I still think CDMA is a dead end, hasn't changed my opinion one bit. It is slow and can't handle simultaneous voice/data. More shows that Americans have been suffering for so long with paltry mobile technology that they know no better.
Right. But the point was that people thought CDMA would be shut off sometime before your current contract is up... rendering your brand new phone unusable.
That's not gonna happen anytime soon.
Remember how long it took to finally turn off the analog towers? Almost a decade.
They gotta give people lots of time to switch to new hardware. And considering we haven't heard a peep about the final day of CDMA... it's safe to say it will be around for a long time.
Does anyone remember before Verizon got the iPhone... people said it would be stupid for Apple to make a Verizon iPhone because CDMA is a dead end?
I think people thought Verizon was gonna shut off CDMA sometime soon... and Verizon iPhone users would have a phone that didn't work anymore...
Fast forward to today... Apple DID put an iPhone on Verizon.... and there is no end to CDMA in sight. In fact... all Verizon phones still rely on CDMA for voice... and they will for a long time.
It's funny how topics change from day to day.
I help people set up their computers and phones every day in my business. There is a whole LOAD of users who are Verizon Android users who are now locked into Android, with the apps and the usage patterns, because they couldn't get an iPhone before. Those users are probably, for the most part, lost to Apple. The barriers to change are so high, and get higher with every app purchased.
My my my. A sudden rush of wind to counter DED claims based on a web ad network analysis by Chitika Insight. Did anyone, anyone at all read the ACTUAL study cited? No? I thought not.
From the top, childroon: It is an established fact that the smartphone market is growing significantly, at least for the foreseeable future as more and more people who used to just use "feature phones" are starting to use "smartphones". Note the quotes - slippery labels those are and inclined to abuse, so let me be explicit for the more obtuse among you critics of the data. For the intents of my usage here I will assume that any piece of hardware configured primarily to function as a mobile phone device running Android, iOS, WebOS, WinMob/7, Meego, or Symbian are categorically classifiable as "smartphones". But let me narrow the field just a bit. Let's assume for sake of the discussion that all we are concerned about here is just Android "smartphones" and iOS "smartphones". It makes it easier and I'm feeling lazy tonight. The number here are US only numbers of course so any market outside of US carriers is ignored.
Now what was observed by Chitika Insight, whose numbers by the way are used by several "reputable" news sources, including the WSJ, (as reliable indicators of marketshare and growth based on ad hits in their network) was that for shares of total market ad hits for Verizon showed an overall decline in total share of available "smartphone" population on their network of roughly 10% for Android against all other "smartphones" on their network. These percentages DO NOT indicate total numbers, except if you can do the math and extrapolate from their quarterly financials what this means in real numbers. What impact was there during the time period between March 2011 and August 2011 that could have caused a 10% drop in Android's share of "smartphones" on the Verizon network? Well the iPhone was finally offered on Verizon in February 2011. So as contracts came up for renewal (since Verizon didn't offer early release for switchers) it seems that a sizable number of Android users switched to iPhones for renewal during the period from March, when the first review was done, and the recent August review.
It is not the only thing that happened in that time period - T-Mobile reported a loss of 99,000 subscribers to other networks, the HTC Thunderbolt, Moto Droid Bionic and Samsung 4G LTE were released on Verizon, T-Mobile released the Samsung Galaxy Mini and Galaxy S 4G, Sprint released the HTC Arrive, the Evo Shift 4G and the Kyocera Echo. Meanwhile over at ATT, they released the HTC Freestyle and Inspire 4G, along with Moto Atrix 4G. Worldwide (which technically doesn't count for the purposes of the discussion but is interesting nonetheless) the HP Veer and Pre3, the Samsung Galaxy Ace, Fit, Gio and S2, and the lonely but not forgotten Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. All running the Android OS, excepting the HP Pre and Veer of course.
Naturally Android supporters and DED critics will claim that the numbers are suspect, that Chitika has flawed survey methodologies, or is outright lying, that DED is bending the numbers and reading too much into them. Which is interesting because Chitika also reported that Android users as tracked by their network tend to click ads significantly more than iPhone users. All Chitika, which is an ad network (similar to Google's Adsense), does is watch the hits and report the numbers- - they have no skin in this game, except to generate ad hits. No they no need to flex the numbers or lie about the results.
