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Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

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Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#51
post #20

This trend was pretty easy to spot. Almost 6 months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1129465 The problem is that developers are making a lot more money on iPhone apps. I've heard several developers complaining that their apps don't sell on Android. Will this eventually change?

FWIW, I went from making $20 a month on Android apps to $100 a month in the past two months or so.

I wonder if developers that actually sell mass amounts of apps are noticing this too?

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#52
post #37

I don't understand why people compare sales volume of iPhone to Android. Isn't that kind of like comparing MacBook Pro sales to Windows sales? People should either compare iPhones to Droids, or iOS devices to Android devices.

Well iPhone kind of implies iOS, doesn't it? So yes, technically speaking they should have said iOS instead. In any case, I think the comparison is fair, and more analogous to comparing Mac OS to Windows.

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#53
post #18
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The integration point for Google's stuff is the cloud, not physical devices. I expect this to gradually become a key differentiating factor. Apple is riding the coattails of an old paradigm, and, like Microsoft before them, they're too invested in the money they're making in the old paradigm to make the sacrifices necessary to properly address the new one.

The integration point for Google's stuff is the cloud, not physical devices That may be part of the problem with loyalty to Android. If everything is in the cloud, there is nothing tying me to a Google device. When I got my Android phone, I put in my Google account and got all of my contacts from Gmail and Google Voice, etc., but that is nothing new, as I had the same thing on Windows Mobile, and I could get the same…

It's been pointed out before but it bears repeating: the stakes in this game are totally different for Google. Google doesn't need to dominate in this market, it just needs to keep it open enough that the client is commoditized. If clients are commoditized and communicate via open standards Google wins on the strength of its superior systems engineering. History suggests that Apple will fare poorly in a commoditized market.

I suspect Google is actually a lot more worried about Facebook right now than Apple though.

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#54
post #45

If you want a smartphone and are already with Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint, you're options are pretty much limited to Android. When the iPhone expands carriers, probably next year when AT&T and Verizon move to faster LTE networks, it will be a different story. Verizon currently has 91.2 million customers and AT&T has 87 million.

Will it? I'm not so sure. The few million left who don't have an iPhone aren't enoungh to slow androids snowballing (with increasing speed) growth. For consumers now, a full touchscreen smartphone is enough, they don't care what OS it has. The ones that do are AT&T customers already. The real question now that android is the 'windows' of the mobile world is where will Win phone 7 fit in the landscape? Premium offerin…

When every Verizon store, kiosk, and multitude of resellers are able to finally show the iPhone next to an Android phone, Apple will take a big slice of Android's pie. Verizon has 90M subscribers and the cell phone buying cycle is only 1.5 years - Apple will sell millions to Verizon customers.

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#55
post #20

This trend was pretty easy to spot. Almost 6 months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1129465 The problem is that developers are making a lot more money on iPhone apps. I've heard several developers complaining that their apps don't sell on Android. Will this eventually change?

I don't think it will change anytime soon. 1, The marketplace sucks compared to the app store in many ways. There are few ways to feature your apps on the marketplace vs apple which has the "what hot", "new and noteworthy", "top paid", "top grossing" categories. In comparison, the android marketplace doesn't. 2, On the apple app store, you are given more promotion room on your app page itself for more descriptive tex…

One thing that may address your first two points is that Google demoed at I/O a web presence for the Android Market that would work in conjunction with the push service on the phone. Buy an app on the web and it's pushed to the phone.

I imagine that if done right this would allow them to match Apple in terms of providing more real estate for promotional content from app developers, and reduce the barrier to buying since you can preview an app, hit "buy," and immediately have it on the phone.

I also think the lack of a good web presence for Android Market is holding back device adoption. I know of several people who are dissatisfied with their iPhones but are hesitant to jump to Android without being able to see if there are third-party apps out there that are analogous to what they've already got on their iPhones.

I agree that one of the major problems with the Android Market at present is certainly this culture of "I won't pay for an app -- and if I have to pay, I'll copy it to my SD card and delete it within the 24 hour return window." A developer has little incentive to make a really, really good paid app if a good proportion of their users would pirate it. There's a tipping point where you can instead make more money by making a mediocre ad-supported app.

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#56
post #48
post #42

I wonder how much of a dent the iPod Touch would put into the numbers if it were counted. On a related note, it seems an iPod Touch sized clone for Android would be a worthwhile device for a company to make (especially if it fit in all those iPod Touch running armbands). I hear news snippets here and there, but you'd think there would be a worthy competitor at this point... (there could well be one I'm not aware of,…

I'm totally ignorant of the Android landscape but does it have a music player than can rival the iPod app music + iTunes syncing of an iPod Touch?

I haven't used it myself, but I hear DoubleTwist is a great Android app for music, and the desktop app seems pretty good.

Also keep in mind that a lot of people loath iTunes (I think it's great on OSX, but I probably wouldn't want to use it in Windows).

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#58
post #20

This trend was pretty easy to spot. Almost 6 months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1129465 The problem is that developers are making a lot more money on iPhone apps. I've heard several developers complaining that their apps don't sell on Android. Will this eventually change?

Also, sales of iPhones do not factor in sales of iPads and iPod Touches, which both run iOS and run Apps. DaringFireball.net tried some back of the envelope math a few days back and his claim is that "Android isn't there yet, but its catching up."

Daringfireball was quoting WIRED's Fred Vogelstein:

"The true comparison is between Android and iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system. Android’s activation numbers are not device dependent. Apple’s shouldn’t be either. If we are going to truly compare the two mobile OSs we need to include sales of iPads and iPod Touches. Add them into the mix and the data shows that Android is catching up but still isn’t close."

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/07/30/vogelstein

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#59
post #20

This trend was pretty easy to spot. Almost 6 months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1129465 The problem is that developers are making a lot more money on iPhone apps. I've heard several developers complaining that their apps don't sell on Android. Will this eventually change?

I don't think it will change anytime soon. 1, The marketplace sucks compared to the app store in many ways. There are few ways to feature your apps on the marketplace vs apple which has the "what hot", "new and noteworthy", "top paid", "top grossing" categories. In comparison, the android marketplace doesn't. 2, On the apple app store, you are given more promotion room on your app page itself for more descriptive tex…

It's ironic that what developers hate about iPhone is precisely what makes it ideal for developers who want to make money. This being the walled garden, the inability to easily install free third party programs, and also the fact that there is a financial barrier to entry (a Mac, plus a dev fee) means that other developers are reluctant to make their apps free in the first place - meaning you don't have to compete with people giving their apps away!

It's a brilliant, (albeit arguably evil), strategy by Apple to create a viscous circle where developers bind themselves to iPhone, which means the good apps wind up there and thus users buy the product and pay for superior apps, which makes it more lucrative to develop for, and so on. And they sell some extra Macs and make money on dev fees, and take a cut out of every app store sale. It's really a simply ingenious grand strategy which has worked unbelievably well for them, however unethical or limiting some people might think it is.

Re: Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S.

#60
post #42

I wonder how much of a dent the iPod Touch would put into the numbers if it were counted. On a related note, it seems an iPod Touch sized clone for Android would be a worthwhile device for a company to make (especially if it fit in all those iPod Touch running armbands). I hear news snippets here and there, but you'd think there would be a worthy competitor at this point... (there could well be one I'm not aware of,…

I would pay a good price for a decent iPod touch style android tablet. 7" seems to be the pattern which is too big really.
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