Google Android widens lead on Apple's iPhone in US smartphone market - Page 2

Originally Posted by nkhm

They already are giving them away for free.

Originally Posted by NShirkey

Android is an OS not a phone. Windows has a much larger market share than OSX. Go with Windows and Android if that rocks your boat.

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Why is this 'lead' important?

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Why is this 'lead' important?

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

Google is the Microsoft of the smartphone world. That's not a good thing. Any business model that is not similar or the same as Apple's vertical model is to be avoided.

When it comes to single handsets, the iPhone is still the best-selling handset. No one can make an iPhone-killer. But it sure is easy to churn out a lot of junk at various price points and two-fer deals and then turn around and claim market share.

Originally Posted by jfanning

So is the iPhone, what is your point?

Originally Posted by caliminius

Oh, yeah, the tired, "If it's not Apple, it's crap" mantra. Google's profit seems to be doing well without having to copy Apple.

Originally Posted by caliminius

And again, the tired, two-for-one argument. The Android phone makers DON'T sell their phones BOGO. That's the cell phone carriers. To Motorola, Verizon selling 2 Droid 2 phones at $199 each or selling just one Droid 2 for $199 and giving the other away for free is exactly the same profit wise. Verizon still pays Motorola for 2 phones in either scenario. To the service providers, phones are essentially loss leaders intended to get people to buy the big ticket item, the service contract. Just like CDs and DVDs have been used by retailers to lure people in hoping to upsell them to other more expensive merchandise. Maybe some day, you and others here will finally understand that concept.

Originally Posted by justbobf

Because we are all afraid that what happened between Apple and Microsoft will happen all over again with the iPhone. Apple started off with a good market share, ended up with almost nothing.

Originally Posted by iedsri

Can I digress just a little from the "Android sucks! / iOS is being treated unfairly!" discussion?

My problem with this story is that it completely contradicts several reports (including some on Apple Insider) from just a week or so ago, to the effect that Android's gains were slowing significantly and that its sales were "leveling off."

We now know that those reports were just Apple fans' wishful thinking and self-delusion.

I know it's not important, by the way, and that Apple's profit margin is really the final yardstick. But it bothers me when the Apple journalists over-stress positive stories about Apple's performance and re-interpret tentative data as indicative of Apple success just because it makes them (and us) feel better. The problem is that then when glaring evidence to the contrary comes out (like the current story) those journalists' credibility is jeopardized.

Originally Posted by AdonisSMU

Developers haven't embraced it as much because the Android crowd wants something for nothing. Developers don't want to spend time on apps that won't help them pay their bills or compensate them better than an iOS app will. Giving Android phones away is like MSFT giving away IE and we saw how terribly that turned out for the end user and the developer.

Originally Posted by penchanted

...unless Google offers to indemnify them.

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

So what does Google focus on? Not user experience. Not a rich, vibrant ecosystem.

Ads. It's all about ads. Google's entire mobile strategy revolves around ads. It has nothing to do with creating the best possible experience for the user.

Originally Posted by j1h15233

No one gives away an iPhone for free. Every single iPhone you see was paid for by a consumer at some point. You can get Android in a BOGO deal any day of the week. Like others have said, the only reason they have a lead is because it's essentially 4 iPhones versus hundreds of Android phones. It's really remarkable for Apple to have the numbers that they do.

Originally Posted by shadash

But what really will be interesting is if Nokia announces an alliance with Microsoft on Friday. That would really shake things up for everyone.

Originally Posted by chronster

you guys constantly point to iphone sales number as proof its the best phone you can buy, but when it's shown that some other option is doing well, you make one excuse after another for why it sucks

Originally Posted by blilly

Oh, yes ... I'm sure that will shake things up!

Originally Posted by Android4ever


Ok..just one argument.

You say that verizon will help you? Let me tell you something my friends. iPhone is sold ALL OVER THE WORLD on MULTIPLE CARRIERS. They are STILL getting their butts handed to them by Android...WORLDWIDE!.

Just wanted to make sure we were clear. So why do you have this silly idea tha somehow you will be helped when iphone is on multiple carriers..let me tell you something..aint gonna hppen.

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

So what does Google focus on? Not user experience. Not a rich, vibrant ecosystem.

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

Uh yeah. Because without understanding the *reason* behind the numbers you're only partially informed.

There is a lot of junk out there. Cheap, low-quality netbooks absolutely flooded the market and pumped up the also rans' share numbers.

Case in point: Compare Dell or Acer market share to Mac market share. Which product would YOU rather have?

See what I mean?




Th blind leading the blind.

Originally Posted by caliminius

That's your biased, anything that isn't Apple sucks, and quite frankly BS opinion.

Google Maps is still the best and easiest to use online mapping sites. It provides an excellent user experience. I cringe whenever someone tells me to look up an address on MapQuest with it's antiquated, hard-to-read maps. Google Earth is a very cool, very slick mapping program. And it happens to have a vibrant, thriving ecosystem of map data sets, 3d building models, etc.

I gave up using Apple's crappy Mail.app and just leave a tab open to my Gmail account at home. It's by far a much less frustrating user experience than Mail was. Especially when I don't have to have 3 apps sitting open (Mail, iCal, and Address Book) to accomplish the same thing one browser tab pointing to Gmail can do.

Google's search engine is still the best out there. It's still the best at providing relevant results for your search. And still as drop dead easy to use now as it was when it first started.

Google Health is really cool way to have access to your medical history and test results. I just wish more of my health care providers made use of it.

