When talking about smartphones iOS and the iPhone is exactly the same thing.
And in what way for example iPod touch is not so smart? Minus the calling and SMS.
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iPhone Continues to Hold Off Android in U.S. Smartphone Market Share
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And in what way for example iPod touch is not so smart? Minus the calling and SMS.
Let's put it this way: iOS based phones vs. Android based phones
but honestly: those numbers don't matter too much. They show that iOS Phones does not suffer due to Android Phones and Android Phones does not suffer due to iOS Phones - the only looser is RIM. Yes, Android Phones will take over the iOS Phones - with a bigger variety of hardware chances are more Android based phones are soled - so what? - the market for smart phones is growing and has room for both. Everybody can select what fits their needs. Android Phones and iOS Phones are very similar, and for the user it is a matter of preferences based on rather small details. Good thing everybody can select what they want and that those two don't kill each other - that way both will keep up adding more features - good for everyone. I personally love my iPhone 4 and won't trade it for any Android based one, but that is my opinion and others might prefer the Android.
No, it doesn't, your anti-Apple comment aside. The trend shows trouble for non-Android, non-iOS companies. No one company will ever control the entire smartphone market. Ever. But there will be giants who hold major market share. And Apple will be one of them.
Android's problem is that they are flooding the market with so many different manufacturers (hundreds across Asia), their brand value is being diluted. Sure when you have hundreds of phone models everywhere, people will buy them, but that's not because they are loyal to your brand, it's just that's what phones are lying around in the shop. Long term, this is not the best approach to take if you care about Android.
Google, of course, does not care about Android so much as it cares about eyeballs for their ads. Whatever gives them that is fine by them. If it's Android, cool. If it's something else, that's cool too. Not the best foundation to rest upon.
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The story is about Smartphones. The iPod touch isn't a phone so it isn't included in the figures. Simple.
So Apple "continues to hold off" Android, as the title says and you just implied. You are talking about future events. Could happen, or maybe the trend will change. Right now we don't know.
The title is perfectly accurate no matter how breathlessly people keep waiting for Android to "win," whatever that means.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1046459/
Android surpassed iOS a long time ago, now the US the follow
"win" means you have the majority of the market share"
... assuming, of course, that the status quo remain the status quo. Any change--say, by the iPhone adding Verizon to its market path--could accelerate iOS and slow Android for more than a year and perhaps even permanently if when Android contracts begin to expire, users choose not to buy another one. Brand or platform loyalty is as important as the 'innovation.' Android is the new kid on the block right now, but unless it's done a good enough job to generate loyal users, that new kid could become a pariah once the newness wears off.
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Is there any brand value in a free, open source operating system?
Most of the manufacturers who have started manufacturing Android phones have seen profits increase based on it. Motorola were in the gutter, Samsung have recently hit the 10 million milestone with their Galaxy S line of phones and HTC have come on in strides in brand awareness and profits. I don't see any of that as a bad thing for those companies.
Google are at a distinct advantage too because it doesn't really matter what platform you use thir services on be it iOS, Windows Phone, Symbian or any other platform. They still get their share of data and advertising.
Both Google and Apple will continue to do well I think.
NebulaClash said:
Is there any brand value in a free, open source operating system?
Most of the manufacturers who have started manufacturing Android phones have seen profits increase based on it. Motorola were in the gutter, Samsung have recently hit the 10 million milestone with their Galaxy S line of phones and HTC have come on in strides in brand awareness and profits. I don't see any of that as a bad thing for those companies.
Google are at a distinct advantage too because it doesn't really matter what platform you use thir services on be it iOS, Windows Phone, Symbian or any other platform. They still get their share of data and advertising.
Both Google and Apple will continue to do well I think.
Just one observation: There are plenty of people who are not interested in a smartphone at all, just a mobile phone to make and receive phone calls. And many of those people don't want to look cheap and be seen with a £15 phone, because most of them are just ugly. There are plenty of Android phones that are cheap enough for this group of people. If you don't want any smart features at all, and have enough money to easily afford a £99 phone without contract, then you might end up with an Android phone, but not with an iPhone. Not that Apple loses out much, just as they didn't lose any sales to netbooks. That's also the reason why the iPhone share in browser use is much higher than Android's.
