TFA: Android fared better when users were asked solely about software, as 55 percent said they would stick with Google's mobile platform. [PLATFORM] But an additional 31 percent of Android users also indicated they are likely to switch to an iPhone for their next handset, leaving Apple a sizable chunk Android users.
In other words, it's 89% vs. 55% based on platform, with almost 1 in 3 Android uses indicating that they want to switch to iPhone.
With only 10% leaving, that gives us a potential 20% of the current Android base going Apple...
Which would be potentially how many since this "survey" used just 515 high-end international clients of UBS? And note that the "survey" was part of an investment report targeting UBS clients they hoped would buy into their Apple investment program, so obviously Apple would be presented in the most positive light they could. Hardly an objective source.
Yes, it was a welcome surprise to see AI provide that sort of balance (clearly a Hughes article rather than a Digler), noting that a majority of Android users prefer to stick with their OS and that less than a third would consider switching to what has been called the best phone in the world.
The iPhone IS the best phone in the world, as demonstrated by the fact that it has 89% retention rate, as opposed to the next closest (HTC) with 39% retention rate.
Oh wait, there you go conflating phones with platform when it suits you....
Not sure where else to post this. Apparently reliable source (Chronicwire on Twitter) claiming that Otterbox has produced 3 million cases for iPhone 4S.
Yes, it was a welcome surprise to see AI provide that sort of balance (clearly a Hughes article rather than a Digler), noting that a majority of Android users prefer to stick with their OS and that less than a third would consider switching to what has been called the best phone in the world.
Nice spin, especially the use of the word "majority". But at 55% / 45%, why don't we go with a rough approximation and say that HALF of all Android owners are unhappy enough with Android that they'd consider changing platforms.
Same with "less than a third" at 31% vs. 33%. Again, technically accurate but a cake into thirds and give me a slice that's only 31%, and I won't complain.
And that also means that 14% (1 in 7) are willing to leave it for a platform OTHER than the iPhone.
When nearly half [see what I did there] of the people who buy your product are willing to dump it, I'd say that you've got some serious problems.
By Google spending money it makes on the profitable part of its business on R&D for Android.
Google isn't a charity for Android users, it's a business with a goal of making profits. It will not subsidize a money losing business indefinitely. Although I concede that Google's purchase of MMI certainly indicates a willingness to throw good money after bad for at least the next couple of years.
Linux - More choice to switch whilst still using the same platform, lesser distro retention.
The very fact that a consumer has more manufacturer choice when choosing an Android handset will lead to lower retention percentage. I'll easily swap manufacturers if they have a higher end offering compared to the one I have now.
I don't think that is a good comparison. There are differences between the cell phone industry and the PC industry.
Microsoft charges the PC manufacturers to use it's windows operating system.
Microsoft virtually has a monopoly on the desktop computer operating system business. Consumers buy a computer and windows is already installed. They aren't going to go and buy another operating system.
Plus, there is no competition because the PC manufacturers don't court competitors to challenge Microsoft, and they don't try to produce their own PC operating system.
Needless to say the cell phone industry doesn't have that kind of monopoly, where one company dominates and controls many others through an operating system.
Many of the cellphone manufacturers that use Android, which is free, also have dealings with Microsoft, and many are trying to build their own operating system and even when they don't they add their own stuff on top of the Android operating system for differentiation.
Sure, people will move from one phone to another as they enjoy the wide variety of options available. But no matter how many different phones they may use, according to AI a majority are sticking with Android.
Some people like a slide-out keyboard. Some want a higher-res camera. Some want a different carrier. Others want stereoscopic cameras (I don't want one myself, but it was pretty cool when my friend showed me her HTC with real-time 3D display).
Individually, no single one of those niches will displace the iPhone. But collectively, they represent a breadth of options for consumers that's almost infinitely greater than the single model Apple offers.
The iPhone is a very good phone. But it just isn"t the best phone for everyone. And if you're looking for any feature other than what Apple offers, you can't choose iOS because it only runs on the one phone they make.
I don't disagree with much of what you're saying here (and you say it well). But there are some important matters of degree here. Because of the issues you raise, I would agree that Apple will never dominate the smartphone (or any other) market in the way that MS dominated PC operating systems in the 1990s.
However -- I think the issues you raise above are totally consistent with Apple dominating the smartphone and tablet markets to the same degree that Apple dominates the mp3 player market.
