Android gaining on Apple iOS in mobile web market share

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  • Reply 141 of 348
    wilwil Posts: 170member
    Newtron

    Android devices outpaced iOS devices which maybe true but individually as manufacturers, where do they stand against Apple? How about each other? How does HTC compare itself to Motorola? Samsung? Dell and the rest of the pack? About Android OS, how many users had upgraded their phones to the latest and greatest Android OS?



    That was the greatest problem of Windows based PC manufacturers. Collectively, the PC market kicked Apple's ass in sales, mind share and everything else. When Steve Jobs went back to Apple, he understood that the race to the bottom will kill his company and he decided that he will not play that game and the rest is history. Where is Compaq now? How about Gateway? How's IBM's PC division doing anyway? How about Alienware? Dell, anyone?



    If you going to tell me that Goggle will tell the phone manufacturers and the telecom companies that they will be the ones that will dictate to these proud cell phone manufacturers and arrogant telecom companies on how to build their devices and their services centered on the Android platform and standard. You will find out real quick on how fast Android would really fragment.
  • Reply 142 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    At some point, Google will have to start to figure out a way to start to monetize Android (since they are not a charity, but a shareholder value-maximizing firm). That will be fun to watch......



    They already have.



    They don't need to split search revenues with Apple so Google makes more money on Android phones than on iPhones. Same with Chrome: Google pays Apple and Mozilla to be the default search engine in Safari and FireFox. But if users browse the web with Chrome then Google gets to keep all the ad revenue. This more than covers the development costs. Google doesn't need to sell Android, Chrome or ChromeOS to make money from them.
  • Reply 143 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by esummers View Post


    If Android ever surpasses iOS market share it will be more like the netbook vs the macbook. They may sell 90% of the units and make 10% of the profit. It is inevitable for Android market share to grow as the low end of the smart phone market grows. These are simply users upgrading from feature phones. Apple is selling at their capacity. They couldn't "steal" this market share away from Google if they wanted to. There simply are not enough units. There is a good chance that Android will become the "stepping stone" platform to an iOS device in the long run.



    I do not understand this comment. An iPhone (in the US) is either $99 or $199 for the 16 GB version.



    Androids are the same price, as are Blackberries.



    What is this mythical low end you are talking about that Android is supposed to fill, given the prices are the same, and the plan costs are the same.



    OTOH, if you mean some sort of personal opinion regarding "low end" that you have that is fine, but you do need to realize that other people may disagree with you and happily and willingly buy something other than an iPhone
  • Reply 144 of 348
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Newtron View Post


    There's plenty of facts out there if you care to look. No need for conjecture.



    "Android App Growth on the Rise: 9000+ New Apps in March Alone



    According to recent statistics from AndroidLib.com, the Android Marketplace saw 9,331 new mobile applications added to its app store during the month of March, 2010. This number is even more phenomenal when you look at the Android Marketplace's historical growth. In December of last year, for example, there were 3,807 new applications added to the Android app store. By January, 4,458 more were added. In February, 5,532 arrived. And now, 9,331.



    http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives...march_2010.php



    - 250,000 Apps currently available before an app purge it was nearly 300k

    - 6.5B App downloads includes updates iirc

    - $1,000,000,000.00 paid to App developers after Apple took it's 30%

    - 120,000,000 iOS devices sold to date.

    - 15,000 App Store Submissions Per Week .. Yes I typed week.



    Now let's hear your numbers...
  • Reply 145 of 348
    Like it or not, Android phones are equal to the iPhone in functionality. I have an old Droid ( I have to use Verizon ) and it does almost everything the current iPhone 4 does and it is a year old now. I have several friends that have iPhones so we compare the phones on a regular basis.



    The new front facing camera in the iPhone 4 is a nice option and the screen is a little nicer. I have a Macbook Pro and a couple of Mac Minis. I really wanted an iPhone and though I would get one when our company forced us to get our own phone plans and put us in a reimbursement plan. Unfortunately AT&T does not cover a full 2/3 of my sales territory in Georgia with 3G coverage. This severely limited the usefulness of the iPhone for my work. Reluctantly, I bought a Motorola Droid as a result.



    I might get an iPhone if it was offered on Verizon, but to be honest, I have grown to like the Android OS. I connect it to USB, mount the drive and use it like any other storage device. I can easly read/write files to my network storage devices. It is much easier to customize the operation and appearance of my phone with Android. The Android development/user community reminds me of what Apple used to be before it started down the path of a totally closed system. I have yet to find anything I wanted to do with the phone that it could not do in simple and efficient manner. There are a few apps that the iPhone has that I wished Android had, but they are supposedly in development.



    If Apple does not take the competition from Android seriously, I think it would be a mistake...



    And for those of you who do not think Android is mature and competitive with the iPhone you obviously have not used one of the higher end Android phones for any length of time...
  • Reply 146 of 348
    wilwil Posts: 170member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sranger View Post


    Like it or not, Android phones are equal to the iPhone in functionality. I have an old Droid ( I have to use Verizon ) and it does almost everything the current iPhone 4 does and it is a year old now. I have several friends that have iPhones so we compare the phones on a regular basis.



