. And many of us have serious issues with how Apple at a corporate level behaves ethically. (even if they are legal)

essentially, it's the "Apple Tax". some people are willing to pay it. Some are not.
[doublepost=1489681235][/doublepost]

Samsung charges almost as much for some of their phones... but people overwhelmingly choose the iPhone over Samsung...like 94%-4%. And Samsung has a lot of cheap phones in that 4%
The iPhone is just better

what absolute nonsense

While samsung and Apple charge the same for their devices, Samsung's cost of production is significantly higher due to the fact samsung puts generally more expensive technology, and more of it than Apple. This is not me saying one is better than the other, But overall Samsung's devices at the same price, have lower margins because of it.

For example, it costs far more to use OLED currently than LCD. More to include 64gb base than 32. More to include 4-8gb of RAM than 2.

Apple is capable of high margins and large profits because they are very very good at providing overall less expensive components than Samsung. many people argue that this is because Apple is willing to provide "yesterdays" tech for today's prices to keep those profit margins large.

again, this doesn't take away that the iPhone is a great experience, But the subjective value with Apple devices is far more polarizing because of Apple's business model than their competitors.

at no point in any way does what you claim to be truth and absolutely shows a complete lack of business understanding.
[doublepost=1489681346][/doublepost]

Seems like it's more than likely simpler than any of that: more variety of cheaper products will sell more than a much smaller variety of a more expensive product.

Market share is so important because if you're a developer, if you have the potential of hitting 40% of people or 60% of people with your program, most will lean towards the larger market first.

the days of Apple's App ecosystem being #1 I think is behind them. However, "**** being first". this isn't a zero sum game. any developer who really wants to do well will attempt ot hit both platforms with equal products in order to get 100% of the market

 

[C DM]

Market share is so important because if you're a developer, if you have the potential of hitting 40% of people or 60% of people with your program, most will lean towards the larger market first.

the days of Apple's App ecosystem being #1 I think is behind them. However, "**** being first". this isn't a zero sum game. any developer who really wants to do well will attempt ot hit both platforms with equal products in order to get 100% of the market

https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/17/app-store-revenue-numbers/

 

[LordVic]

https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/17/app-store-revenue-numbers/

its a factor, and right now Apple is still the #1 place to release your App

that doesn't mean it will stay that way. i'm not able to predict the future, so it's all hypothetical (I didnt think i needed to actually state that)

 

[C DM]

its a factor, and right now Apple is still the #1 place to release your App

that doesn't mean it will stay that way. i'm not able to predict the future, so it's all hypothetical (I didnt think i needed to actually state that)

Right, anything can happen in the future, which is essentially neither here nor there.

 

[LordVic]

Right, anything can happen in the future, which is essentially neither here nor there.

yup but we're on a message board that's discussing such matters, and it's fun to speculate and apply my skills as an analyst

that by no means guarantees my predictions are right only what I interpret from facts and numbers that I can accumulate

just a hobby to pass time

I by no means think Apple is doomed. This was only one hypothetical problem that COULD arise with not having the bigger market share in a 2 horse race.

its not even really a race. there's no finish line. you can have a #1 and #2 who are both good products and services.

 

[Stella]

Seems like it's more than likely simpler than any of that: more variety of cheaper products will sell more than a much smaller variety of a more expensive product.

Android phones can be equally priced as iPhones, especially when on a cell phone 'Tab'.