I don't get why we obsess over these numbers. It's important for the iPhone to stay relevant, but since only Apple makes the iPhone vs several name and no name companies making Andriod it's only natural for the iPhones share to be small and occasionally dip.
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iPhone Market Share Dips Slightly as Android Increases Lead in Global Smartphone Race
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I totally agree Apple definitely has the Quality portion of marketshare. It's almost a shame that these companies put crappy smart phones out there leaving The consumer to a horrible smart phone experience.
One has to wonder if Canada, a far larger market than Australia, has just been ignored or was lumped into the United States.
Great response. Thanks!
I agree, if you are not all in in Apple (I am and have been all Apple/Mac since 1983, so it makes sense for me), there are plenty of great alternatives out there. Find what suits you best. And the big three (Apple/Google/Microsoft) all have, for what really counts, similar ecosystems.
Aside: tried going to the Google Play music store today. Says it isn't available in my country. The irony? Besides being in the US? I did this from my daughter's chromebook...
Congratulations on your personal success as a business owner. It's hard work that many don't understand. But I think the point you miss is that your company is not a publicly traded one. That comes with an entirely different set of legal obligations, issues, and commitments. You've seen in recent weeks where Karl Icahn is pushing hard to get the Board to increase its buyback. Just one example. If Apple's executives intentionally priced its products lower than what they knew they could bring they would put themselves in they eye of shareholder lawsuit.
But that doesn't mean Apple or any public company has to cold, inhumane, and uncharitable. There are other tools they can use just as generous employee benefits, charitable donations, encouraging employees to donate time to the local community and so forth.
The bottom line, especially with public companies, is, however, profit and growing profit. To Wall Street that is all that matters, not a companies charitable foundation, or employee benefit program, except to the extent that lowers profit! You have a lot more flexibility not being public so it's not a direct comparison. You also don't have the SEC on your back.
Remember that market share is just that. Market share.
Selling 1 million products y1. Followed by selling 1.2 million products y2, in a growing market could mean a decline in market share.
As the smartphone market grows the trend of declining market share for Apple will probably continue for years to come.
Since Apple is competing mainly in the premium part of the market, that is where their numbers should be compared, if you want to draw any meaningful conclusions.
How does the 5S and 5C do compared to the Samsung S4, HTC One, Sony Xperia Z1 etc.?
Less interesting numbers — to me at least — would be how the 4S compares to, say, the Samsung S3, S4 Mini and the rest of that rather crowded 'middle'-market.
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PS: Great to see more global/international news and numbers on MR! : )
Selling 1 million products y1. Followed by selling 1.2 million products y2, in a growing market could mean a decline in market share.
As the smartphone market grows the trend of declining market share for Apple will probably continue for years to come.
Since Apple is competing mainly in the premium part of the market, that is where their numbers should be compared, if you want to draw any meaningful conclusions.
How does the 5S and 5C do compared to the Samsung S4, HTC One, Sony Xperia Z1 etc.?
Less interesting numbers — to me at least — would be how the 4S compares to, say, the Samsung S3, S4 Mini and the rest of that rather crowded 'middle'-market.
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PS: Great to see more global/international news and numbers on MR! : )
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The hardest number for me to believe in this report is that the iPhone has a 20% market share in China for the December quarter. That seems very high considering it wasn't even available on the largest carrier in the world. Seems like it was reported at 3-5% a few months ago.
In many countries, iPhone 5S is given away 'free' on contract. The customer will just pay a higher monthly fee. Other flag ship phones are also given away 'free'.
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I'm not bothered if iPhone was / is / will be in 3rd place, what matters is the developer interest.
Multiple manufacturers are creating Windows and Android phones so is unrealistic to expect Apple to keep up its marketshare.
iPhones are still selling very well, which is what really matters. Marketshare is just one data point, but still an important one.
Think about it for sec. The Android phone is nothing but 3rd party tech with the Android software built in. So you have lets say a dozen smart phone makers pumping out cheap tech by the gazzilions
At the end of the day look at the balance sheets of these companies and not the free Android software.
At the end of the day look at the balance sheets of these companies and not the free Android software.
Personally I hate the term American, as America is a continent from which the US is part of, but that is a PRSI subject and a different topic
. I am not sure what you mean by most of the world, however looking at Orange in the UK, shows the 4S available for £49.99 , and two available cost plans form which the phone is free.
http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/iPhone-4s-8GB-black
T-Mobile in Germany also offers a low cost / subsidized version of the 4s from what I gather as well.
http://www.t-mobile.de/shop/handy/0,4855,2963-_304597-0-1-0,00.html
The only reason I am aware of those options, is due to the fact of my being on those sites for a planned European trip, looking for a completely different product, a prepaid sim for my iPhone 4.
That said, I understand subsidized phones outside the US is more often rare than where I live.
The reason why iOS has dropped so much in Italy, I am near certain, is that Italians shop in stores much more than they do online, and at ALL the major stores in Italy, the iPhones are almost always relegated to some unseen corner of the phone section, with the phones hardly ever working (i.e., not charged or powered off), generally looking terrible with terrible looking screen protectors half pealed off etc). Meanwhile, every major electronics retailer in Italy has a huge Samsung section with all kinds of Apple-store cloning setup and million employees offering assistance. It's nearly laughable.
With the way Apple's presence in Italian outlets is managed, I am surprised they are able to sell hardly any phones at all.
With the way Apple's presence in Italian outlets is managed, I am surprised they are able to sell hardly any phones at all.
Thanks for that!