    The new front facing camera in the iPhone 4 is a nice option and the screen is a little nicer. I have a Macbook Pro and a couple of Mac Minis. I really wanted an iPhone and though I would get one when our company forced us to get our own phone plans and put us in a reimbursement plan. Unfortunately AT&T does not cover a full 2/3 of my sales territory in Georgia with 3G coverage. This severely limited the usefulness of the iPhone for my work. Reluctantly, I bought a Motorola Droid as a result.



    I might get an iPhone if it was offered on Verizon, but to be honest, I have grown to like the Android OS. I connect it to USB, mount the drive and use it like any other storage device. I can easly read/write files to my network storage devices. It is much easier to customize the operation and appearance of my phone with Android. The Android development/user community reminds me of what Apple used to be before it started down the path of a totally closed system. I have yet to find anything I wanted to do with the phone that it could not do in simple and efficient manner. There are a few apps that the iPhone has that I wished Android had, but they are supposedly in development.



    If Apple does not take the competition from Android seriously, I think it would be a mistake...



    And for those of you who do not think Android is mature and competitive with the iPhone you obviously have not used one of the higher end Android phones for any length of time...



    Oh I believe the Android OS is mature and all that, my problem is the OS upgrades. It does not matter how good the higher end Android phones are, if the phone company or the manufacturer cannot provided up to date OS upgrades, they will be in trouble. Apple knows the competition problem is this, does the telecom and phone manufacturers know about Goggle ?
  • Reply 147 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Newtron View Post


    Then how do explain the fact that Android is growing so much faster than iOS?



    It's a hell of a lot easier to grow from nothing.
  • Reply 148 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mikemikeb View Post


    And look at it from a business perspective. Businesses in general don't like uncertainty of the future. They also like mass vertical integration of technology, as it makes operations less unwieldy. So let's say that businesses want to deploy tablets in the field. If they go Google, Android is the choice over Chrome, because of Android's vertical integration between smartphones and tablets. And if Oracle's lawsuit destroys Android, then businesses will have to make an expensive transition to another platform. Perhaps Oracle's lawsuit is meritless, but there is that uncertainty. With all this general uncertainty in Google's camp, both related to the Oracle lawsuit and not related to it, I don't see how smart businesses go Android or Chrome for smartphone or tablet.



    You are missing the real dark horse in all of these assumptions on business use.



    Cisco - http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11156/



    Their upcoming tablet is based on Android, and you can be sure that Cisco are not the only Business Communications provider who are releasing a tablet device over the coming year, most if not all of these will be android based.



    With companies like Cisco, who already own the telephony, messaging and video at a very large proportion of companies worldwide bringing out android based devices then there is going to be little room, and no incentive to go with Apple in the future.



    So in business we are going to be left with a straight fight between Android devices and Windows devices. Just like the future of business communications (telepphony and video) is now a straight fight between Microsoft and the likes of Cisco/Avaya/NEC etc..



    Unless Apple can license IOS to selected vendors like this that i just cannot see any room for them in the corporate space in the future. So no, Apples future will always lie in the consumer space and for them Android might actually start to provide them with their first real competition (that is assuming of course that Microsoft have never really been any competition to Apple, despite what Microsoft ever thought).



    But while it terms of just OS market share then Apple will off course be blown away by Android devices, this will always be by dozens of different vendors, hardware types and class of devices. There is no reason not to think that Apple devices will remain amongst the biggest selling of any competitor such as Samsung or Moto.
  • Reply 149 of 348
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Wouldn't it be funny that in say 5-10 years time and Google has all but lost it's last appeal in the oracle vs. Google case and google turns around and says... Well, it was fun while it lasted but any Android devices in development or unsold must be returned immediately to the manufacturer.



    10 years of just about every cellphone maker NOT maintaining an OS of their own... All those eggs stacked solely in googles basket... A basket that Oracle just crushed with it's boot heal... Will they ALL just run to MS for their next OS? Or HP? or would they actually try and build a smartphone all by themselves like the grownup companies do?
  • Reply 150 of 348
    All this arguing about who is #1. IOS, Android, RIM, NOKIA, APPLE...



    The smartphone market is really still in its' infancy. Let us wait until 2015 then again 2020 to really see who is doing what and then debate and project who is #1 or better which won't necessarily be the same company.



    As far things today, Android should be the marketshare leader. RIM and especially Apple are two companies being evaluated against several manufacturers combined. GM's Corvette may be a good or even a great car but would you expect that one car to outsell Honda, Toyota, BMW, Porsche etc. combined?



    We should compare manufacturer to other manufacturers on an individual bases, category by category like sales, profit etc. etc... to get a true picture of things.



    Do you think HTC for example cares that the Android market is #1 or do they care more about were HTC ranks against other mfgs in profit?
  • Reply 151 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Apple is increasing output to > 5 Million iOS enabled systems per month. I'll take 60 million+ users annually at those margins.



