Apple responds to Android sales, says NPD data doesn't tell whole story
A day after the NPD Group revealed new data showing Android mobile phones outsold the iPhone last quarter, Apple has responded by calling the results "very limited."
Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison spoke with Jim Dalrymple of The Loop Tuesday to offer the company's official stance on new data from NPD that suggested the collective number of smartphones sold running Google's Android operating system exceeded the total number of iPhones sold in the first quarter of 2010. Apple instead cited numbers released last week that showed the iPhone with more than 16.1 percent market share of smartphones sold worldwide.
"This is a very limited report on 150,000 U.S. consumers responding to an online survey and does not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide," Harrison reportedly said. "IDC figures show that iPhone has 16.1 percent of the smartphone market and growing, far outselling Android on a worldwide basis.
She continued: "We had a record quarter with iPhone sales growing by 131 percent and with our new iPhone OS 4.0 software coming this summer, we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon."
The IDC numbers from last week placed Apple in third place, behind market leaders Nokia and Research in Motion, which held 39.3 percent and 19.4 percent market share, respectively. But that survey referred to hardware manufacturers, and the two largest Android providers -- HTC and Motorola -- came in fourth and fifth globally, behind Apple.
The NPD data, which Apple commented on Tuesday, instead represented mobile operating systems on smartphones. It did not include the iPod touch or iPad, both of which also run the iPhone OS but are not smartphones.
Dalyrmple also noted that while RIM's BlackBerry and Google's Android were ahead of the iPhone OS in first-quarter sales, both RIM and Google often participate in "buy one, get one free" sales and similar promotions. Apple, instead, only offers the iPhone in three models, at three distinctive price points.
In addition, the iPhone is only available on one carrier -- AT&T -- in the U.S., while Android is available on a variety of networks. And while Apple's product lineup is simple, Google has partnered with a number of hardware manufacturers who have embraced Android. NPD noted that sales of the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris were strong and helped Verizon compete with AT&T in overall smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2010.
The NPD figures were based on sales data from more than 150,000 completed online consumer research surveys. The study is conducted each month, and NPD claims the results are representative of the entire population of U.S. consumers.
Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison spoke with Jim Dalrymple of The Loop Tuesday to offer the company's official stance on new data from NPD that suggested the collective number of smartphones sold running Google's Android operating system exceeded the total number of iPhones sold in the first quarter of 2010. Apple instead cited numbers released last week that showed the iPhone with more than 16.1 percent market share of smartphones sold worldwide.
"This is a very limited report on 150,000 U.S. consumers responding to an online survey and does not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide," Harrison reportedly said. "IDC figures show that iPhone has 16.1 percent of the smartphone market and growing, far outselling Android on a worldwide basis.
She continued: "We had a record quarter with iPhone sales growing by 131 percent and with our new iPhone OS 4.0 software coming this summer, we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon."
The IDC numbers from last week placed Apple in third place, behind market leaders Nokia and Research in Motion, which held 39.3 percent and 19.4 percent market share, respectively. But that survey referred to hardware manufacturers, and the two largest Android providers -- HTC and Motorola -- came in fourth and fifth globally, behind Apple.
The NPD data, which Apple commented on Tuesday, instead represented mobile operating systems on smartphones. It did not include the iPod touch or iPad, both of which also run the iPhone OS but are not smartphones.
Dalyrmple also noted that while RIM's BlackBerry and Google's Android were ahead of the iPhone OS in first-quarter sales, both RIM and Google often participate in "buy one, get one free" sales and similar promotions. Apple, instead, only offers the iPhone in three models, at three distinctive price points.
In addition, the iPhone is only available on one carrier -- AT&T -- in the U.S., while Android is available on a variety of networks. And while Apple's product lineup is simple, Google has partnered with a number of hardware manufacturers who have embraced Android. NPD noted that sales of the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris were strong and helped Verizon compete with AT&T in overall smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2010.
The NPD figures were based on sales data from more than 150,000 completed online consumer research surveys. The study is conducted each month, and NPD claims the results are representative of the entire population of U.S. consumers.
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Dalyrmple also noted that while RIM's BlackBerry and Google's Android were ahead of the iPhone OS in first-quarter sales, both RIM and Google often participate in "buy one, get one free" sales and similar promotions. Apple, instead, only offers the iPhone in three models, at three distinctive price points.
And where in the business handbook does it say that you aren't allowed to have BOGO promotions?
Is it ethical? Yes
Does it cause additional money to be made? Yes
BOGO is completely fair game. I'm still surprised Apple/AT&T hasn't done one to even further increase its marketshare and profits.
Just another example of statisticians making the numbers lie and tell a story they want told
Oh? And you have the actual Q1 sales numbers to prove that NPD's data is a lie?
In addition, the iPhone is only available on one carrier -- AT&T -- in the U.S., while Android is available on a variety of netowrks.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Though that survey probably has some major flaws, I am surprised by the casual dismal of a sample size of 150 000.
People loved, Loved, LOVED America-On-Line. They loved the things that they can do on it and it's pleasantly controlled content. Fans would defend it tooth and nail. I just realized, Apple is not mimicking Microsoft, it's mimicking AOL and we all know what happened to AOL. Hopefully Apple is not as delusional and do something about it rather than talk.
Well, unless Apple hire the worst customer support staff in the history of the universe (and covering all lifeforms and cultures there-within) then there is little chance of Apple mimicking AOL.