All they reported was that a percentage of Verizon's "smartphone" population that was using Android declined by 10% or so and DED cited the company's statement of "but it seems that Verizon is gaining market share in Apple’s prominent smartphone at the expense of its other, Android-running devices." That statement was based on earlier finding after the release of the iPhone on Verizon saw steady increases in Verizon's share of the iPhone market against ATT.
No spinning here, no need to twist things around, the numbers are what they are - if you read the source material and can actually understand what is being reported.
I help people set up their computers and phones every day in my business. There is a whole LOAD of users who are Verizon Android users who are now locked into Android, with the apps and the usage patterns, because they couldn't get an iPhone before. Those users are probably, for the most part, lost to Apple. The barriers to change are so high, and get higher with every app purchased.
Not to start a fanboy war... but overall do people really buy so many Android apps that it will be expensive to switch?
I've heard the opposite... leaving the Apple eco-system can be expensive.
Not to start a fanboy war... but overall do people really buy so many Android apps that it will be expensive to switch?
I've heard the opposite... leaving the Apple eco-system can be expensive.
That's not the opposite. Leaving either ecosystem is expensive and difficult. The expense is the small part, its the difficulty of changing that's far bigger.
Don't underestimate momentum - it is VERY hard to get anyone older than 30 to switch anything to do with technology. Witness how hard Apple has had to work, and for how long, for really pretty small gains in the PC space.
That's not the opposite. Leaving either ecosystem is expensive and difficult. The expense is the small part, its the difficulty of changing that's far bigger.
Don't underestimate momentum - it is VERY hard to get anyone older than 30 to switch anything to do with technology. Witness how hard Apple has had to work, and for how long, for really pretty small gains in the PC space.
I sorta agree with your overall premise.... except I know dozens of people who are over 40 who all had a Blackberries a year ago. Now they all have Android or iOS. And that's a BIG jump from a QWERTY keyboard to a touchscreen.
It's also difficult to convince someone to buy a Mac instead of a $499 PC.
But Android phones and iPhones cost basically the same with a contract. My point is I don't think people have purchased enough Android apps to keep them on the Android platform. Most of the best Android apps are free anyway.
With iOS... there are also lots of accessories and charging docks/boomboxes.
Another regurgitation of a "research report" by AppleInsider with no critical thinking. As another commented noted, there's no way to use the percentages in those pie graphs to draw the conclusion that Verizon's carrying the iPhone 4 caused the reduction in Verizon's share of the Android handset market or that its customers shifted from Android to iPhone. +1 for Bruce.
You are right that there is no conclusive proof here, but your vastly overstating the case. The conclusion is in fact a reasonable surmise given the other percentages are staying the same, or in the case of AT&T, going up a bit.
Oh, please let the iPhone gains on Verizon be the start of a major tipping point of the iPhone being able to defend itself against Android growth. If the iPhone can control at least 35% of market share on every carrier in the U.S. that would be a huge win for Apple and iOS. That much revenue from iPhones per quarter would be tremendous and could really push up Apple's share price over $400.
I have no idea why CDMA hangs on to dear life. I thought GSM had won the cola wars, quite decisively. Of course, so did the metric system, and Americans couldn't care less about that
Yes, the backwards and intensely myopic view of the average American is what fuels most of the debates in the "smartphone wars" and contributes to most of the misinformation about what's going on vis a vis iOS and Android.
iOS has been winning every single quarter for four years now and still I see people (Americans) commenting every day about how Android is "vanquishing" iOS or some such BS. They also believe that the fact that iPhone was only available on AT&T for so long was such a huge hairy deal, when in fact the rest of the world couldn't care less and it's really had only a minimal impact on the spread of iOS.
There are many things that are less than a 20 minute ride from the US border that are not dreamt of in their philosophy, and Americans are the least travelled, least "aware of the world" group on the planet. The average American know virtually nothing of their own history, let alone the rest of the world, and still think for the most part that every thing *they* believe is simply what "the world" believes.
That's not the opposite. Leaving either ecosystem is expensive and difficult. The expense is the small part, its the difficulty of changing that's far bigger.
