MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users • Hacker News Board

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#21

Post by MrScruff » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 6:10 PM UTC

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #17

amitraman1 wrote: post #6

This applies to apps too. Here my simple logic. Android phones are available for free from carriers. Thus, the typical Android buy is more price sensitive. They are more likely to choose free content & apps. iPhone customers don't get FREE iPhones. They are willing to pay $200+ for a phone and contract. Their willingness to pay for apps & content is higher than Android users. Just look at Angry Birds. It's FREE on th…

Neither Android phones, nor Angry birds are "free". One is subsidized by years long contracts, and the other is ad-supported. If these things are really affecting sales then it's mostly psychological, which is interesting in itself. Recent surveys in the UK by YouGov suggest iPhone users are poorer and manage money less well than Android or Blackberry users, but also that the people who use their phone 4+ hours a day…

Do you have a link to the survey results? I can only find links to the Daily Mail which seems to be hand picking results. I ask because it really doesn't gel with my own observations in London at all. Nearly everyone I know running Android is either a technology enthusiast, price sensitive or both.

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#22

Post by fleitz » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 6:21 PM UTC

Kylekramer wrote: post #20

j79 wrote: post #13

My dad, who is far from being technically-savvy, owns an iPhone (a Christmas gift from my brother and I to our parents.) He wasn't a fan of the phone at first. Too complicated, too hard to make calls, etc. However, something amazing (considering my dad's, uh, "technological capabilities"...) happened a few weeks ago. He calls me up and asks about his "iTunes password" and whether he had ever set that up. I told him,…

While iOS is a smooth experience, I honestly cannot tell what is the substantial difference from Android. Both have the same enter credit card information once, one click purchasing from now on experience. Beyond the pretty small group of people who don't like giving Google more info/don't trust Google as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, what is so much better about iTunes than Google Checkout?

It's not the tech that makes it better it's the people, as an app developer it's easier to make money on the Apple ecosystem than Google. If I can't make a profit I'm not going to produce for that platform.

Apple's marketing message appeals to a set of consumers who want to buy stuff digitally. Apple has done a bunch of work for me, whereas it's hard to monetize the marketing message of 'open platform'

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#23

Post by jokermatt999 » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 6:25 PM UTC

Kylekramer wrote: post #20

j79 wrote: post #13

My dad, who is far from being technically-savvy, owns an iPhone (a Christmas gift from my brother and I to our parents.) He wasn't a fan of the phone at first. Too complicated, too hard to make calls, etc. However, something amazing (considering my dad's, uh, "technological capabilities"...) happened a few weeks ago. He calls me up and asks about his "iTunes password" and whether he had ever set that up. I told him,…

While iOS is a smooth experience, I honestly cannot tell what is the substantial difference from Android. Both have the same enter credit card information once, one click purchasing from now on experience. Beyond the pretty small group of people who don't like giving Google more info/don't trust Google as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, what is so much better about iTunes than Google Checkout?

A large part of it comes from paid apps not being available in all countries. That lead to a lot of ad-supported apps (since the developers couldn't make the app paid), which have become the norm on Android.

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#24

Post by j79 » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 6:30 PM UTC

shuchton wrote: post #18

j79 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious: Do you find you use the iPad more because of that one app? Or, is the iPad strictly used for At Bat, and the rest of your time (email, browsing, etc.) used on the Xoom? I know Apple likes to advertise how many apps they have, but you're the first person that I've seen who has claimed to purchase hardware based on app availability...

I think most people would choose hardware based on App availability. So, for baseball, absolutely. The iPad has a better tablet version of At Bat 11. In more general terms, I'm still figuring my use patterns out. I've had the iPad since it came out in Mar 2010. I've had a Xoom since the WiFi model came out in Mar 2011. To be as objective as possible, I'd still tell my non tech savvy friends and family to go with the…

Very interesting! Thanks for the reply!

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#25

Post by Kylekramer » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 6:41 PM UTC

fleitz wrote: post #22

Kylekramer wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While iOS is a smooth experience, I honestly cannot tell what is the substantial difference from Android. Both have the same enter credit card information once, one click purchasing from now on experience. Beyond the pretty small group of people who don't like giving Google more info/don't trust Google as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, what is so much better about iTunes than Google Checkout?

It's not the tech that makes it better it's the people, as an app developer it's easier to make money on the Apple ecosystem than Google. If I can't make a profit I'm not going to produce for that platform. Apple's marketing message appeals to a set of consumers who want to buy stuff digitally. Apple has done a bunch of work for me, whereas it's hard to monetize the marketing message of 'open platform'

Again, I think this argument applies to a Hacker News crowd, not the general population. I have seen plenty of Android marketing and I can't remember a single mass market ad that touted openness beyond saying that it runs Flash.

Of course, Google employees have said things to that effect, but that is directed to a separate smaller audience. You won't find that on the sides of buses or on TV. I'd be surprised if more than 10% of Android users know it is open source or even made by Google. I'm trying to find the root of why iOS is more profitable for paid apps. In this particular case, I think it is overcharging for a fairly weak app, but I know this is a larger trend which I can't ascribe to an open platform bias.

