Maybe not worried but perhaps concerned. Market share is crucial because it is the driver behind Apple's ecosystem of services and media which keeps iOS relevant.
As long as Apple maintains around 50% market share, the ecosystem thrives. I would suggest that market share concerns were the main reason Apple released the 5c. At some point the mobile computing growth curve will start to plateau, so, before that happens Apple needs as many users onboard as possible in order to continue the growth in apps and ecosystem. Once smartphone saturation happens the ecosystem becomes the most important factor and to maintain that, you need a lot of users.
Apple has never had 50% market share in the phone market nor has it sustain the #1 spot for any long period of time.
If Android own the smartphone market is Apple's fault. Apple should stop recycling the same phone.
Come on, the iPhone 5S screen is the same exact tiny one from the iPhone 5 (1136 x 640 pixel resolution). ALL new premium smartphones are FULL HD (1920 x 1080) and this is something you can REALLY notice.
Using a tiny non-HD smartphone feels like watching a movie on a non-HD TV.
Blah blah blah. You know you can't tell the difference between retina and "full HD" at an arms length away.
Here goes Constapated Odo with his daily rant about how crappy Apple is run........
Jesus Constable don't you know that Apple had 56% of the mobile profits last quarter? Even though the new phones were sold for only 10 days? For Oct-Dec Qtr I would not be surprised if Apple captures 65-70% of profits and 65% for Jan-Mar. I'm sorry I'd rather have 70% of profits instead of 70% of market share.
Also realize there is a HUGE difference between Market share for a specific Qtr and install base. Difference is many Android phones are throw away phones that only last 12 months, while Apple phones last 3-4 years. My guess is the current install base is probably 25-30% Apple.
Apple has never had 50% market share in the phone market nor has it sustain the #1 spot for any long period of time.
Blah blah blah. You know you can't tell the difference between retina and "full HD" at an arms length away.
Just block him like I did.
I think he was banned again for troll bashing.
Tallest is banned again? I thought it was quiet in here today. Maybe he is just on vacation or do you know this fore sure.
The problem with this analysis is that it lumps all Android phones together when (as other articles in AI have reported) only some are really capable of full smartphone functionality including running meaningful apps. Factor that out, and Samsung moves to number 2 in units and Android to little more than double iOS in the OS league.
Maybe not worried but perhaps concerned. Market share is crucial because it is the driver behind Apple's ecosystem of services and media which keeps iOS relevant.
As long as Apple maintains around 50% market share, the ecosystem thrives. I would suggest that market share concerns were the main reason Apple released the 5c. At some point the mobile computing growth curve will start to plateau, so, before that happens Apple needs as many users onboard as possible in order to continue the growth in apps and ecosystem. Once smartphone saturation happens the ecosystem becomes the most important factor and to maintain that, you need a lot of users.
I disagree. Apple is just fine as long as user engagement and avg revenue per user (for apps and media) is high. Those are the hallmarks of a strong ecosystem. 90% marketshare means nothing if the users aren't purchasing apps/media or engaging with the device (for eyeball time for ads).
I like how Apple's shipment increased by almost 25% YoY (a huge increase, seeing as how many they already sell) yet the headline of course is "loses marketshare" something that is alot less relevant than the increase.
It is relevant depending on what you are looking at. If I say 'Company N grew 15% last year' did they do well or poorly? If their market is booming and their peers grew and average of 50%... Company N is doing poorly. If their market is drying up and most competitors are shrinking, then Company N did stellarly.
Apple grew less than their competitors when you look at the total smartphone market. The 'feature phone' market is sputtering out and most of those people are buying low cost phones that aren't as impressive as Apple's offerings but are quite capable and a big step up from their prior phones. That is an area of phones that is expected to grow substantially over the next few years. Apple chose not to compete in their segment so its likely their 'overall phone share' is going to continue to get smaller.
If you look at *just* the high end phones, Apple is doing quite impressively. The high end market growth rate is petereing out. Samsung expects to be essentially flat in terms of high end phone growth. Apple still did 25%... Not too shabby.
I suspect two reasons why all of those old iPhones are still in use while Android devices are (in your words) toast after 2 years or less.
1. iPhones are expensive and people cannot afford to replace them as often. Android devices are relatively cheap and therefore easier to replace.
2. iPhone users in general are not the most technically literate folks. They don't care about processor speed, megapixels, etc and therefore have little incentive to upgrade.