Don't underestimate momentum - it is VERY hard to get anyone older than 30 to switch anything to do with technology. Witness how hard Apple has had to work, and for how long, for really pretty small gains in the PC space.
Yes, but most Android users haven't bought many apps and most Android apps are free.
When you add in the fact that the majority of the paid apps on Android are not only available on iOS, but typically started out on iOS, and that all of the main mot popular apps exist on both platforms, the cost (both monetary and effort) or moving from Android to iOS is almost negligible. It's certainly much lower than the cost of moving the other way.
All they reported was that a percentage of Verizon's "smartphone" population that was using Android declined by 10% or so and DED cited the company's statement of "but it seems that Verizon is gaining market share in Apple’s prominent smartphone at the expense of its other, Android-running devices." That statement was based on earlier finding after the release of the iPhone on Verizon saw steady increases in Verizon's share of the iPhone market against ATT.
No spinning here, no need to twist things around, the numbers are what they are - if you read the source material and can actually understand what is being reported.
I read the source material and it doesn't actually say what you or DED are implying.
It isn't a 10% decline in the number Android phones on the Verizon network.
What the report is saying is the number of Verizon customers with Android phones did not grow as fast as the number of Android phones on other carriers. Verizon's percentage share of the total Android market is down but you need to remember that the market has grown larger.
Think of it as saying there were 51 Android Phones on Verizon and 49 phones on other networks in March. Now there are 82 Android phones on Verizon but 118 on the other networks. Verizon's percentage of the total has dropped 10% despite having more phones.
Similarly AT&T is up 5 percentage points, but that doesn't mean that the iPhone is down. AT&T are simply selling more smartphones in total (both iPhones and Android).
Not to start a fanboy war... but overall do people really buy so many Android apps that it will be expensive to switch?
I've heard the opposite... leaving the Apple eco-system can be expensive.
Yeah I own an android phone and tablet have purchased a total of five apps. I don't buy games I got gameboid for that. I own two keyboards (one for phones and the other for tablets.) and a forum app. And an app I made a mistake of buying. Over all I only invested 20$ in apps.
The main thing that stands in the way of people switching is how use they are to their phones. Majority of android buyers are old feature phone users so for them android was their first smart phone os. One thing that is a fact about Americans that when they get used to something they seldom want to change. I went to the iphone for a week and it is just too different then android. It took me ten minutes to get a picture that was mms to me onto dropbox. I had no idea what to do. I was use to the Android "way"of selecting the photo and tapping share and the list of apps would show up. I assumed the iphone would have had that native. That's the hurdle that goes with that. And it goes both ways people complain that the Android browser zooms in to much. Hell this is why I am not surprised the return rate for the virizon iphone is higher ten the at&T model.
Yeah I own an android phone and tablet have purchased a total of five apps. I don't buy games I got gameboid for that. I own two keyboards (one for phones and the other for tablets.) and a forum app. And an app I made a mistake of buying. Over all I only invested 20$ in apps.
The main thing that stands in the way of people switching is how use they are to their phones. Majority of android buyers are old feature phone users so for them android was their first smart phone os. One thing that is a fact about Americans that when they get used to something they seldom want to change. I went to the iphone for a week and it is just too different then android. It took me ten minutes to get a picture that was mms to me onto dropbox. I had no idea what to do. I was use to the Android "way"of selecting the photo and tapping share and the list of apps would show up. I assumed the iphone would have had that native. That's the hurdle that goes with that. And it goes both ways people complain that the Android browser zooms in to much. Hell this is why I am not surprised the return rate for the virizon iphone is higher ten the at&T model.
Like I said in another comment... I know dozens of folks in their 40's and 50's who have used Blackberries for years.
Now they use iPhones and Android phones.
It's not that difficult to learn...
Going from a flip-phone to an Android or iPhone would be huge... going from Android to iOS or vice-versa wouldn't be difficult.
This is a clear example of statistics used poorly. You cannot draw the conclusions made in the article from the statistics given in the article. Lies, damn lies, and statistics!
Comments
I still think CDMA is a dead end, hasn't changed my opinion one bit. It is slow and can't handle simultaneous voice/data. More shows that Americans have been suffering for so long with paltry mobile technology that they know no better.
Right. But the point was that people thought CDMA would be shut off sometime before your current contract is up... rendering your brand new phone unusable.