Apple doesn't have 90% of the mp3 market -- they "only" have about 70% or so. And I think the issues you raise are exactly the reason that they only have 70% and not 90%.
I think there are three reasons why Apple has not yet achieved an iPod level of dominance in smartphones. First, the market is much larger and it has taken Apple longer to ramp up production. Second, distribution channels in smartphones are very different from iPods and it takes longer to penetrate all channels. Third, early user confusion about the relative quality of various platforms led to the mistaken belief that anything with a touchscreen approximately the same size of the iPhone was an iPhone.
Each of these issues is being dealt with. Apple is ramping production, they are expanding distribution channels, and -- as this survey indicates -- consumers are beginning to understand the differences between these platforms.
In the case of the iPad Apple ramped production amazingly fast and was not constrained by distribution channels. Thus that market moved almost instantly to iPod-level domination, and I suspect will stay there, more or less. It's just a matter of time before the iPhone reaches the same level in its market.
Android OEM's cater to a far wider audience/market than Apple does. Yes there will be generic handsets but the higher end stuff has and will easily outpace what Apple offers.
You may be personally averse to 'cramming more hardware into the same space' as you put it but there are benefits (radio technology, processing architecture, memory expansion, optics) have all moved on when it comes to Android handsets.
As 'cramming more hardware into the same space' is not your thing, I take it you have never ever upgrade to a newer model of iPhone and are still on your original handset as hardware specifications are meaningless in your world?
A lot of people who are (sorry to put it this way) anti Android/Windows Phone do like to belittle hardware advancements, especially with Apple's glacial upgrade schedule, but I have no doubt that people will be screaming things like "OMG A5 processor!" and "More megapixels" come the october event and will gladly pony up the cash to get Apple's latest and greatest.
If the world is how you put it and it's all about the software/ecosystem then no one should really need anything above the iPhone 4. As this is not the case in the real world and people happily dump serious cash in (mostly needless) hardware upgrades I'd say specifications are important.
Why do you think people upgraded from the 3GS to an i4? Was it the Retina display, better cam, faster processor, ram upgrade, gyroscope or was it for the "ecosystem" that they were already using?
I'd say it was all about the hardware bump.
For clarification: My opinion is that of a consumer, not a shareholder so a companies profit has little effect on my purchasing decision. I respect that a shareholder is most likely going to have a different perspective.
UBS asked 515 of their primarily high-end international customers whether they would stick with their same phone vendor, or was it some other question? Hardly an average customer base. Particularly coming from a financial firm trying to talk their customers into following their "buy Apple" recommendation, not telling us anything really unless you depend only on high-end international customers for your business. \
Nothing will ever satisfy you as long as it shows good news for Apple. If it showed that Android was in that position, you would be citing is as proof of your own negative beliefs.
This is just confirming surveys done over the past few years, just more strongly. Last year, one showed the iPhone retention rate as also being 89%, with Android at 73%, and the BB at a miserable 44%. We're seeing confirmation of this as Android's growth rate, which still fairly high has plummeted from the early, impossible to maintain rates, and BB sales the past quarter that were less than the same quarter last year.
Nothing will ever satisfy you as long as it shows good news for Apple. If it showed that Android was in that position, you would be citing is as proof of your own negative beliefs.
This is just confirming surveys done over the past few years, just more strongly. Last year, one showed the iPhone retention rate as also being 89%, with Android at 73%, and the BB at a miserable 44%. We're seeing confirmation of this as Android's growth rate, which still fairly high has plummeted from the early, impossible to maintain rates, and BB sales the past quarter that were less than the same quarter last year.
So this is very believable.
I agree with you that's it's certainly believable, but this "survey" is no reliable evidence for it, which is the argument I'm making.
If the world is how you put it and it's all about the software/ecosystem then no one should really need anything above the iPhone 4. As this is not the case in the real world and people happily dump serious cash in (mostly needless) hardware upgrades I'd say specifications are important.
No - experiences are important. Better specifications only matter to the extent that they improve the experience of using the phone in meaningful ways. Apple knows this better than any other manufacturer.
For example, that's why the next iPhone won't feature LTE, even though many Android phones already do. It may permit faster internet access, but at the moment it ruins battery life, adds significant bulk to the device and only works in a small number of markets. In terms of specification, adding LTE to a phone is obviously an improvement. In terms of experience, adding LTE to a phone currently makes the overall experience worse, not better.
Understanding this distinction is important to understanding Apple's philosophy.