The point is that you can sell four very cheap Android phones and make the same revenue as Apple makes with one iPhone, and a tiny fraction of the profit.
iPhone is the better platform
As both an iPhone and Android (EVO) user I can tell you the Android phone is a second class platform. Android has lots of apps, some are even free vs paid on IOS. The usability is where Android really loses its luster. One newly discovered difference is when you have to replace one Android phone with another. It is frustrating and based on the responses from HTC impossible to completely restore the config from one phone to another. Sure, contacts and calenders are easy to recover. Paid for applications are right in the market to be re-downloaded. Everything else has to be restored manually and that is a MAJOR oversight. Compare that with when I replaced my 1 gen iPhone with a 3G. I plugged in the 1 gen iPhone, and iTunes backed it up, swapped SIM cards and plugged in the new iPhone. Activated it, and it asked if I wanted to do a restore and what back up I wanted to restore. I chose the recent one and walked away. I came back at some point later the phone was ready to go, every setting, every app, every photo, all the contacts and my calender were up to date. There are several other shortcomings, none so glaring as this one. AT&T still sucks which is why I got an EVO in the first place.
As both an iPhone and Android (EVO) user I can tell you the Android phone is a second class platform. Android has lots of apps, some are even free vs paid on IOS. The usability is where Android really loses its luster. One newly discovered difference is when you have to replace one Android phone with another. It is frustrating and based on the responses from HTC impossible to completely restore the config from one phone to another. Sure, contacts and calenders are easy to recover. Paid for applications are right in the market to be re-downloaded. Everything else has to be restored manually and that is a MAJOR oversight. Compare that with when I replaced my 1 gen iPhone with a 3G. I plugged in the 1 gen iPhone, and iTunes backed it up, swapped SIM cards and plugged in the new iPhone. Activated it, and it asked if I wanted to do a restore and what back up I wanted to restore. I chose the recent one and walked away. I came back at some point later the phone was ready to go, every setting, every app, every photo, all the contacts and my calender were up to date. There are several other shortcomings, none so glaring as this one. AT&T still sucks which is why I got an EVO in the first place.
When I look at those lines I see three things
- RIM is failing
- Apple is stagnant
- Android is in ascendancy
While Apple may be one the one players left standing, they will in the minority position. As time goes on, app developers will begin to favor Android, thereby making iOS even less attractive.
I agree with you that both Google and Apple will do well, but I highlight this one sentence because I think that's how most people think of Android. The problem is that Android is not really free or open source in any meaningful way to the consumer. For the programmer, you bet, it's open. For cell phone manufacturers, hehe, it's free to them all right. But unless you are a developer, what do you get when you buy an Android phone?
You get whatever Motorola or Samsung let you have, plus whatever Verizon decides to foist upon you. Want the latest version of Android? You wait. And wait. Maybe forever, if the cell providers want you to upgrade your hardware instead. How is this free again?
It isn't. Not in any real sense that benefits the consumer. The ones who benefit are the phone manufacturers and cell providers. They are like pigs at the trough grabbing this free software. Then they lock it up.
That was a single quarter
The only way they are closing the gap on total number of devices in use is by selling more per quarter.... that's kind of a DUH, really.
The only way they are closing the gap on total number of devices in use is by selling more per quarter.... that's kind of a DUH, really.
Sorry, but doesn't the trend actually say that Android is steady but slowly going up and Apple has peaks up of insanity? It seems "trouble" to Android to me...
Most android users on other networks secretly want an iphone.
But they wont admit it.
With Android having more carriers one would think it would be more competitive.
What will likely happen is that Android will briefly take the top spot for a year or two until newly signed contracts end and the iphone is available on more carriers.
In what way? Apple's trend is still trending up. Yes so is Android, but it's 20 devices vs one device. Plus, since these are US numbers its 5 carriers vs 1 carrier. I think we'd see a different chart if the iPhone was available on more carriers... which should be happening soon. The only "trouble" I see in the trends is RIM... they are trending down.
As always... thanks for the positive input!
Then you need to look more closely and take off your anti-Apple glasses (as seen in so many of your comments). The smartphone market is exploding. For Apple to stay at their market share means they are selling phones like crazy. Your comment would only be true if the smartphone market was static in size. It's not.
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That is all about Symbian still surely?
Stella said:
That is all about Symbian still surely?
i really dont know what the hell your talking about, you pop your MicroSD with your stuff on it and throw it in the new phone..... ive gone through 8+ android phones like this. didnt loose anything (contacts, calender, email are on exchange, rest of my stuff is on MicroSD)