That's not gonna happen anytime soon.
Remember how long it took to finally turn off the analog towers? Almost a decade.
They gotta give people lots of time to switch to new hardware. And considering we haven't heard a peep about the final day of CDMA... it's safe to say it will be around for a long time.
Does anyone remember before Verizon got the iPhone... people said it would be stupid for Apple to make a Verizon iPhone because CDMA is a dead end?
I think people thought Verizon was gonna shut off CDMA sometime soon... and Verizon iPhone users would have a phone that didn't work anymore...
Fast forward to today... Apple DID put an iPhone on Verizon.... and there is no end to CDMA in sight. In fact... all Verizon phones still rely on CDMA for voice... and they will for a long time.
It's funny how topics change from day to day.
I help people set up their computers and phones every day in my business. There is a whole LOAD of users who are Verizon Android users who are now locked into Android, with the apps and the usage patterns, because they couldn't get an iPhone before. Those users are probably, for the most part, lost to Apple. The barriers to change are so high, and get higher with every app purchased.
From the top, childroon: It is an established fact that the smartphone market is growing significantly, at least for the foreseeable future as more and more people who used to just use "feature phones" are starting to use "smartphones". Note the quotes - slippery labels those are and inclined to abuse, so let me be explicit for the more obtuse among you critics of the data. For the intents of my usage here I will assume that any piece of hardware configured primarily to function as a mobile phone device running Android, iOS, WebOS, WinMob/7, Meego, or Symbian are categorically classifiable as "smartphones". But let me narrow the field just a bit. Let's assume for sake of the discussion that all we are concerned about here is just Android "smartphones" and iOS "smartphones". It makes it easier and I'm feeling lazy tonight. The number here are US only numbers of course so any market outside of US carriers is ignored.
Now what was observed by Chitika Insight, whose numbers by the way are used by several "reputable" news sources, including the WSJ, (as reliable indicators of marketshare and growth based on ad hits in their network) was that for shares of total market ad hits for Verizon showed an overall decline in total share of available "smartphone" population on their network of roughly 10% for Android against all other "smartphones" on their network. These percentages DO NOT indicate total numbers, except if you can do the math and extrapolate from their quarterly financials what this means in real numbers. What impact was there during the time period between March 2011 and August 2011 that could have caused a 10% drop in Android's share of "smartphones" on the Verizon network? Well the iPhone was finally offered on Verizon in February 2011. So as contracts came up for renewal (since Verizon didn't offer early release for switchers) it seems that a sizable number of Android users switched to iPhones for renewal during the period from March, when the first review was done, and the recent August review.
It is not the only thing that happened in that time period - T-Mobile reported a loss of 99,000 subscribers to other networks, the HTC Thunderbolt, Moto Droid Bionic and Samsung 4G LTE were released on Verizon, T-Mobile released the Samsung Galaxy Mini and Galaxy S 4G, Sprint released the HTC Arrive, the Evo Shift 4G and the Kyocera Echo. Meanwhile over at ATT, they released the HTC Freestyle and Inspire 4G, along with Moto Atrix 4G. Worldwide (which technically doesn't count for the purposes of the discussion but is interesting nonetheless) the HP Veer and Pre3, the Samsung Galaxy Ace, Fit, Gio and S2, and the lonely but not forgotten Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. All running the Android OS, excepting the HP Pre and Veer of course.
Naturally Android supporters and DED critics will claim that the numbers are suspect, that Chitika has flawed survey methodologies, or is outright lying, that DED is bending the numbers and reading too much into them. Which is interesting because Chitika also reported that Android users as tracked by their network tend to click ads significantly more than iPhone users. All Chitika, which is an ad network (similar to Google's Adsense), does is watch the hits and report the numbers- - they have no skin in this game, except to generate ad hits. No they no need to flex the numbers or lie about the results.
All they reported was that a percentage of Verizon's "smartphone" population that was using Android declined by 10% or so and DED cited the company's statement of "but it seems that Verizon is gaining market share in Apple’s prominent smartphone at the expense of its other, Android-running devices." That statement was based on earlier finding after the release of the iPhone on Verizon saw steady increases in Verizon's share of the iPhone market against ATT.
No spinning here, no need to twist things around, the numbers are what they are - if you read the source material and can actually understand what is being reported.