Agreed. I have an Android phone and will stick with for my next phone, but there are many manufacturers to choose from.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chronster
Of COURSE. People buy apps for an iphone, and invest their time into one platform, so of COURSE they are less likely to jump to another company SINCE APPLE IS THE ONLY COMPANY RUNNING IOS
If I buy Android apps, I'm not confined to a single device. I can branch out and try whatever Android device I want, and with as much competition as there is in the Android field, each company is always out-doing one another and the latest and greatest isn't always with the company that previously held the title.
This is good news for Apple in that it means they've successfully set up a platform they strictly control and that people feel invested in, but other than that, this isn't news of anyone being better lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by GalaxyTab
On the flipside, you have an easy opportunity to gain sales by putting out a market leading handset (which is probably why Samsung & HTC are doing so well compared to other Android OEMs).
This isn't happening is it tho? Look at handsets like the Sensation and Galaxy S II. Android OEMs are pushing the envelope far faster than Apple are (and ever will with a yearly refresh).
When every single Android manufacturer stops making massive leaps ahead each few months coming out with the same spec phone using the same tech, what you say will be true.
The real problem is the satisfaction rate for Android overall, which is lower than with iOS.
Moving from one Android phone to another because of some unhappiness with a current model isn't a good thing about Android. All is serves to do is to show that no matter which Android manufacturer you go to, or which new high riding model you buy, you are far more likely to be unhappy in some major way.
So we've got some Android users claiming that it's not Android that's the problem, but the phones. But we can't separate the phones from the OS they run on. At some point, Android users will realize that no matter which Android phone they get, the overall experience is a problem. Which is why so many are saying that their next phone will be an iPhone. This isn't anything new, but the numbers are increasing.
It's possible that at some point, as we're now seeing with the BB, the percentage of people moving off the platform will override the number of people entering the platform, and that's when the numbers will begin to drop. Will that happen? I don't know, but it's a possibility. Whenever the dissatisfaction on one platform is higher than on another, even if that platform is growing faster, the other platform siphons off users.
At some point in time, the smartphone market growth will begin to level off. Once that happens, the siphoning effect will affect the numbers. 40% of phone owners in the US now have smartphones. It could be just another two to three years, at most, before more than 60% will have them. At that point growth will begin to slow down, because just as with broadband, there is a certain percentage of people who don't want it. it's possible that the number is as high as 20%, maybe even higher. If so, then the last 20% will ensure a major slowdown in smartphone growth, and will begin to show the cracks in some systems, and the siphon effect will become serious.
We're seeing that now with Windows and OS X. windows sales have been slow for a number of years, as growth avenues have shrunk. So disgruntled customers, as well as new ones are moving to OS X. So while PC sales continue to increase, they're increasing in smaller percentages, and so Apple's computer sales growth are clawing a greater percentage of the total.
UBS asked 515 of their primarily high-end international customers whether they would stick with their same phone vendor, or was it some other question? Hardly an average customer base. Particularly coming from a financial firm trying to talk their customers into following their "buy Apple" recommendation, not telling us anything really unless you depend only on high-end international customers for your business. \
Exactly. On the other hand Amazon.com, Cnet.com and Phonearena.com consistently show iPhone 4 has only 3.5 star (out of 5) consumer rating - not exactly high marks, considering HTC Evo gets 4.5 stars.
The poll should be about platform and not hardware vendor. I don't think Android users are usually dedicated to the company that manufactured their Phone.
Look at it from a platform perspective, do just a little math and get back to us.
Exactly. On the other hand Amazon.com, Cnet.com and Phonearena.com consistently show iPhone 4 has only 3.5 star (out of 5) consumer rating - not exactly high marks, considering HTC Evo gets 4.5 stars.
Not exactly scientific or even relevant do you ever read reviews on Amazon?
Exactly. On the other hand Amazon.com, Cnet.com and Phonearena.com consistently show iPhone 4 has only 3.5 star (out of 5) consumer rating - not exactly high marks, considering HTC Evo gets 4.5 stars.
You are quite correct, but note that Amazon is selling the iPhones at around $700 and most of the lower ratings are from people complaining that they can get them cheaper elsewhere. The Evo, on the other hand, is free on Amazon wireless. That's not a reasonable comparison.
On the flipside, you have an easy opportunity to gain sales by putting out a market leading handset (which is probably why Samsung & HTC are doing so well compared to other Android OEMs).
