Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#51

Post by Macha » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:54 PM UTC

leokennis wrote: post #27

I feel like many people love iOS, but many also hate it (not open enough, lock in etc.) but they hate the cheapishness and crappiness of Android even more. Is there any development ongoing for a mobile OS that is not full of crap like Android, but not as restrictive as iOS? Not sure if Windows Phone or PalmOS were like that, but those are both gone…

Windows Phone apps were absolutely mostly shovelware, which had a not insignificant contribution to it's failure I feel.

Never used PalmOS to comment.

I think third place these days is Tizen which is in a worse place than the two big ones for apps, and then fourth might genuinely be GNU/Linux but there's massive dropoffs between third and fourth, and between second and third.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#52

Post by ajvs » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:54 PM UTC

leokennis wrote: post #27

I feel like many people love iOS, but many also hate it (not open enough, lock in etc.) but they hate the cheapishness and crappiness of Android even more. Is there any development ongoing for a mobile OS that is not full of crap like Android, but not as restrictive as iOS? Not sure if Windows Phone or PalmOS were like that, but those are both gone…

Linux phones, but they're still years off usability-wise.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#53

Post by bananamerica » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:54 PM UTC

jrm4 wrote: post #31

Are there any "real" (come on, techy people, you know what I mean) reasons for going Apple besides I suppose the genuine convenience of fully interoperable phone/messaging across devices (which I fully concede is probably a big one for a good number of people?) The price differences between Android and Apple still strike me as absurd. On the other side, I went from "picking an Android very carefully for rooting" grad…

iPhones are durable and are supported for longer times. Some people prefer spending more upfront for a product that will last longer. iOS is not a bad OS, and some might say that is more idiot proof than Android.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#54

Post by rjzzleep » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

Rhedox wrote: post #14

londons_explore wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU mandate that all large messaging platforms be interoperable by mid 2023 ought to widen this gap too. I wouldn't want to be part of the team having a deadline of March to develop and implement a way for every big messaging app to interoperate, with different user models, privacy concerns (e2e?), data storage models, data durability models, etc. Yet if it launches late, you have that 10% of revenue fine hanging…

Did they actually mandate that? I thought what the EU mandated was mostly about payment services.

Part of me wishes that they enable it earlier, but the other part of me thinks Apple will lobby for 2 years to rally MEPs against it.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#55

Post by helloooooooo » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

jrm4 wrote: post #31

Are there any "real" (come on, techy people, you know what I mean) reasons for going Apple besides I suppose the genuine convenience of fully interoperable phone/messaging across devices (which I fully concede is probably a big one for a good number of people?) The price differences between Android and Apple still strike me as absurd. On the other side, I went from "picking an Android very carefully for rooting" grad…

I switched from Android to iPhone. I was tired of my Android phones (Samsung Galaxy’s) only receiving updates for ~2 years. On top of that, I found that there was a lot of “jank” when using some apps. They would crash, fail to load, slow down etc… I attribute that mostly due to the Java based code. I also hated having both Google and Samsung trying to bait me into their “ecosystems”. They also have both the device OEM and Google prying their big data vacuums into the devices.

My iPhone on the other hand, I am still on my first one, and it is 4 years old and still gets updates. And judging by history, it should still get updates for at least another 2-3 years. Apps don’t crash. The battery is just starting to go on it, but a replacement isn’t very expensive. And the entire Apple “ecosystem” is optional here. Apple is just starting to spin up an ad ecosystem, but the privacy features of the device are quite unparalleled (although I wish I were able to install an on device ad blocker that actually works)

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#56

Post by stefan_ » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

pb7 wrote: post #5

https://archive.ph/r6PbO By some accounts, Apple already had >50% marketshare in the US but FT's source is probably more reliable.

Yeah, I seemed to remember the US was always tilted towards Apple. So this would be "overtaking" while you are ahead..

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#57

Post by seydor » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

leokennis wrote: post #27

I feel like many people love iOS, but many also hate it (not open enough, lock in etc.) but they hate the cheapishness and crappiness of Android even more. Is there any development ongoing for a mobile OS that is not full of crap like Android, but not as restrictive as iOS? Not sure if Windows Phone or PalmOS were like that, but those are both gone…

i think more people like apple's hardware than their software (myself included)

android is not full of crap if it doesnt come preloaded with it. the google apps , which you can download are pretty great and the interface can be replaced with another launcher. The app selection in the stores seems identical to me

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#58

Post by hsn915 » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

Switched from Android to iPhone a few months ago.

Hard to believe the difference. Android is really bad at many things, and I had a good brand (One Plus 6).

Taking a picture on Android is an awful experience. The Camera app takes about 3 seconds to open, and freezes for a second when taking a picture.

The Camera app on iPhone opens instantly and takes photos instantly.

The quality of the pictures taken on the iPhone are also much much better.

I don't like the closed model of the iPhone, but the quality is currently unbeatable.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#59

Post by londons_explore » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #40

londons_explore wrote: post #7

I attribute most of this to iMessage and the associated lock-in effect. You don't see the same trend in the rest of the world where 3rd party messengers (Whatsapp, Viber, Line, snapchat, etc) are mostly used for comms. The inability of iPhones to easily host 'cracked' apps also acts as an anchor to adoption - theres a lot of people hooked on their cracked ad-free spotify or youtube apps, or games with 'everything fre…

Are cracked apps really that popular? I'm pretty in touch with tech and piracy but I haven't thought of cracked mobile apps especially for something like YouTube and Spotify

Most young people (ie. under 25) seem to have at least a few cracked apps on their phone. I think it starts when you want something and don't have a credit card to pay for it, so you ask your mates and someone knows how to sideload it for free...

Cracked spotify (premium), snapchat (screenshotting messages without notifications), and various games seem to be the most common.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#60

Post by criddell » Fri, Sep 02, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #7

I attribute most of this to iMessage and the associated lock-in effect. You don't see the same trend in the rest of the world where 3rd party messengers (Whatsapp, Viber, Line, snapchat, etc) are mostly used for comms. The inability of iPhones to easily host 'cracked' apps also acts as an anchor to adoption - theres a lot of people hooked on their cracked ad-free spotify or youtube apps, or games with 'everything fre…

I attribute most of it to marketing. Both companies make pretty great phones that do more or less the same things equally well.

Apple is better at selling phones. Aside from better ads, they have prominent stores in most major cities. If you want to see the latest Pixel phone, you're going to have to visit a carrier store or Best Buy. As bad as an Apple store might be today, stepping into a T-Mobile store is worse.

I don't think the iMessage effect is what it used to be. My kids (in Texas) communicate on Discord mostly. I think they use Snapchat too. Text messages are pretty much only used to message their parents or to get a ping when their restaurant table is ready.

To me, it feels like Google has lost interest in Android and consumers will pick that up as well.