I think the fact of the matter is that, just like PCs, electronics are commoditized and Android devices typically reflect this. An iPhone is often seen as a "status symbol" and that is often while older and relatively obsolete devices are still worth money.
Could you possibly be any more clueless? Seriously, go get yourself a good education before you post here.
1. iPhones are the most sophisticated hand held computer on the market. They are better built so last longer, and they are so advanced that they don't become obsolete after a year or two. To that point, Apple continues to develop for and support older versions of the iPhone. My mother in law still uses my old 3Gs and is quite happy with it, my wife has a fully functional iPhone 4 that she loves, etc. iPhones get handed down or resold as used devices around the world! Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Android phones are cheap shit that are obsolete before you even walk out the door.
2. What a load of crap! Most users of Android phones are buying under powered devices with crap screens, and you are implying that these users are somehow technically literate??? They are really using them like they used their feature phones meaning they are using very little of the potential functionality, and for little else. They don't even know HOW to use them effectively. How do I know this? I'm an expat living in China and witness this first hand. As to the absolutely stupid statement that iPhone users "have very little incentive to upgrade", total bullshit! Just look at the sales numbers in depth.
Interesting article - but you failed to point out that they lost money on every single phone they sold! Brilliant business strategy.... another company racing to the bottom.
Why is Gartner an "Industry report"? Aren't they an analyst, mainly supported by Microsoft's business? Isn't their track record marred with multiple debatable (if not proven wrong or dishonest) "studies"?
Maybe not worried but perhaps concerned. Market share is crucial because it is the driver behind Apple's ecosystem of services and media which keeps iOS relevant.
As long as Apple maintains around 50% market share, the ecosystem thrives. I would suggest that market share concerns were the main reason Apple released the 5c. At some point the mobile computing growth curve will start to plateau, so, before that happens Apple needs as many users onboard as possible in order to continue the growth in apps and ecosystem. Once smartphone saturation happens the ecosystem becomes the most important factor and to maintain that, you need a lot of users.
As others have pointed out apple doesn't have 50% share although it's close in the US and I think Japan.
If apple was concerned about share the 5c would have been cheaper. The 5c wasn't a play for greater share but improved margins at the existing lower price points for iPhones
Once saturation occurs it seems that Apple often does better and not worse.
And as I point out above apple continues to increase share in the total market.
Hi all! Its my first post here so i want to say hello to all of apple (and not) fans! I ve made an account many months ago, but i ve forgot the password! So, lets talk about this. I am a huge fan of apple even i "discovered" this company lately (my first apple product wan an iPad2 back to 2011). But i have to say that next year i really hope for something new and innovative as apple always do. I totally agree with people said here about what kind of customers buy an iPhone. iPhone totally worths its money. If you dont care about the latest technology such a perfect screen or a many mp camera, you can hold an iPhone model at least 3 years. iOS is available and easy to download it in all last 3 year devices. Android not. I had an android phone and i couldnt make an update alone! Also yes android market is so big cause most android phones are low costed and every big update of android software changes completely! So somebody can buy every year or even every 6 months a new android phone. But if you buy an iPhone, it will stay worthy for af least.3 years! So its totally different kind of customers. Plus android is supported from many brands. iOS only from one. To come back to what i was saying in the start, i trust apple, but i think the most fans want to see something new. And i believe 2014 is the "year". Even if iWatch comes finally true or if a bigger/flexible iPhone released. We ll see. Tim Cook already said that many new products are coming! ps1: I m reading comments of you the last few months ans i am like wtf? Stop fighting boys! Here is to tell our opinions, not to fight. And as a journalist i have to say that all opinions are worthy to respect either you agree or not. ps2: I am not a native english speaker, so any mistakes have to be forgiven ps3: USA customers you re lucky, you can buy an iPhone from 200 bucks. In Greece and most other countries we dont have such great contracts. I bought my iPhone5 16gb last year for 739 euros or around 950 american dollars Have a nice day!
I truly doubt people in Somalia are buying Androids.
Why not, they have a very large 3G network with now over 40% of their population using cell phones. They also have one of the fastest cell phone penetration in the world. It would be safe to say Android is in a few of the phones used. I know your comment was meant as a joke I'm just busting your fuzzy dice.
I sometimes just feel bad for Google to give free Android to everyone out there to benefit. If Google charged license fee for Android, it would've been skyrock in benefit and less of these parasite companies using android to make junk phones and tablets. Android would've been a lot better OS without opensource.