This isn't happening is it tho? Look at handsets like the Sensation and Galaxy S II. Android OEMs are pushing the envelope far faster than Apple are (and ever will with a yearly refresh).
When every single Android manufacturer stops making massive leaps ahead each few months coming out with the same spec phone using the same tech, what you say will be true.
Well, these new phone aren't massively leaping ahead of what came before. That just market speak, and the tech writers doing what they always do. Tech writers always love new products, and so maximize their wonders, and minimize their faults. I read article after article from these people stating directly that they want to see other phones, tablets and OS's succeed against Apple. They have a vested interest in that happening. It's a monetary interest, as it's their living that depends on having exciting things to write about. I've even read a couple of articles where the authors admitted that was their need.
No one wants to write that, yup, the iPhone is number one again. yup, the iPad is number one again. They want to write about that new "iPhone killer", or the newest "iPad killer". Writing articles asking if the latest Android whatever will take sales away from an Apple product is sure to get plenty of hits. I just read an article giving 10 reasons why the iPad 3 could have a problem selling. Bot one of those reasons made any sense at all, but it wasn't written to make sense, just a good headline.
So it's interesting that Android phones, despite getting wonderful reviews have a VERY poor retention rate, and that Samsung is so embarrassed about their phone and tablet sales numbers that at their quarterly report, they stated that they would no longer provide shipping numbers for either! Samsung's smartphone sales for the last quarter were below even the lowest numbers analysts expected. Looking at the retention rate for them makes that easy to understand.
Crack has a high customer retention rate, it's not necessarily a good thing about the product.
Then again, maybe it does say that your product is good.
No Android fan wants to admit the obvious. If you take this statistic together with the high customer satisfaction ratings Apple earns, and high numbers of people lining up to upgrade to iPhone 5 sight unseen, maybe it's because Apple is good at delivering value to the customer. Maybe real customers don't just see their phone as a bag of hardware specs to be flaunted for geek cred.
But, hey, if denying that Apple is doing something right helps you sleep at night, keep trolling.
Comments
They did that too.
TFA: Android fared better when users were asked solely about software, as 55 percent said they would stick with Google's mobile platform. [PLATFORM] But an additional 31 percent of Android users also indicated they are likely to switch to an iPhone for their next handset, leaving Apple a sizable chunk Android users.
In other words, it's 89% vs. 55% based on platform, with almost 1 in 3 Android uses indicating that they want to switch to iPhone.
With only 10% leaving, that gives us a potential 20% of the current Android base going Apple...
Which would be potentially how many since this "survey" used just 515 high-end international clients of UBS? And note that the "survey" was part of an investment report targeting UBS clients they hoped would buy into their Apple investment program, so obviously Apple would be presented in the most positive light they could. Hardly an objective source.
Yes, it was a welcome surprise to see AI provide that sort of balance (clearly a Hughes article rather than a Digler), noting that a majority of Android users prefer to stick with their OS and that less than a third would consider switching to what has been called the best phone in the world.
The iPhone IS the best phone in the world, as demonstrated by the fact that it has 89% retention rate, as opposed to the next closest (HTC) with 39% retention rate.
Oh wait, there you go conflating phones with platform when it suits you....
Not sure where else to post this. Apparently reliable source (Chronicwire on Twitter) claiming that Otterbox has produced 3 million cases for iPhone 4S.
Yes, it was a welcome surprise to see AI provide that sort of balance (clearly a Hughes article rather than a Digler), noting that a majority of Android users prefer to stick with their OS and that less than a third would consider switching to what has been called the best phone in the world.
Nice spin, especially the use of the word "majority". But at 55% / 45%, why don't we go with a rough approximation and say that HALF of all Android owners are unhappy enough with Android that they'd consider changing platforms.
Same with "less than a third" at 31% vs. 33%. Again, technically accurate but a cake into thirds and give me a slice that's only 31%, and I won't complain.
And that also means that 14% (1 in 7) are willing to leave it for a platform OTHER than the iPhone.
When nearly half [see what I did there] of the people who buy your product are willing to dump it, I'd say that you've got some serious problems.
But that's just me.
By Google spending money it makes on the profitable part of its business on R&D for Android.
Google isn't a charity for Android users, it's a business with a goal of making profits. It will not subsidize a money losing business indefinitely. Although I concede that Google's purchase of MMI certainly indicates a willingness to throw good money after bad for at least the next couple of years.