Google makes cool stuff. They're willing to go out on limbs that Apple won't bother to touch (would Apple ever conceived of doing Street View for maps?). And they have a sense of humor and fun that seems sorely lacking from Apple (they're annual April Fool's joke, Google Moon that used to show the surface as cheese if you zoomed in far enough).

Anecdotally, there are at least 4 Android phone users in my family, none the same phone model, ranging from middle school aged to 40 something adults. They're all quite happy with their phones and haven't had any issues figuring out how to use them.

And at the same time, the iPhone is a really cool phone. Now that it's coming to Verizon, I just might pick one up (or switch to AT&T since Verizon is apparently disallowing my employee discount on the service plan and dropped the New Every Two $100 credit I was due to receive in two months).

I'm not a blind Apple fan. I'm not a slavish fandroid. I can think for myself. I love cool tech. I love my PS3. I love my TiVo. I loved my iPod Classic (until the hard drive died). I look forward to getting a 3D TV by year's end.

In a few weeks, I'll probably love my new iPhone. But I'll still be keeping my eyes open to what cool things come out of the Google camp

Originally Posted by lamewing

That depends. What other OS is out there worth having? Win7 Phone? Palm OS? Symbian? I like Win7, the OS is pretty sweet, but I really don't think it will catch on unless Android goes tit-up.

Originally Posted by bigwoodenhead

When the iPhone arrives on all 4 carriers, the only way Android phones can compete is to give them away for free.

Originally Posted by lamewing

Or you can get a Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V for $139.00 at Radio Shack and then pay $25 a month for unlimited data (well 5GB a full speed and then extra throttled), not to mention unlimited texting and 300 mins of talk time.

The phone is not a bad little phone. The slow CPU is backed up by a dedicated GPU and modem cpu than take the load of the CPU. Add a very vanilla version of Android Froyo and you might still not be convinced. Understandable.

BUT when you download the Quick Settings App, your little phone becomes a wifi hotspot for you lovely iOS devices and Macbooks.

Why am I wasting time writing this? Because I am tired of being AT&T's but monkey! I am transferring my iPhone # to Google Voice and then using the little android phone as a hotspot for my now transformed iPh(POD)one 3GS, iPad and Macbook.

Eat it AT&T!

Originally Posted by sprockkets

Seeing as how it was reported by these same people that 32.9 or 33.1 million android handsets were sold vs. 16 for apple, why shouldn't the marketshare go up?

"OH, but now we have verizon!!!"

So? Now we have perhaps 29mill android vs 19 to 20 apple. Apple's marketshare didn't even move much when the iphone4 came out either, and they sold every one they could, lending that most of their sales went to the original iphone owners or 3G owners, not many new users.

DED likes to mention that in the earnings call "if apple could make more then we could overtake everyone." Perhaps that's true.

What's to say that like Android ios won't just cannibalize RIM more and not android? We'll know in about 2-3 months.

Originally Posted by phastmac

Then why doesn't Apple do this. iPhone would rule the U.S. We can't blame Google, I think Google is smart to offer it on all Carriers. I know deep down that Sprint and T-Mobile want the iPhone, heck I want the iPhone on T-Mobile but crossing my fingers that the iPhone 4G/5 with the new chip caters to all carriers. Apple can actually take over the world but.....makes me wonder if its Apple thats stopping themselves.

Originally Posted by Android4ever

Oh you poor apple fans. I wish I could say I sympathize with you..but I don't. For years you have been touting your superiority over the unwashed masses, yet now, we see your high horse has been chopped down to size and your ivory tower has crumbled.

Normally I would counteract your silly arguments about one vs many and "Verizon will help us beat android!" but not today.

Today I shall laugh in happy contentment at your misery.

Ok..just one argument.

You say that verizon will help you? Let me tell you something my friends. iPhone is sold ALL OVER THE WORLD on MULTIPLE CARRIERS. They are STILL getting their butts handed to them by Android...WORLDWIDE!.

Just wanted to make sure we were clear. So why do you have this silly idea tha somehow you will be helped when iphone is on multiple carriers..let me tell you something..aint gonna hppen.

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Why is this 'lead' important?

Originally Posted by Capnbob

More trouble with math. Apple sold 2x the iPhones and share rose only slightly because that is the speed the market is growing. If you sell 2x the phones, you (by definition) are highly unlikely to only be selling to prior iPhone owners. AT&T have stated that at least 40% of iPhone sales are to new AT&T customers who (again, by definition) are unlikely to have had an iPhone before. iPhone 2G and 3G total sales in 2007/2008/2009 were less that the iP4 launch quarter. Sales only took off with 3GS and still the first 2Q of iP4 sold roughly as many as all the prior iPhones ever sold. This "iPhone isn't growing and only sells to prior owners" is idiotic and trips over the basic math every time.

Originally Posted by sprockkets

It was a focus on the qtr that the iphone4 launched, not now. No matter how you look at it, the iphone is doing great.

Originally Posted by Capnbob

I'm sure Apple cut Verizon a deal for 6-12 months of exclusivity vs. Sprint (not that it would matter much) in exchange for Verizon's marketing push.

Originally Posted by DeanSolecki

The fact that Apple doesn't have the largest OS footprint shouldn't upset or surprise anyone. It is used on a "single device" or several versions of a single device, however you want to look at it. That doesn't make it "unfair" to compare OS to OS. It's just a comparison that doesn't favor Apple because of their business strategy.