I help people set up their computers and phones every day in my business. There is a whole LOAD of users who are Verizon Android users who are now locked into Android, with the apps and the usage patterns, because they couldn't get an iPhone before. Those users are probably, for the most part, lost to Apple. The barriers to change are so high, and get higher with every app purchased.
Not to start a fanboy war... but overall do people really buy so many Android apps that it will be expensive to switch?
I've heard the opposite... leaving the Apple eco-system can be expensive.
Does anyone remember before Verizon got the iPhone... people said it would be stupid for Apple to make a Verizon iPhone because CDMA is a dead end?
What people?
What people?
Oh a couple years ago... in the comments of every tech-blog.
The overall consensus was that it would be stupid for Apple to make a special iPhone for one carrier... a CDMA carrier at that.
But they did.
Not to start a fanboy war... but overall do people really buy so many Android apps that it will be expensive to switch?
I've heard the opposite... leaving the Apple eco-system can be expensive.
That's not the opposite. Leaving either ecosystem is expensive and difficult. The expense is the small part, its the difficulty of changing that's far bigger.
Don't underestimate momentum - it is VERY hard to get anyone older than 30 to switch anything to do with technology. Witness how hard Apple has had to work, and for how long, for really pretty small gains in the PC space.
And many more of us trapped on AT&T are waiting for iphone 5 to switch to verizon!
*raises hand*
That's not the opposite. Leaving either ecosystem is expensive and difficult. The expense is the small part, its the difficulty of changing that's far bigger.
Don't underestimate momentum - it is VERY hard to get anyone older than 30 to switch anything to do with technology. Witness how hard Apple has had to work, and for how long, for really pretty small gains in the PC space.
I sorta agree with your overall premise.... except I know dozens of people who are over 40 who all had a Blackberries a year ago. Now they all have Android or iOS. And that's a BIG jump from a QWERTY keyboard to a touchscreen.
It's also difficult to convince someone to buy a Mac instead of a $499 PC.
But Android phones and iPhones cost basically the same with a contract. My point is I don't think people have purchased enough Android apps to keep them on the Android platform. Most of the best Android apps are free anyway.
With iOS... there are also lots of accessories and charging docks/boomboxes.
Another regurgitation of a "research report" by AppleInsider with no critical thinking. As another commented noted, there's no way to use the percentages in those pie graphs to draw the conclusion that Verizon's carrying the iPhone 4 caused the reduction in Verizon's share of the Android handset market or that its customers shifted from Android to iPhone. +1 for Bruce.
You are right that there is no conclusive proof here, but your vastly overstating the case. The conclusion is in fact a reasonable surmise given the other percentages are staying the same, or in the case of AT&T, going up a bit.
I have no idea why CDMA hangs on to dear life. I thought GSM had won the cola wars, quite decisively. Of course, so did the metric system, and Americans couldn't care less about that
Yes, the backwards and intensely myopic view of the average American is what fuels most of the debates in the "smartphone wars" and contributes to most of the misinformation about what's going on vis a vis iOS and Android.
iOS has been winning every single quarter for four years now and still I see people (Americans) commenting every day about how Android is "vanquishing" iOS or some such BS. They also believe that the fact that iPhone was only available on AT&T for so long was such a huge hairy deal, when in fact the rest of the world couldn't care less and it's really had only a minimal impact on the spread of iOS.
There are many things that are less than a 20 minute ride from the US border that are not dreamt of in their philosophy, and Americans are the least travelled, least "aware of the world" group on the planet. The average American know virtually nothing of their own history, let alone the rest of the world, and still think for the most part that every thing *they* believe is simply what "the world" believes.
Sigh.
That's not the opposite. Leaving either ecosystem is expensive and difficult. The expense is the small part, its the difficulty of changing that's far bigger.
Don't underestimate momentum - it is VERY hard to get anyone older than 30 to switch anything to do with technology. Witness how hard Apple has had to work, and for how long, for really pretty small gains in the PC space.
Yes, but most Android users haven't bought many apps and most Android apps are free.
When you add in the fact that the majority of the paid apps on Android are not only available on iOS, but typically started out on iOS, and that all of the main mot popular apps exist on both platforms, the cost (both monetary and effort) or moving from Android to iOS is almost negligible. It's certainly much lower than the cost of moving the other way.