What a silly metric.
Look at it this way:
Platform: Windows
Platform: Linux
To stay with Windows:
Microsoft
To stay with Linux:
Debian
Red Hat
Fedora
Suse
Ubuntu
et;al
Windows - Higher likely retention rate
Linux - More choice to switch whilst still using the same platform, lesser distro retention.
The very fact that a consumer has more manufacturer choice when choosing an Android handset will lead to lower retention percentage. I'll easily swap manufacturers if they have a higher end offering compared to the one I have now.
I don't think that is a good comparison. There are differences between the cell phone industry and the PC industry.
Microsoft charges the PC manufacturers to use it's windows operating system.
Microsoft virtually has a monopoly on the desktop computer operating system business. Consumers buy a computer and windows is already installed. They aren't going to go and buy another operating system.
Plus, there is no competition because the PC manufacturers don't court competitors to challenge Microsoft, and they don't try to produce their own PC operating system.
Needless to say the cell phone industry doesn't have that kind of monopoly, where one company dominates and controls many others through an operating system.
Many of the cellphone manufacturers that use Android, which is free, also have dealings with Microsoft, and many are trying to build their own operating system and even when they don't they add their own stuff on top of the Android operating system for differentiation.
From the article:
Sure, people will move from one phone to another as they enjoy the wide variety of options available. But no matter how many different phones they may use, according to AI a majority are sticking with Android.
Some people like a slide-out keyboard. Some want a higher-res camera. Some want a different carrier. Others want stereoscopic cameras (I don't want one myself, but it was pretty cool when my friend showed me her HTC with real-time 3D display).
Individually, no single one of those niches will displace the iPhone. But collectively, they represent a breadth of options for consumers that's almost infinitely greater than the single model Apple offers.
The iPhone is a very good phone. But it just isn"t the best phone for everyone. And if you're looking for any feature other than what Apple offers, you can't choose iOS because it only runs on the one phone they make.
I don't disagree with much of what you're saying here (and you say it well). But there are some important matters of degree here. Because of the issues you raise, I would agree that Apple will never dominate the smartphone (or any other) market in the way that MS dominated PC operating systems in the 1990s.
However -- I think the issues you raise above are totally consistent with Apple dominating the smartphone and tablet markets to the same degree that Apple dominates the mp3 player market.
Apple doesn't have 90% of the mp3 market -- they "only" have about 70% or so. And I think the issues you raise are exactly the reason that they only have 70% and not 90%.
I think there are three reasons why Apple has not yet achieved an iPod level of dominance in smartphones. First, the market is much larger and it has taken Apple longer to ramp up production. Second, distribution channels in smartphones are very different from iPods and it takes longer to penetrate all channels. Third, early user confusion about the relative quality of various platforms led to the mistaken belief that anything with a touchscreen approximately the same size of the iPhone was an iPhone.
Each of these issues is being dealt with. Apple is ramping production, they are expanding distribution channels, and -- as this survey indicates -- consumers are beginning to understand the differences between these platforms.
In the case of the iPad Apple ramped production amazingly fast and was not constrained by distribution channels. Thus that market moved almost instantly to iPod-level domination, and I suspect will stay there, more or less. It's just a matter of time before the iPhone reaches the same level in its market.
<snip epic post>
Android OEM's cater to a far wider audience/market than Apple does. Yes there will be generic handsets but the higher end stuff has and will easily outpace what Apple offers.
You may be personally averse to 'cramming more hardware into the same space' as you put it but there are benefits (radio technology, processing architecture, memory expansion, optics) have all moved on when it comes to Android handsets.
As 'cramming more hardware into the same space' is not your thing, I take it you have never ever upgrade to a newer model of iPhone and are still on your original handset as hardware specifications are meaningless in your world?
A lot of people who are (sorry to put it this way) anti Android/Windows Phone do like to belittle hardware advancements, especially with Apple's glacial upgrade schedule, but I have no doubt that people will be screaming things like "OMG A5 processor!" and "More megapixels" come the october event and will gladly pony up the cash to get Apple's latest and greatest.
If the world is how you put it and it's all about the software/ecosystem then no one should really need anything above the iPhone 4. As this is not the case in the real world and people happily dump serious cash in (mostly needless) hardware upgrades I'd say specifications are important.
Why do you think people upgraded from the 3GS to an i4? Was it the Retina display, better cam, faster processor, ram upgrade, gyroscope or was it for the "ecosystem" that they were already using?
