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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.

#111

Post by palish »

nixy wrote: post #109
cheald wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to discount the size of the launch, but it's estimated that 77% of iPhone 4 purchases were upgrades from earlier-generation iPhones. Still an impressive launch, but Apple didn't grow their marketshare by 3 million handsets. http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/06/25/77-of-iphone-4-sales-...

And those iPhone 3G(S) that were being replaced were simply thrown in the bin? Or were they passed on to the second hand market?

My fiancee's 3GS was passed to me, and my iPhone 1 was thrown in the bin.

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

#112

Post by palish »

Xixi wrote: post #107

Considering how much at&t seems to suck, this is hardly surprising. And indeed Android seems to be a very US-centric thing so far. Take France for instance, where all careers are selling the iPhone : * iPhone : 2.25 million units currently in service * Android : 220,000 units currently in service That's a 10 to 1 ratio ! (as of April 2010, so pre iPhone 4 launch) http://www.geeketchic.fr/geek-blog/admob-android-vs-ip…

You seem to be suggesting that the choice of AT&T was a bad one. How quickly we forget that AT&T was the only carrier that would allow Apple to develop the phone almost completely without influence. Verizon was choice #1, but they refused to allow Apple to have the control it wanted, then issued some kind of silly statement along the lines of "We felt that the user experience was beyond our control with the kinds of demands Apple was asking for". Which is true, but something Verizon just couldn't bear the thought of.

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

#113

Post by andreyf »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #85
andreyf wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

#115

Post by rodh257 »

dannyr wrote: post #25
axod wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google showcased a ton of this at Google I/O. Android ties in really well to their webapps, Google TV (If that succeeds), etc. I remember one example was that you can go to maps.google.com and click on a phone icon, and it just sends it straight to your phone which opens a map in the same place. That's really useful integration. I forget the rest of the examples, but they were all pretty 'wow'. I think iTunes is an e…

If you have Android 2.2/Froyo, you can download both the Chrome Extensions & Android app. http://code.google.com/p/chrometophone/downloads/list

if you don't have 2.2, download an app called 'linkpush' sits in chrome and you click it, copies the url and then you can open the app on your phone to open it.

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

#116

Post by steamboiler »

WilliamLP wrote: post #59
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…

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 wi…

by Apple to create a viscous circle where developers bind themselves to iPhone

I think you mean a vicious cycle. Or a virtuous one depending on how you perceive Apple.

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

#117

Post by jan_g »

gregholland wrote: post #95
jan_g wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

In the ideal world, I want everything to be "open" and "free" too. However, there are simply too many spammers/unethical people out there who abuse such a system. Therefore I rather have a high quality app store over one that is filled with spam apps but is "open".

I'm not referring to "free as in beer", but for freedom of choice. I want to be able to install & use apps (for which I paid) without carrier or platform vendor meddling. I don't want to root the phone, don't want to unlock the sim, don't want to be able to use only those apps that are approved by unseen/unknown authority. "Spam" apps as you call them are not a problem, as they are not in "pc land" unless you install everything you come across.

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

#118

Post by tudorw »

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?

Yes, for me undoubtedly, and for more than a few reasons, I am not a fanboy, but I see the Android platform as having great 'game changing' potential.

They are going to sell a whole heap of these things!

The latest Android handsets do deliver the stability required for a mainstream device.

HTC, Acer, Asus, Dell and Motorola are large manufacturers and they all have a presence on the Android platform.

China and other strong manufacturing countries can finally focus on delivering refined hardware platforms without needing to invest in software to break a Western market.

The ease of access to the SDK and the cheap platforms available for developing applications means that in emerging and developing economies there are a mass of people who want to learn to develop for Android, they will do a lot of the localization tasks for Google for free!

I am not going to dispute that there is a bias towards low cost and free applications on the Android, no doubt as the raft of sub $100 devices arrive, they are going to be bought by people on lower incomes than the average Apple user. The iUniverse is a great place to be, Apple's integrated media platform is definitely an achievement, but to join the party you really need some $$$

It's a numbers game in the end, the growth curve of Android seems to suggest it will dominate the smartphone market in 2011 and beyond, with that will come the revenue potential application developers seek.

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

#119

Post by ZeroGravitas »

matwood wrote: post #41
old-gregg wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1. I absolutely love my Nexus One (we have iPhones in our family) and I believe that N1 represents the "next generation" of mobile devices, if you will. iPhone is stuck in the past - it requires a computer to be fully operational: a few months ago we went overseas and I wanted to put more stuff on it to listen/watch on the plane, but the people we were staying with only had a Linux laptop - iPhone was as useful as b…

Android and the N1 are a good combo. My problem with your statement is that other than activation the iPhone doesn't ever have to be plugged into a computer. Your example only shows that iPhone support on Linux is a not perfect, not that a computer is required. I download music and apps all the time directly to the phone, no computer required. My contacts, calendars and emails are all synced to the Google cloud that…

iPhone support is better on Linux than on the Mac. At least the last time I checked plugging an iPod and iPhone into a friend's Mac or PC gave you the option to play the music on the device via iTunes on the computer or wiping it.

Android (and any other device that treats itself like a memory stick) will show up and let you drag'n'drop audio, video, photos in both directions etc. Obviously this drag'n'drop can also be automated by a suitable (1st or 3rd Party) iTunes-like client or a shell script etc.

I believe modern Linux support will at least let you access iP* files as if it were a drive, I think putting things on can be tricky because Apple locks it all down with encryption.

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

#120

Post by ZeroGravitas »

sandipc wrote: post #81
awad wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Am I the only one annoyed by the "iPod" App on my iPhone? They really should split that into multiple apps for podcasts, audiobooks, video, music etc. I suppose it just mirrors the confusion of iTunes on the desktop which, despite the name, does a bit of everything these days.
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