Apple grew less than their competitors when you look at the total smartphone market. The 'feature phone' market is sputtering out and most of those people are buying low cost phones that aren't as impressive as Apple's offerings but are quite capable and a big step up from their prior phones. That is an area of phones that is expected to grow substantially over the next few years. Apple chose not to compete in their segment so its likely their 'overall phone share' is going to continue to get smaller.
It's hard to get real numbers for the rest of the world, but Apple's share of the overall US cell phone market is certainly not going down, and is not about to go down anytime soon! There are good numbers for market penetration for the US from comScore mobiLens. As of September, 25.1% of the total cell phone market in the US was iPhone. That's a quarter of all cell phones in use in the US, not just smartphones. A year earlier, iPhone had a 17.5% share. Two years earlier it had a 10.2% share. So no, iPhone's share is not shrinking, and in fact it's growth is still speeding up.
So what's going on? People are confused about what the market is. The real market is cell phones, which will all be smarter and smarter as time goes on. It's possible to pick out a change that's going on right now that's happening faster than Apple's growth, but that change is in no way slowing down Apple's growth into the overall cell phone market! There's no sign of that at all in their sales figures! Apple's growth is closely following a logistic curve, and if that continues the iPhone is slated for complete market dominance, just like iPod.
Of course it helps in the US that cell phones are mostly sold subsidized, so Apple has a free phone available, just like everyone else.
Comments
Apple has never had 50% market share in the phone market nor has it sustain the #1 spot for any long period of time.
Blah blah blah. You know you can't tell the difference between retina and "full HD" at an arms length away.
Just block him like I did.
I think he was banned again for troll bashing.
Tallest is banned again? I thought it was quiet in here today. Maybe he is just on vacation or do you know this fore sure.
I like how Apple's shipment increased by almost 25% YoY (a huge increase, seeing as how many they already sell) yet the headline of course is "loses marketshare" something that is alot less relevant than the increase.
It is relevant depending on what you are looking at. If I say 'Company N grew 15% last year' did they do well or poorly? If their market is booming and their peers grew and average of 50%... Company N is doing poorly. If their market is drying up and most competitors are shrinking, then Company N did stellarly.
Apple grew less than their competitors when you look at the total smartphone market. The 'feature phone' market is sputtering out and most of those people are buying low cost phones that aren't as impressive as Apple's offerings but are quite capable and a big step up from their prior phones. That is an area of phones that is expected to grow substantially over the next few years. Apple chose not to compete in their segment so its likely their 'overall phone share' is going to continue to get smaller.
If you look at *just* the high end phones, Apple is doing quite impressively. The high end market growth rate is petereing out. Samsung expects to be essentially flat in terms of high end phone growth. Apple still did 25%... Not too shabby.
Damn.
I'm going to invest in Others Inc. They are killing the smartphone and tablet markets.
Xiaomi would be a good punt
http://techinasia.com/xiaomis-singles-day-flash-sale-shatters-records-as-the-company-sells-over-200000-smartphones-in-under-3-minutes/
Well I checked one of his old posts and it has "banned user" under his name.
I suspect two reasons why all of those old iPhones are still in use while Android devices are (in your words) toast after 2 years or less.
1. iPhones are expensive and people cannot afford to replace them as often. Android devices are relatively cheap and therefore easier to replace.
2. iPhone users in general are not the most technically literate folks. They don't care about processor speed, megapixels, etc and therefore have little incentive to upgrade.
I think the fact of the matter is that, just like PCs, electronics are commoditized and Android devices typically reflect this. An iPhone is often seen as a "status symbol" and that is often while older and relatively obsolete devices are still worth money.
Could you possibly be any more clueless? Seriously, go get yourself a good education before you post here.
1. iPhones are the most sophisticated hand held computer on the market. They are better built so last longer, and they are so advanced that they don't become obsolete after a year or two. To that point, Apple continues to develop for and support older versions of the iPhone. My mother in law still uses my old 3Gs and is quite happy with it, my wife has a fully functional iPhone 4 that she loves, etc. iPhones get handed down or resold as used devices around the world! Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Android phones are cheap shit that are obsolete before you even walk out the door.
2. What a load of crap! Most users of Android phones are buying under powered devices with crap screens, and you are implying that these users are somehow technically literate??? They are really using them like they used their feature phones meaning they are using very little of the potential functionality, and for little else. They don't even know HOW to use them effectively. How do I know this? I'm an expat living in China and witness this first hand. As to the absolutely stupid statement that iPhone users "have very little incentive to upgrade", total bullshit! Just look at the sales numbers in depth.