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#26

Post by apress » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 6:55 PM UTC

Be careful about generalizing too far from the MLB experience. As has been discussed over and over, the Android experience for video locked down by DRM is sorely lacking. iOS has a single unified video DRM scheme while different carriers and handset makers seem to be going different ways on Android. Hence, the MLB app's video is only available for 11 phones so far, there's no official Netflix client for any yet and so on. The fact that MLB makes 5 times more from iOS users is partially explained by the fact that all iOS users can buy the app but only a small portion of Android users.

However, not sure that should apply to the entire spectrum of apps. Rovio has said it's making the same on both platforms and the Pocket Legends folks say they make more on Android. Not to say that Android is equal to iOS in app monetization, which it's surely not, but there are signs that it's catching up in some segments. Video, however, is not one of those areas.

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#27

Post by dangero » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 6:56 PM UTC

amitraman1 wrote: post #6

This applies to apps too. Here my simple logic. Android phones are available for free from carriers. Thus, the typical Android buy is more price sensitive. They are more likely to choose free content & apps. iPhone customers don't get FREE iPhones. They are willing to pay $200+ for a phone and contract. Their willingness to pay for apps & content is higher than Android users. Just look at Angry Birds. It's FREE on th…

"iPhone customers don't get FREE iPhones. They are willing to pay $200+ for a phone and contract. Their willingness to pay for apps & content is higher than Android users."

Exactly. They have shown their willingness to spend their disposable income on their phone.

iPhone users are a marketer's dream. Hence why ads on the platform will also generate a higher ecpm than Android.

One other thing about the iPhone is that Apple has much more uniform and confident marketing as a single company than Android has being spread across the industry. That means if I buy an app now, I feel sure I'll be able to use it for years to come on whatever new iPhone I have at the time. I feel confident investing in my mobile app library. I bought a $100 GPS app on the iPhone because I believe I'll be able to to use it for the next 5 years at least. That's value. If I could only be sure I would be able to use it till I got a phone upgrade, I wouldn't have bought it. With Android, (I have an Android phone too) it's not so clear to me that when I buy an app I'll still be able to have that same app on my phone in 5-10 years with whatever phone I have at the time. Maybe other people feel differently, but I'm not sure who I'm putting my confidence in with Android. Google doesn't control what handsets are made, so I can't just put my confidence in them, and A lot of the mobile carriers have hinted at building their own OS, etc, so I could see Android growing out of favor. This may be very unlikely, but I just don't feel as confident about it, so I don't feel I can invest in my software library like I can with the iPhone.

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#28

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 7:33 PM UTC

fleitz wrote: post #22

Kylekramer wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While iOS is a smooth experience, I honestly cannot tell what is the substantial difference from Android. Both have the same enter credit card information once, one click purchasing from now on experience. Beyond the pretty small group of people who don't like giving Google more info/don't trust Google as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, what is so much better about iTunes than Google Checkout?

It's not the tech that makes it better it's the people, as an app developer it's easier to make money on the Apple ecosystem than Google. If I can't make a profit I'm not going to produce for that platform. Apple's marketing message appeals to a set of consumers who want to buy stuff digitally. Apple has done a bunch of work for me, whereas it's hard to monetize the marketing message of 'open platform'

[deleted]

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#29

Post by ZeroGravitas » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 7:38 PM UTC

MrScruff wrote: post #21

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither Android phones, nor Angry birds are "free". One is subsidized by years long contracts, and the other is ad-supported. If these things are really affecting sales then it's mostly psychological, which is interesting in itself. Recent surveys in the UK by YouGov suggest iPhone users are poorer and manage money less well than Android or Blackberry users, but also that the people who use their phone 4+ hours a day…

Do you have a link to the survey results? I can only find links to the Daily Mail which seems to be hand picking results. I ask because it really doesn't gel with my own observations in London at all. Nearly everyone I know running Android is either a technology enthusiast, price sensitive or both.

http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-...

I'm not in London, for me the geeks/normal split oseems fairly even between iPhone and Android e.g. a female, non-tech colleague who went into the store wanting something with a hardware keyboard and came out raving about Swype while my tech colleagues all have iPhones.

Re: MLB.com CEO: iOS users more likely to purchase content than Android users

#30

Post by pmarsh » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 7:39 PM UTC

amitraman1 wrote: post #6

This applies to apps too. Here my simple logic. Android phones are available for free from carriers. Thus, the typical Android buy is more price sensitive. They are more likely to choose free content & apps. iPhone customers don't get FREE iPhones. They are willing to pay $200+ for a phone and contract. Their willingness to pay for apps & content is higher than Android users. Just look at Angry Birds. It's FREE on th…

My thoughts exactly. Even Verizon's commercials highlight "This and thousands of other free apps..."

Experience in this space with my company is much the same. iOS outsold our Android version 7 to 1 and the iOS app was out for less than half the time.

Android might be taking the numbers lead but if I was a developer and I only had the resources to do 1 platform iOS would win easily.