All they reported was that a percentage of Verizon's "smartphone" population that was using Android declined by 10% or so and DED cited the company's statement of "but it seems that Verizon is gaining market share in Apple’s prominent smartphone at the expense of its other, Android-running devices." That statement was based on earlier finding after the release of the iPhone on Verizon saw steady increases in Verizon's share of the iPhone market against ATT.
No spinning here, no need to twist things around, the numbers are what they are - if you read the source material and can actually understand what is being reported.
I read the source material and it doesn't actually say what you or DED are implying.
It isn't a 10% decline in the number Android phones on the Verizon network.
What the report is saying is the number of Verizon customers with Android phones did not grow as fast as the number of Android phones on other carriers. Verizon's percentage share of the total Android market is down but you need to remember that the market has grown larger.
Think of it as saying there were 51 Android Phones on Verizon and 49 phones on other networks in March. Now there are 82 Android phones on Verizon but 118 on the other networks. Verizon's percentage of the total has dropped 10% despite having more phones.
Similarly AT&T is up 5 percentage points, but that doesn't mean that the iPhone is down. AT&T are simply selling more smartphones in total (both iPhones and Android).
Not to start a fanboy war... but overall do people really buy so many Android apps that it will be expensive to switch?
I've heard the opposite... leaving the Apple eco-system can be expensive.
Yeah I own an android phone and tablet have purchased a total of five apps. I don't buy games I got gameboid for that. I own two keyboards (one for phones and the other for tablets.) and a forum app. And an app I made a mistake of buying. Over all I only invested 20$ in apps.
The main thing that stands in the way of people switching is how use they are to their phones. Majority of android buyers are old feature phone users so for them android was their first smart phone os. One thing that is a fact about Americans that when they get used to something they seldom want to change. I went to the iphone for a week and it is just too different then android. It took me ten minutes to get a picture that was mms to me onto dropbox. I had no idea what to do. I was use to the Android "way"of selecting the photo and tapping share and the list of apps would show up. I assumed the iphone would have had that native. That's the hurdle that goes with that. And it goes both ways people complain that the Android browser zooms in to much. Hell this is why I am not surprised the return rate for the virizon iphone is higher ten the at&T model.
Yeah I own an android phone and tablet have purchased a total of five apps. I don't buy games I got gameboid for that. I own two keyboards (one for phones and the other for tablets.) and a forum app. And an app I made a mistake of buying. Over all I only invested 20$ in apps.
The main thing that stands in the way of people switching is how use they are to their phones. Majority of android buyers are old feature phone users so for them android was their first smart phone os. One thing that is a fact about Americans that when they get used to something they seldom want to change. I went to the iphone for a week and it is just too different then android. It took me ten minutes to get a picture that was mms to me onto dropbox. I had no idea what to do. I was use to the Android "way"of selecting the photo and tapping share and the list of apps would show up. I assumed the iphone would have had that native. That's the hurdle that goes with that. And it goes both ways people complain that the Android browser zooms in to much. Hell this is why I am not surprised the return rate for the virizon iphone is higher ten the at&T model.
Like I said in another comment... I know dozens of folks in their 40's and 50's who have used Blackberries for years.
Now they use iPhones and Android phones.
It's not that difficult to learn...
Going from a flip-phone to an Android or iPhone would be huge... going from Android to iOS or vice-versa wouldn't be difficult.
I only invested 20$ in apps.
Invested? What wat the APR of return?
We need some absolute numbers...
This is the worst pie chart I've ever laid eyes on.
-Verizon is first represented by at&t's brand color, orange. Then it SWITCHES to purple.
-T-Mobile is initially purple. Then it switches to red (Verizon's brand color) despite being purchased by at&t.
-MetroPCS is present in the first pie chart but not in the second chart.
-Sprint is the bright green of Android
-"Other" is its own category in the second chart, but the first chart features MetroPCS, Virgin, and US Cellular separately.
What a clusterf***. You'd think a huge Apple fan would know something about user experience.
There is not enough information to do anything other than hazard a WAG. That is not responsible journalism.
You do realize that AI is an Apple rumor site, do you not? Where do you think rumors come from?