I'd say it was all about the hardware bump.
For clarification: My opinion is that of a consumer, not a shareholder so a companies profit has little effect on my purchasing decision. I respect that a shareholder is most likely going to have a different perspective.
UBS asked 515 of their primarily high-end international customers whether they would stick with their same phone vendor, or was it some other question? Hardly an average customer base. Particularly coming from a financial firm trying to talk their customers into following their "buy Apple" recommendation, not telling us anything really unless you depend only on high-end international customers for your business.
Nothing will ever satisfy you as long as it shows good news for Apple. If it showed that Android was in that position, you would be citing is as proof of your own negative beliefs.
This is just confirming surveys done over the past few years, just more strongly. Last year, one showed the iPhone retention rate as also being 89%, with Android at 73%, and the BB at a miserable 44%. We're seeing confirmation of this as Android's growth rate, which still fairly high has plummeted from the early, impossible to maintain rates, and BB sales the past quarter that were less than the same quarter last year.
So this is very believable.
Nothing will ever satisfy you as long as it shows good news for Apple. If it showed that Android was in that position, you would be citing is as proof of your own negative beliefs.
This is just confirming surveys done over the past few years, just more strongly. Last year, one showed the iPhone retention rate as also being 89%, with Android at 73%, and the BB at a miserable 44%. We're seeing confirmation of this as Android's growth rate, which still fairly high has plummeted from the early, impossible to maintain rates, and BB sales the past quarter that were less than the same quarter last year.
So this is very believable.
I agree with you that's it's certainly believable, but this "survey" is no reliable evidence for it, which is the argument I'm making.
OK thanks.
If the world is how you put it and it's all about the software/ecosystem then no one should really need anything above the iPhone 4. As this is not the case in the real world and people happily dump serious cash in (mostly needless) hardware upgrades I'd say specifications are important.
No - experiences are important. Better specifications only matter to the extent that they improve the experience of using the phone in meaningful ways. Apple knows this better than any other manufacturer.
For example, that's why the next iPhone won't feature LTE, even though many Android phones already do. It may permit faster internet access, but at the moment it ruins battery life, adds significant bulk to the device and only works in a small number of markets. In terms of specification, adding LTE to a phone is obviously an improvement. In terms of experience, adding LTE to a phone currently makes the overall experience worse, not better.
Understanding this distinction is important to understanding Apple's philosophy.
Agreed. I have an Android phone and will stick with for my next phone, but there are many manufacturers to choose from.
Of COURSE. People buy apps for an iphone, and invest their time into one platform, so of COURSE they are less likely to jump to another company SINCE APPLE IS THE ONLY COMPANY RUNNING IOS
If I buy Android apps, I'm not confined to a single device. I can branch out and try whatever Android device I want, and with as much competition as there is in the Android field, each company is always out-doing one another and the latest and greatest isn't always with the company that previously held the title.
This is good news for Apple in that it means they've successfully set up a platform they strictly control and that people feel invested in, but other than that, this isn't news of anyone being better lol
On the flipside, you have an easy opportunity to gain sales by putting out a market leading handset (which is probably why Samsung & HTC are doing so well compared to other Android OEMs).
This isn't happening is it tho? Look at handsets like the Sensation and Galaxy S II. Android OEMs are pushing the envelope far faster than Apple are (and ever will with a yearly refresh).
When every single Android manufacturer stops making massive leaps ahead each few months coming out with the same spec phone using the same tech, what you say will be true.
The real problem is the satisfaction rate for Android overall, which is lower than with iOS.
Moving from one Android phone to another because of some unhappiness with a current model isn't a good thing about Android. All is serves to do is to show that no matter which Android manufacturer you go to, or which new high riding model you buy, you are far more likely to be unhappy in some major way.
So we've got some Android users claiming that it's not Android that's the problem, but the phones. But we can't separate the phones from the OS they run on. At some point, Android users will realize that no matter which Android phone they get, the overall experience is a problem. Which is why so many are saying that their next phone will be an iPhone. This isn't anything new, but the numbers are increasing.
It's possible that at some point, as we're now seeing with the BB, the percentage of people moving off the platform will override the number of people entering the platform, and that's when the numbers will begin to drop. Will that happen? I don't know, but it's a possibility. Whenever the dissatisfaction on one platform is higher than on another, even if that platform is growing faster, the other platform siphons off users.
