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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.

#81

Post by sandipc »

awad wrote: post #48
tvon wrote: 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?

Definitely don't think any of the Android music apps are up to the level of the iPhone's iPod app / iPod touch's music app. Apple's UI for that app is beautiful.

- a current android user

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

#82

Post by jan_g »

gregholland wrote: post #36
melling wrote: 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…

>I hope they will follow Apple's model of having tighter control over their app stores rather than the mess that the Android marketplace is.

It is really interesting that you hope for tight control, while I am waiting for a platform with as little carrier and/or platform vendor control as possible.

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

#83

Post by rimantas »

gregholland wrote: post #36
melling wrote: 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…

6. Availability of Google Checkout (unless there are other ways to pay for the app already).

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

#84

Post by Samuel_Michon »

camiller wrote: post #74
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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:…

Is he also adding non-phone android deployment?

Are there a lot of non-phone Android devices out there? Do they sell well? If it's less than 40 million units, it doesn't change the result.

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

#85

Post by Samuel_Michon »

andreyf wrote: post #72
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'IPhone' implies 'iOS', but half of all iOS devices are not iPhones. The iPhone is a smartphone model. It should be compared to other smartphone models, not other mobile OSes. But ofcourse, if iOS sales were compared to Android sales, there'd be no contest. I'm sure Android will overtake iOS at some point though; Android handsets are getting cheaper and cheaper, while Apple cares more about profit margin than unit sa…

The iPhone is a smartphone model. It should be compared to other smartphone models, not other mobile OSes. Err, the iPhone is a smartphone "family". iPhone 4 would be an smartphone model. I'm sure Android will overtake iOS at some point though; Android handsets are getting cheaper and cheaper, while Apple cares more about profit margin than unit sales. I'm not convinced this is a meaningful comparison, either. As far…

"the iPhone is a smartphone "family". iPhone 4 would be an smartphone model."

You are absolutely right. Perhaps it'd be better to compare the iPhone smartphone family to the Droid smartphone family then?

(EDIT: that is what @andreyf already suggested earlier)

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

#86

Post by jra101 »

ben1040 wrote: post #55
gregholland wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 si…

> I'll copy it to my SD card and delete it within the 24 hour return window.

That should be fixed with the new Android licensing server that Google recently announced.

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/licensing-ser...

Edit: Well, fixed when developers update their apps (which they have a big incentive to do).

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

#87

Post by rimantas »

jonknee wrote: post #46
andreyf wrote: 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.

The iPhone is the only mobile phone running iOS so the only way to do market share for mobile phone operating systems means just counting the iPhone. If you're doing laptop OS marketshare it makes sense to just count Apple's laptops even though the same OS runs on other devices.

Uhm. iPhone is the only phone running iOS, but there are other devices running it too, so if you count instalations of iOS you should consider iPod touch and iPad, if you count only iOS on iPhones then the remark is valid: it's comparing apples to oranges.

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

#88

Post by starnix17 »

crocowhile wrote: post #80
starnix17 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

For how many apps, if I may ask?

It's just one app, it's a third party Instapaper client (there's no official Instapaper app for Android [yet])

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.tonycosentini.hardcopypro

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

#89

Post by Samuel_Michon »

evilmushroom wrote: post #78

Look-- even if you're a rabid iPhone fanboy, you should want Android to be super successful. The more successful it is, the harder Apple will work to make their product even better. Likewise Android fanboys should want iPhone to be successful---- competition will keep these guys on their toes. I say this looking at the blatantly Apple bias that floats on this site. Why put down the other system? I prefer Android but…

"I say this looking at the blatantly Apple bias that floats on this site."

Interesting, given the upvoting behavior on HN suggests that there's a strong Android preference. Maybe that can be explained by the fact that there are currently more opportunities for developers on the iOS, but a typical HN users might favor the perceived freedom an Android handset or jailbreaked iPhone offers.

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

#90

Post by vermontdevil »

evilmushroom wrote: post #78

Look-- even if you're a rabid iPhone fanboy, you should want Android to be super successful. The more successful it is, the harder Apple will work to make their product even better. Likewise Android fanboys should want iPhone to be successful---- competition will keep these guys on their toes. I say this looking at the blatantly Apple bias that floats on this site. Why put down the other system? I prefer Android but…

Well said. I've been telling everyone that we are in a good position with all the competition. If Android or iOS or Win7 cease to exist as some seem to clamor, it will hurt all of us.

Competition is good not greed.

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