Personally I wonder also what Apple needs to do with all these billions in the bank that are not used. I'm not a shareholder anymore, but wasn't at the time expecting that money to be flowing out at any point.
I agreed with your comment on the founding group of Apple and their personal motivations, but Steve Jobs himself was never part of that group, and the others left ages ago. Besides that, there is not that incredibly much that Apple could do themselves, as Apple is now owned by large organizations having big stakes in the company. A recent example is Carl Icann, which due to his high stake will or maybe has become a key person in the decision making process at Apple in terms of financial strategy.
In every thread I see people advocating that Apple should lower its prices in order to increase its market share. Although it would probably help, it would also rid the brand of its exclusive image which would also alienate a large group of consumers. We can all be sure that Apple has at some or other point considered lowering its prices, but apparently their calculations have proven that this would in the long run not benefit the organization. The people that do these calculations have much more information (regional sales numbers and forecasts, product pipeline etc..) at their disposal than we all have in this thread, so those people thinking its a no-brainer to lower pricing have an overly simplistic view of what this situation really requires.
About giving back: I still think Apple doesnt owe me or any other consumer anything. Its like Chupa said. No-one is obligated to buy Apple products and a lifetime of Apple products doesnt entitle anyone to a compensation by the company from its profits.
In other words: when you buy a product, you are willing to spend that mone, because the product has more value in your personal eyes than the money you use to pay it with. The value of the organization does not play any role in that transaction. The iPhone you bought years ago has not changed in value as a consequence of the company becoming more or less valuable.
Outside the US it is often possible to sign up for SIM only contracts without a phone. These contracts are usually much cheaper. In the US this is generally not the case I believe.Personally I hate the term American, as America is a continent from which the US is part of, but that is a PRSI subject and a different topic
I am not sure what you mean by most of the world, however looking at Orange in the UK, shows the 4S available for £49.99 , and two available cost plans form which the phone is free.
http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/iPhone-4s-8GB-black
T-Mobile in Germany also offers a low cost / subsidized version of the 4s from what I gather as well.
http://www.t-mobile.de/shop/handy/0,4855,2963-_304597-0-1-0,00.html
The only reason I am aware of those options, is due to the fact of my being on those sites for a planned European trip, looking for a completely different product, a prepaid sim for my iPhone 4.
That said, I understand subsidized phones outside the US is more often rare than where I live.
What I didn't understand was that there is no Apple store in Milan. In addition I agree with the commenter above. Samsung seems to invest way more money into their third party store displays than Apple does. Not saying they look better, but the logos are bigger and the lights are brighter.
The market share in Italy might have also suffered from Apple's warranty issues in that country.
I used to live in Brazil and I must say, things down there are a lot different than up here. Smartphones are ridiculously expensive, especially any apple product. Brazil has to pay some of the highest premiums in the world in order to get an Apple product even though they recently opened up a new plant in Jundai S.P. and "promised" to lower prices. It is expensive as ever and very few people can purchase one. Almost 3 grand for an iphone 5s. Now I know people will say "but the Real is worth less than the dollar" but the fact of the matter is they earn in Reais, therefore they pay in Reais (obviously), and 3k for a phone is more than what most people down there earn in several months.
This is why they buy android. Android has a million models out there that are cheap and pieces of garbage but those phones are what the people can realistically afford.
Yeah, that was too far away for me. The ideal place would be in that covered traditional shopping center close to the duomo. I'd rather wait for my wife (while she shops for shoes) in an Apple Store in stead of these generic Massimo Dutti stores etc...
Apple probably still has the lead in the high-end smart phone market. This is what counts for Apple. They can't compete with a $150 Android phone (off contract) and they shouldn't. But these cheap useless android phones get counted into the android share. This is why this type of statistical comparison is in reality useless.
That's why Apple wanted to put a production plant in Brasil. To circumvent the astronomical import taxes in Mrasil. It's a good way to attract labour to a country.
Okay, but be fair—I also argued that I thought it would be in Apple's best long-term interests to have chased a larger chunk of the market with more competitive prices. Sometimes a shareholder, or even a board of directors, can lose sight of the big picture while chasing short-term profits.
Really, the profit-making objectives of a large public company are not that much different to a small private company. BOTH wish to make a healthy profit! Apple has its shareholders to feed—I have my family! The human, relational aspect may be more prevalent in a small business like mine, and I'd say that's typically one of the benefits in dealing with small business. (Get out and support your local small businesses people!) But it's critical to the success of any business to remember that the customer is also a person, and the purpose of your business, that underlies all its profit-making endeavours, is to serve the customer. Forget that, and I'm sorry, but you're business is screwed, because sooner or later the customer will figure out that you don't give two hoots about them and they will move on. Look after the customer and they'll have good reason to give you their money.
Apply this principle to democratic government. (I know many Americans hold both capitalism and democracy to be sacred and not open to scrutiny, but please humour me.) What is the actual purpose of democratic government? What is the primary objective of each political party? Is it to best serve the people? Or is it be re-elected?
That part seems to be "invaded" by Inditex (Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti, etc.)
Agreed!
Which is a thorn in my side. I am amazed how cheap a sim is for my phone, for my upcoming trip. Much less than I pay a month here, more data, and similar minutes.
There are a GADZILLION sim card options in Europe and you can purchase them anywhere and everywhere. While all sims will work in the major cities it can get a bit more dodgy as you move away from those cities. I'm in Germany a lot and I only use Vodafone because of their coverage throughout the country. I don't have a voice requirement just data and I've found their Websessions sim offers me pretty good value.
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