A day after the NPD Group revealed new data showing Android mobile phones outsold the iPhone last quarter, Apple has responded by calling the results "very limited."
Interesting. I was just thinking "well done Google" and "that's what you get for having a big range of handsets on multiple carriers". It doesn't seem like a point worth defending on Apple's part.
Apple instead cited numbers released last week that showed the iPhone with more than 16.1 percent market share of smartphones sold worldwide.
As far as NPD is concerned, the US is the world, and everywhere else is a small island off the coast of Mexico (including Mexico itself!). It does pretty clearly say it's for the US market only, there's no deception there and no reason for anyone to take it as indicative of worldwide sales.
"This is a very limited report on 150,000 U.S. consumers responding to an online survey..."
That I did not know. I wonder if any statisticians would care to comment on whether that can be considered to be a representative sample? Apart from the possibility that survey participants might be somewhat self-selecting or otherwise a biased set, it actually sounds like a reasonable way to extrapolate those figures. I always did wonder where NPD got its numbers from - I assumed there was some kind of reliable centralised data set (eg. actual knowledge of units sold based on the respective companies' financial reports to investors), but a large survey sounds okay. They should really quote the expected error rate though.
The IDC numbers from last week placed Apple in third place, behind market leaders Nokia and Research in Motion, which held 39.3 percent and 19.4 percent market share, respectively. But that survey referred to hardware manufacturers, and the two largest Android providers -- HTC and Motorola -- came in fourth and fifth globally, behind Apple.
Fair enough, AI, but next time include the IDC numbers too if you can. It sounds like an interesting and relevant counterpoint to the NPD data for this purpose.
The NPD data, which Apple commented on Tuesday, instead represented mobile operating systems on smartphones. It did not include the iPod touch or iPad, both of which also run the iPhone OS but are not smartphones.
That's just nitpicking. If NPD want to include smartphone stats by OS, I'd expect that to only include smartphones.
To be honest, this just sounds like routine PR on Apple's part to control confidence in their stock. No real substance to Apple's statement in this case.
Though that survey probably has some major flaws, I am surprised by the casual dismal of a sample size of 150 000.
The PR department carefully worded its statement to lead into the world-wide figures that can't be changing so fast in Google's favor. Apple didn't get into disputing the accuracy of NPD's figures, perhaps because the figures might be accurate enough and because it's safer just to focus on what Apple knows for certain.
Solid statistics can be misinterpreted easily enough as it is. Customer self-reporting surveys like NPD's are just pining to be inaccurate.
What was the distribution of respondents among the different carriers? Did Verizon customers respond 3:1 to AT&T customers responding?
How many Verizon customers said they bought an iPhone in the past month?
How many AT&T customers said they bought an Android device in February?
Does "past month" mean the last 30 days, the last 31 days, the month before this one, or maybe so far this year?
If I was on Verizon and had been holding out for an iPhone, just to send a little message to Apple, I might have felt compelled to say I just bought an Android device even if I hadn't or even if it had been months ago.
Apple actually has a spokesperson? What does she do the other 364.9 days of the year?
People loved, Loved, LOVED America-On-Line. They loved the things that they can do on it and it's pleasantly controlled content. Fans would defend it tooth and nail. I just realized, Apple is not mimicking Microsoft, it's mimicking AOL and we all know what happened to AOL. Hopefully Apple is not as delusional and do something about it rather than talk.
Not sure what point you were trying to make. Did AOL fail because of their pleasantly controlled content, or because people defend them tooth and nail? Did people suddently decide they didn't want controlled content?
My opinion is that AOL failed because their business was built on dail-up. They did not move into cable-modem, DSL, etc. They offered their content on top of these services, but if you have to pay someone else for high-speed internet, why would you need AOL on top of that?
And where in the business handbook does it say that you aren't allowed to have BOGO promotions?
Is it ethical? Yes
Does it cause additional money to be made? Yes
BOGO is completely fair game. I'm still surprised Apple/AT&T hasn't done one to even further increase its marketshare and profits.
Of course it's fair game. No one said otherwise.
The point is that it tends to skew the numbers and is unsustainable. Eventually, either the carrier or the manufacturer has to cut it off because it affects profitability.
In addition, at least part of the Android sales results are a surge from people who wanted a good phone on something other than AT&T - and Android is the first decent non-AT&T phone. Once those people have gotten their phone, the pressure will be off.
It's going to be a lot more interesting to see how this plays out for the long run.
Oh? And you have the actual Q1 sales numbers to prove that NPD's data is a lie?
Actually, we do. See the IDC numbers in the report.
IDC numbers are based on actual sales. NPD numbers are based on a self-selected group, leaning toward geeks, and their self-reported purchases.
Which one do you think is more accurate?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y7XJI4NN7k
hey did everybody see the cool video of flash running smooth as silk on a nexus one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y7XJI4NN7k
Yep, I'm surprised they didn't try to hide the stuttering. LOL @ smooth as silk.
Well, unless Apple hire the worst customer support staff in the history of the universe (and covering all lifeforms and cultures there-within) then there is little chance of Apple mimicking AOL.
WalMart has terrible customer service and has tight controls over it's content (just like Apple). WalMart is also a very successful business and has innovated the merchandising industry with their approach to supply chain management. Apple seems to be following that path except that it pays a premium for customer service. It'll be interesting to see what happens from this different business approach.