Activations of Apple devices grew by 2.3 times on Christmas Day
The rate of device activations for Apple more than doubled on Christmas Day this year, though the real winner was Amazon, whose low-margin Kindle devices saw a 24-fold surge in new devices for the single day.
The figures were published on Friday by mobile analytics firm Flurry, which showed that Amazon once again saw the biggest gains by far on Christmas Day. The figures suggest that Amazon's Kindle products are exceptionally popular Christmas gifts, allowing the number of activations to surge from their normal levels on a single holiday.
But while Kindles continue to be the gifts of choice, Amazon's activations are not increasing as significantly as they were in years past. While 2011 activations increased by a factor of more than 40 in 2011, they grew 24 times this year.
Apple, meanwhile, saw its device activations grow 2.3 times on Christmas Day, edging rival Samsung which saw activations of its hardware grow 1.9 times on Dec. 25.
Both companies trailed Acer, which saw about a fivefold increase in device activations after Christmas gift giving began.
The popularity of Acer and Amazon products on Christmas Day suggests that those companies' affordable pricing strategies make their products ideal for gift giving. However, devices made by more premium electronics companies, such as Apple and Samsung, may be less popular for gifts, as individuals are more likely to buy themselves an iPhone or iPad.
Flurry speculates that overall activation bumps are decreasing for everyone, including Amazon, because of the modern ubiquity of smartphones and tablets.
"With more people having smartphones and tablets, there are fewer new users to give them to, and giving to existing users is more challenging since existing users are already tied into carrier contract renewal cycles, app ecosystems, etc.," Flurry's Mary Ellen Gordon wrote.
The data released Friday also shows that Wi-Fi-only tablets continue to be the most gifted devices for Christmas, as they have been since 2011. These are the least expensive options, when compared to cellular-capable tablets and smartphones, and they also have the benefit of working out of the box without the need for carrier service.
The figures were published on Friday by mobile analytics firm Flurry, which showed that Amazon once again saw the biggest gains by far on Christmas Day. The figures suggest that Amazon's Kindle products are exceptionally popular Christmas gifts, allowing the number of activations to surge from their normal levels on a single holiday.
But while Kindles continue to be the gifts of choice, Amazon's activations are not increasing as significantly as they were in years past. While 2011 activations increased by a factor of more than 40 in 2011, they grew 24 times this year.
Apple, meanwhile, saw its device activations grow 2.3 times on Christmas Day, edging rival Samsung which saw activations of its hardware grow 1.9 times on Dec. 25.
Both companies trailed Acer, which saw about a fivefold increase in device activations after Christmas gift giving began.
The popularity of Acer and Amazon products on Christmas Day suggests that those companies' affordable pricing strategies make their products ideal for gift giving. However, devices made by more premium electronics companies, such as Apple and Samsung, may be less popular for gifts, as individuals are more likely to buy themselves an iPhone or iPad.
Flurry speculates that overall activation bumps are decreasing for everyone, including Amazon, because of the modern ubiquity of smartphones and tablets.
"With more people having smartphones and tablets, there are fewer new users to give them to, and giving to existing users is more challenging since existing users are already tied into carrier contract renewal cycles, app ecosystems, etc.," Flurry's Mary Ellen Gordon wrote.
The data released Friday also shows that Wi-Fi-only tablets continue to be the most gifted devices for Christmas, as they have been since 2011. These are the least expensive options, when compared to cellular-capable tablets and smartphones, and they also have the benefit of working out of the box without the need for carrier service.
Comments
The wife also got a new Kindle - but also activated prior to Christmas day.
I wonder how our old iPhones will be counted - if at all - when reactivated - one was a Christmas gift but has yet to be activated and the other will be for a birthday in Feb.
Everyone in South Korea liked Android a lot,
But the Apple who lived south of Korea did not…
*lot of book*
And the Apple’s activations grew 2.3 times that day!
All cellulair tablets come with WiFi as well, making this last sentence quite ...stupid. Perhaps it was aimed at Kindle givers?
Amazon never publishes sales figures, so maybe they normally sell 100 per day, and sold 2400 that day. Who knows? Idiot reporting.
In addition, how does Flurry even know of activations? The only way would be if a user installed and opened an app that includes the Flurry SDK. I'm really not sure how else they would get that data and would be interested in their measurement methods.
Worthless reporting. It doesn't account for devices being activated over time (getting gifts on Christmas Eve, December 26th) and it doesn't account for any volume. As another poster mentioned, Amazon could activate 100 Kindles a day and Apple could activate a million. This stat would indicate that Apple activated 2.3 million on Christmas and Amazon 2,400. Which is better?
In addition, how does Flurry even know of activations? The only way would be if a user installed and opened an app that includes the Flurry SDK. I'm really not sure how else they would get that data and would be interested in their measurement methods.
Flurry says that their SDK is in apps on over a billion devices. So I'm guessing that they have a pretty good sense of "activations" (which probably means just what you indicated).
But it is very interesting that they chose to not list raw "activation" numbers, which of course they could have easily done, but instead chose to compare platforms to themselves. Flurry intentionally created and published a report that is very friendly to Amazon (and Acer), but not so much to Apple and Samsung.
I wonder who paid for that report? Hmmm, does Amazon themselves use Flurry's advertising service?
and Android device activations grew 500% on Christmas day showing how far more people prefer Android devices.
/S
Kindle holiday sales deconstructed:
Kindles are like digital picture frames a few years ago: Nobody wants one, everyone thinks its the perfect gift.
Hence the outsized sales jump during the gift-giving season. Then they sit in the drawer and shit electrons for the rest of their useless lives.
Problem with this is they don't state numbers. They could be selling 100 kindles a day, and on christmas day they sell 2400. Apple meanwhile is selling 200000 a day and jumped to 400000. Just meaningless click bait.
What a bunch of illiterate idiots -- Read the frickin' article. It's about ACTIVATIONS not sales!
Activation spikes on Christmas will most likely indicate a device given as a gift and not so much devices people bought for a gift to themselves. Since the B&N Nook wasn't tracked, one can't see any comparison between devices that are fundamentally eReader gifts. The same problem applies to comparing tablets that are good for other applications. I'd say that the information one can glean from this date is:
1. It's best read as a comparison of one brand to it's performance on prior years
2. Many of the people commenting on the data can not distinguish between activation and sales being two different things.
So many people here only believe numbers when they show Apple devices to be selling well. But if it is about another company doing well, the numbers must be wrong or meaningless. Anything wrong with this picture?