Nielsen: Apple's iPhone growing, Android flat as smartphone sales surge - Page 3

So do your wife and daughter want to root their phone and overclock their processor? Do they want to install unverified software from any Internet source? Do they want to download porn apps from a porn app store?

I want to do all that stuff. Especially the porn one. And I do so on my Android phone. But if I wasn't a EE/CS major who has been messing with computers since before I took Algebra, I would probably want an iPhone. Plus, I can only afford a $25/month no-contract phone anyway, since I'm a student.

I would think your wife and daughter would want the easiest interface, and largest library of apps. I have a long list of iPhone games I wish I could be playing. (First on that list is Infinity Blade) I'm still amazed at the lack of quality 3D games on Android. They would probably not like the random little glitches and shortcomings of Android.

If you don't get a Gingerbread phone you don't get a workable copy/paste system, something iPhone users used to complain about! I had to install a custom ROM to get that capability because Android handset makers NEVER UPDATE THEIR PHONES AND JUST IGNORE THEM AND RELEASE NEW ONES BECAUSE THEY ARE THE SAME OLD CELL PHONE MANUFACTURERS. This is the worst part about owning an Android phone. Even iPhone 3GS users can use the new iOS 5. but I rely on some dude on the XDA forums for my software updates.

One of the biggest omissions is the little magnifying glass Apple uses so you can move your text cursor to just the right spot. It's another one of those little tiny things that Apple always thinks of that make it such a polished product. It was there on day one with the EDGE iPhone.

I mean are your wife/daughter really comparing your Android to the current iPhone 4? Have they used it? Have you even seen iOS 5?

Oh yeah....buy a phone from anyone besides Apple that has no plastic on the exterior of the phone. Or a physical switch for vibrate mode (GENIUS!) Ready....GO!

Was there something you misunderstood about that quote? Because he's saying "we are NOT" hypnotized zombies... which goes against the grain of most tech journalists and bloggers that don't understand why we do what we do as Apple fans.

Just sayin'

That's not true. Android has overtaken Symbian in the past couple of quarters. iOS is predicted to overtake Symbian this quarter.

Except for the complete sentences, I could swear this is tekstud.

Are you talking smartphones feature phones or all handsets? I'm pretty sure Symbian still has a healthy lead when all handsets are included.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...#disqus_thread

Hang on a minute, one analyst said.

"You can't look at these numbers and say that the momentum of Android is slowing," said Jack Gold, a telecommunications analyst at J. Gold Associates, pointing to the increase in the numbers gap between Android and Apple among all smartphone owners.

Although the iPhone's share of new buyers climbed, Google not only retained its lock on the top spot in smartphone ownership, but increased that share, according to Nielsen.

During the months March through May, Android devices accounted for 38% of all U.S. smartphones, up two percentage points from its share of 36% during the three months of February through April.

Meanwhile, Apple's slice of the smartphone U.S. user base grew just one point, from 26% to 27%, in the same period.

The 11-point difference -- a point higher than earlier -- shows the iPhone is not driving smartphone sales, said Gold.

My thoughts exactly. While I like Apple and my iPhone, this article seems to be having a lot of fun with statistics. So, basically, Android's percent in the marketplace is growing faster than Apple's but Apple is accelerating so it might overtake it... if we extrapolate. Extrapolations have their own issues.

So, interesting to see, but not quite what the article seems to imply.

I know - I'm disagreeing with him - where are my damned iBrains?

I agree with the context of exchanging leads (at least in growth, because Android has a strong lead in % sales right now). But it's not a picture of ebb and flow, because neither OS is receding. RIM is the one ebbing.

So true. But if memory serves, Handspring first came out with a phone attachment for the Visor - their clone of the Palm Pilot?

I'm not sure why we continue with this insistence on walling off "smartphones" as a hard and fast distinction. Apple makes a mobile operating system, which currently runs on three form factors: iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

That mobile operating system, iOS, is dong very well indeed, even against a surging Android. Someone remarked that Android is doing "even better worldwide", but in point of fact iOS is soundly trouncing Android in Europe and, if I recall correctly, every other market outside of Argentina and India.

I realize I'll be accused of "cherry picking" the stats that flatter iOS, but I would say remaining fixated on "smartphones" is actually the distortion. You don't generally hear about Windows' percentage share of particular form factors, why should iOS be any different? Apple is building out a platform for what is arguably going to be the computing space of the 21st century. Smartphones just happen to have had a distribution model that favors heavily subsidized and ubiquitous, so we've seen the fastest ramp-up of penetration there, but it certainly doesn't end there.

Given the relative performance to date of the iPad vs. the competition, it seems unwise to get unduly mesmerized by phone market shares, any more than claims of Apple having some kind of overwhelming lead in "all in one desktop" sales are likely to be a very useful metric.

Ah, nice to come back to an old thread with new perspective.

 

Seems that in the last year apple has fallen even further behind, despite all the excitement in this post.

 

What's your point? Don't necro threads.