Back to school for you!
Xiaomi would be a good punt
http://techinasia.com/xiaomis-singles-day-flash-sale-shatters-records-as-the-company-sells-over-200000-smartphones-in-under-3-minutes/
Interesting article - but you failed to point out that they lost money on every single phone they sold! Brilliant business strategy.... another company racing to the bottom.
Banned again.
Banned again.
I'm not so sure. He was online around an hour ago. And his latest posts have been tame...
I don't think a ban prevents you from viewing the forums, just posting.
Isn't their track record marred with multiple debatable (if not proven wrong or dishonest) "studies"?
As others have pointed out apple doesn't have 50% share although it's close in the US and I think Japan.
If apple was concerned about share the 5c would have been cheaper. The 5c wasn't a play for greater share but improved margins at the existing lower price points for iPhones
Once saturation occurs it seems that Apple often does better and not worse.
And as I point out above apple continues to increase share in the total market.
So, lets talk about this. I am a huge fan of apple even i "discovered" this company lately (my first apple product wan an iPad2 back to 2011). But i have to say that next year i really hope for something new and innovative as apple always do. I totally agree with people said here about what kind of customers buy an iPhone. iPhone totally worths its money. If you dont care about the latest technology such a perfect screen or a many mp camera, you can hold an iPhone model at least 3 years. iOS is available and easy to download it in all last 3 year devices. Android not. I had an android phone and i couldnt make an update alone! Also yes android market is so big cause most android phones are low costed and every big update of android software changes completely! So somebody can buy every year or even every 6 months a new android phone. But if you buy an iPhone, it will stay worthy for af least.3 years! So its totally different kind of customers. Plus android is supported from many brands. iOS only from one. To come back to what i was saying in the start, i trust apple, but i think the most fans want to see something new. And i believe 2014 is the "year". Even if iWatch comes finally true or if a bigger/flexible iPhone released. We ll see. Tim Cook already said that many new products are coming!
ps1: I m reading comments of you the last few months ans i am like wtf? Stop fighting boys! Here is to tell our opinions, not to fight. And as a journalist i have to say that all opinions are worthy to respect either you agree or not.
ps2: I am not a native english speaker, so any mistakes have to be forgiven
ps3: USA customers you re lucky, you can buy an iPhone from 200 bucks. In Greece and most other countries we dont have such great contracts. I bought my iPhone5 16gb last year for 739 euros or around 950 american dollars
Have a nice day!
I truly doubt people in Somalia are buying Androids.
Why not, they have a very large 3G network with now over 40% of their population using cell phones. They also have one of the fastest cell phone penetration in the world. It would be safe to say Android is in a few of the phones used. I know your comment was meant as a joke I'm just busting your fuzzy dice.
I sometimes just feel bad for Google to give free Android to everyone out there to benefit. If Google charged license fee for Android, it would've been skyrock in benefit and less of these parasite companies using android to make junk phones and tablets. Android would've been a lot better OS without opensource.
Apple grew less than their competitors when you look at the total smartphone market. The 'feature phone' market is sputtering out and most of those people are buying low cost phones that aren't as impressive as Apple's offerings but are quite capable and a big step up from their prior phones. That is an area of phones that is expected to grow substantially over the next few years. Apple chose not to compete in their segment so its likely their 'overall phone share' is going to continue to get smaller.
It's hard to get real numbers for the rest of the world, but Apple's share of the overall US cell phone market is certainly not going down, and is not about to go down anytime soon! There are good numbers for market penetration for the US from comScore mobiLens. As of September, 25.1% of the total cell phone market in the US was iPhone. That's a quarter of all cell phones in use in the US, not just smartphones. A year earlier, iPhone had a 17.5% share. Two years earlier it had a 10.2% share. So no, iPhone's share is not shrinking, and in fact it's growth is still speeding up.
So what's going on? People are confused about what the market is. The real market is cell phones, which will all be smarter and smarter as time goes on. It's possible to pick out a change that's going on right now that's happening faster than Apple's growth, but that change is in no way slowing down Apple's growth into the overall cell phone market! There's no sign of that at all in their sales figures! Apple's growth is closely following a logistic curve, and if that continues the iPhone is slated for complete market dominance, just like iPod.
Of course it helps in the US that cell phones are mostly sold subsidized, so Apple has a free phone available, just like everyone else.