Google's Eric Schmidt says Android 'clearly' winning against Apple in phones

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
With a wide range of devices at numerous price points running the Android operating system, Google's mobile platform is "clearly" winning over Apple's iOS, Eric Schmidt believes.

Schmidt, the chairman of Google, made the comments in an interview with Bloomberg published on Wednesday. He noted that customers are activating more than 1.3 million Android devices every day, while the latest data from Gartner gives Android a 72 percent of the smartphone market, compared to Apple's 14 percent.

"This is a huge platform change," Schmidt said. This is of the scale of 20 years ago ??Microsoft versus Apple. We're winning that war pretty clearly now."

Of course, while Android controls the lion's share of the smartphone market, its dominant position has not translated into dollar share ? a measure where Apple is the clear winner. Google gives away the open-source Android operating system to its hardware partners, in hopes that a market dominated by Android will drive demand for Google's services supported by mobile advertising.

Schmidt's comments have been publicized just after Google CEO Larry Page spoke with Fortune about the highly competitive mobile landscape. Page admitted that "monetization is at an early stage" with the Android platform.

Eric Schmidt
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt talking to AllThingsD in October. | Source: AllThingsD.


Schmidt explained that Google's strategy is to make a "bigger pie," making Android as widely available as possible, in an effort to hook users in to Google's online services.

"We will end up with a not perfectly controlled and not perfectly managed bigger pie by virtue of open systems," Schmidt said.

While Google is playing the long game in hopes of boosting revenue from Android, Apple's iPhone accounts for nearly three-quarters of the total operating profit in the mobile industry, according to data compiled earlier this year. Apple's control of the industry's profits came with just an 8.8 percent total unit share among mobile devices sold worldwide.

Schmidt was a member of the Apple Board of Directors from 2006 until 2009, when he was forced to step down due to growing competition between Google and Apple in the mobile space. At the time, Schmidt was the CEO of Google, but he eventually relinquished that position in early 2011 to allow Page, a company co-founder, to take over.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 227


    HE is all of the trolls here. That's the only way to explain the things he's saying.


     


    If he's so deluded as to think he's "winning" because of volume, let him die the same death Microsoft is dying.

  • Reply 2 of 227
    I guess he hits a nail here
  • Reply 3 of 227
    HE is all of the trolls here. That's the only way to explain the things he's saying.

    If he's so deluded as to think he's "winning" because of volume, let him die the same death Microsoft is dying.

    And there I was, all the time thinking he is showing Google's marketshare in that picture...

    Then again, I do hope he stays on the board. Just like Ballmer, I'd like to hear more of this nonsense coming from him. Creates FunThreads.
  • Reply 4 of 227


    He is winning at what? Apple never sold as many phones, the difference between the iPhone and the competition (android) is as big as 2007 levels (with every single android phone being trounced on all benchmarks and measures besides cpu vs cpu only (and even here the difference is irrelevant, since the iPhone has so  much faster UI speed. Blame Java.) and Apple makes more money from phones than all OEMs combined.


     


    I don't get it. Maybe I need another Masters degree so i can understand it.


     


    For me, this is just PR for stupid people (Almost all androids are stupid, fact. I can prove it).

  • Reply 5 of 227


    I guess Schmidt and that other guy aren't on the same Page.


     


    These statements really don't sound like a guy who just wants to get along with others.

     

  • Reply 6 of 227


    Originally Posted by pedromartins View Post


    I don't get it. Maybe I need another Masters degree so i can understand it.



     


    I like how this can also be applied to everything that analysts say.

  • Reply 7 of 227


    Obviously, he and Charlie Sheen have the same idea about "winning."


     


    Phew!  Glad I got that nonsense out of the way.  image

  • Reply 8 of 227
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Activations don't mean much. How many customers are actually using an Android as a smart phone? As indicated on Black Friday, the iPad and iPhone separately trounced android in usage. Apple is winning most of the profits. Apple developers are winning all the app profits as well.
  • Reply 9 of 227


    At the end of the day, Google and Apple are not really competitors. Both have entirely different markets which they address. Microsoft and Google however DO compete for the same type of user (total morons).

  • Reply 10 of 227
    Yes, Android is "winning" by the numbers because most of it go to low cost, cheap phones. But is Google Microsoft of the 80's and 90's, or Commodore, or TI 99.

    When Amazon or Nook comes out with a $10 phone, it is all over for Android.

  • Reply 11 of 227


    That's like saying American cars clearly are the winner over BMW. You can't look at one element of the product and categorize it against one company.


     


    From now on when I compare basketball teams I'm going to compare the LA Lakers vs. the Eastern Conference. Hmm...Eastern Conference scores a lot more points per night and has a lot more depth!

  • Reply 12 of 227
    jungmark wrote: »
    Activations don't mean much. How many customers are actually using an Android as a smart phone? As indicated on Black Friday, the iPad and iPhone separately trounced android in usage. Apple is winning most of the profits. Apple developers are winning all the app profits as well.

    Good point.

    Add to this that its easy to get tons of volume when you sell cheap, do buy one get five free deals and create software that can't be updated so a new phone is required to get new features (that could be the OEMs not Android on that move)
  • Reply 13 of 227
    I think this guy looks like a pedophile. Just sayin.
  • Reply 14 of 227
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    For me, using words like "clearly" in an interview raises red flags in the back of my mind.
  • Reply 15 of 227

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post





    Good point.

    Add to this that its easy to get tons of volume when you sell cheap, do buy one get five free deals and create software that can't be updated so a new phone is required to get new features (that could be the OEMs not Android on that move)




    He needs to compare phones that are on par or somewhat close to iPhone.


     


    I used a totally junky Samsung Android phone in Thailand this year. Not on par. Can't use the app store.

  • Reply 16 of 227
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

  • Reply 17 of 227
    Google's problem is that it isn't actually Android that is "winning," it is Samsung. Samsung could bind all of Google's offerings to Yahoo in a flash and "android" would lose 60% of its market share.
  • Reply 18 of 227
    It's a shame they didn't chuck that thief off the Apple board a few years earlier.
  • Reply 19 of 227


    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post

    Yep, with nearly 70% of the total desktop+mobile market, Microsoft is doomed.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems



     


    Wh… wh… wh… You're saying this without sarcasm. You're literally saying this without sarcasm.


     


    Not ten years ago, Microsoft had 97% of all marketshare. In less than ten years, they've lost 27% marketshare. And you're pretending that they have nothing to worry about? 


     


    I seriously don't know why I'm surprised that you're saying this, but I am. I guess I have more faith in you than I should.

  • Reply 20 of 227



    #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
    McDonalds sells a lot more Happy Meals than Morton's sells steaks.


     


     


     

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