At some point in time, the smartphone market growth will begin to level off. Once that happens, the siphoning effect will affect the numbers. 40% of phone owners in the US now have smartphones. It could be just another two to three years, at most, before more than 60% will have them. At that point growth will begin to slow down, because just as with broadband, there is a certain percentage of people who don't want it. it's possible that the number is as high as 20%, maybe even higher. If so, then the last 20% will ensure a major slowdown in smartphone growth, and will begin to show the cracks in some systems, and the siphon effect will become serious.
We're seeing that now with Windows and OS X. windows sales have been slow for a number of years, as growth avenues have shrunk. So disgruntled customers, as well as new ones are moving to OS X. So while PC sales continue to increase, they're increasing in smaller percentages, and so Apple's computer sales growth are clawing a greater percentage of the total.
We could see that for phones as well.
UBS asked 515 of their primarily high-end international customers whether they would stick with their same phone vendor, or was it some other question? Hardly an average customer base. Particularly coming from a financial firm trying to talk their customers into following their "buy Apple" recommendation, not telling us anything really unless you depend only on high-end international customers for your business.
Exactly. On the other hand Amazon.com, Cnet.com and Phonearena.com consistently show iPhone 4 has only 3.5 star (out of 5) consumer rating - not exactly high marks, considering HTC Evo gets 4.5 stars.
The poll should be about platform and not hardware vendor. I don't think Android users are usually dedicated to the company that manufactured their Phone.
Look at it from a platform perspective, do just a little math and get back to us.
Exactly. On the other hand Amazon.com, Cnet.com and Phonearena.com consistently show iPhone 4 has only 3.5 star (out of 5) consumer rating - not exactly high marks, considering HTC Evo gets 4.5 stars.
Not exactly scientific or even relevant do you ever read reviews on Amazon?
Exactly. On the other hand Amazon.com, Cnet.com and Phonearena.com consistently show iPhone 4 has only 3.5 star (out of 5) consumer rating - not exactly high marks, considering HTC Evo gets 4.5 stars.
You are quite correct, but note that Amazon is selling the iPhones at around $700 and most of the lower ratings are from people complaining that they can get them cheaper elsewhere. The Evo, on the other hand, is free on Amazon wireless. That's not a reasonable comparison.
On the flipside, you have an easy opportunity to gain sales by putting out a market leading handset (which is probably why Samsung & HTC are doing so well compared to other Android OEMs).
This isn't happening is it tho? Look at handsets like the Sensation and Galaxy S II. Android OEMs are pushing the envelope far faster than Apple are (and ever will with a yearly refresh).
When every single Android manufacturer stops making massive leaps ahead each few months coming out with the same spec phone using the same tech, what you say will be true.
Well, these new phone aren't massively leaping ahead of what came before. That just market speak, and the tech writers doing what they always do. Tech writers always love new products, and so maximize their wonders, and minimize their faults. I read article after article from these people stating directly that they want to see other phones, tablets and OS's succeed against Apple. They have a vested interest in that happening. It's a monetary interest, as it's their living that depends on having exciting things to write about. I've even read a couple of articles where the authors admitted that was their need.
No one wants to write that, yup, the iPhone is number one again. yup, the iPad is number one again. They want to write about that new "iPhone killer", or the newest "iPad killer". Writing articles asking if the latest Android whatever will take sales away from an Apple product is sure to get plenty of hits. I just read an article giving 10 reasons why the iPad 3 could have a problem selling. Bot one of those reasons made any sense at all, but it wasn't written to make sense, just a good headline.
So it's interesting that Android phones, despite getting wonderful reviews have a VERY poor retention rate, and that Samsung is so embarrassed about their phone and tablet sales numbers that at their quarterly report, they stated that they would no longer provide shipping numbers for either! Samsung's smartphone sales for the last quarter were below even the lowest numbers analysts expected. Looking at the retention rate for them makes that easy to understand.
Crack has a high customer retention rate, it's not necessarily a good thing about the product.
Then again, maybe it does say that your product is good.
No Android fan wants to admit the obvious. If you take this statistic together with the high customer satisfaction ratings Apple earns, and high numbers of people lining up to upgrade to iPhone 5 sight unseen, maybe it's because Apple is good at delivering value to the customer. Maybe real customers don't just see their phone as a bag of hardware specs to be flaunted for geek cred.
But, hey, if denying that Apple is doing something right helps you sleep at night, keep trolling.