    Well at low estimates 200,000 activations per day x 365 days = 73 million *new* iOS devices per year. Over 70 million new iOS devices per year. And Apple is still ramping up production.
  • Reply 152 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Newtron View Post


    I would call a quarter of one percent "insignificant". We can disagree on this one.



    You keep trying to downplay iPad by saying it's not significant when compared to total browser usage (which BTW we are not really talking about... Even if we were talking about that Android is about or less than one quarter of a percent, as a previous poster pointed out). Then you say, oh, it's not significant in terms of mobile or iOS devices.



    Nice try, Tekstud. No cigar though... Let's do some math that you're unwilling to face.



    At low estimates 200,000 activations per day x 365 days = 73 million *new* iOS devices per year. Over 70 million new iOS devices per year. And Apple is still ramping up production.



    Assuming at the low end iPad has be selling 2 million for just 6 months, that's 12 million. iPad in 2010 could do up to 15 million, probably more.



    So now tell me 15 out of 70 million in 2010 for a device that hasn't been selling for a whole year is insignificant when looking at iOS devices. Compared by itself to say even 100 million new Android devices in 2010... No rational person would say iPad browser usage is not significant when doing a survey such as mentioned in this article.



    Let's see your numbers.
  • Reply 153 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Well at low estimates 200,000 activations per day x 365 days = 73 million *new* iOS devices per year. Over 70 million new iOS devices per year. And Apple is still ramping up production.



    SJ just said 230,000 per day so it is more like 83+ million per year..
  • Reply 154 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Newtron View Post


    This is delusion. Apple has one and only one goal: Shareholder value.



    If you think this is the only goal that drives Apple, then you're the one that's delusional. There is clearly a passion for design and a user experience that transcends "shareholder value".
  • Reply 155 of 348
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Murphster View Post


    You are missing the real dark horse in all of these assumptions on business use.



    Cisco.



    REALLY???



    You expect businesses to flock to a 7" tablet that gets apx 8 hours of battery life without any 3G/4G support running Android v2.2 the hacker communities most beloved OS???



    Are you sure about that?
  • Reply 156 of 348
    Protest too much.....
  • Reply 157 of 348
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    If you think this is the only goal that drives Apple, then you're the one that's delusional. There is clearly a passion for design and a user experience that transcends "shareholder value".



    More to the point their passion for design and the user experience is directly tied to their shareholder value.
  • Reply 158 of 348
    Ahh, yes, the anonymous Internet know-it-alls here know a lot more about this industry than Jobs and his team of executives do. Yeah, we may work in a totally unrelated industry but we are all smarter and see all these things that they don't. Yes, Jobs and his lieutenants are reading all of your posts on AI to plan their next big move since all of you guys are so much smarter than they are.



    I notice a pattern here since I visit forums ranging from MLB baseball to high-end electric guitar gear (an industry in which I work) to world history to quantum mechanics and it's always the same: the forum posters and bloggers know a *LOT* more than the people who work in their respective industries to make a living.



    Yes, a guy working in a company making screws for auto parts knows more about baseball than the manager of the New York Yankees. A guy who works as a manager of a 7-11 store knows more about astrophysics than Stephen Hawking or a professor at Princeton. I mean, isn't that what the Internet is all about? I see that this place isn't any different. It always comes down to: "My penis is bigger than yours." or "My dad can beat up your dad."
  • Reply 159 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DaveGee View Post


    REALLY???



    You expect businesses to flock to a 7" tablet that gets apx 8 hours of battery life without any 3G/4G support running Android v2.2 the hacker communities most beloved OS???



    Are you sure about that?



    Uuumm, yes, of course. Otherwise Cisco and others would not be releasing these products into the market.



    Note: the Cisco tablet does have 3G/4G support.



    When a company already has a Cisco IPT network, a Cisco messaging and presence system, a Cisco video conferencing system, along with video to the desktop. i.e. a fully integrated Unified Communications experience, then who's product do you think said company will be investing in to extend that functionality to the mobile user?



    Not just Cisco, but all the major players will have something similar soon, by all accounts Android will be present in most. Of course, not Microsoft - they obviously have their own mobile OS to integrate with their business telephony and messaging offerings.



    Apple have always skirted around the edge of the corporate marketplace, they have never shown any real willingness to play in this market at all. And while yes there are obvious opportunities for iPad in business right now (i use one) it would be foolish to suggest that the companies who already own the corporate space in terms of unified communications are not the ones who will continue to do so. Apple do not have an offering to business that even comes close to what the established players already have, and never will.
  • Reply 160 of 348
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Well at low estimates 200,000 activations per day x 365 days = 73 million *new* iOS devices per year. Over 70 million new iOS devices per year. And Apple is still ramping up production.



    I was just referencing the iPad and iPhone. With the new iPod Touch, iPod Nano and any future devices I'd imagine as China and India expand we'll see 8+ million per month.
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