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There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

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Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#11
post #9

Its interesting that this number, 400k per day, is significantly less than the 700k per day that Google has recently claimed to be activating. Yet at the same time, the iPhone is %55 of Verizon's sales, and the iPhone is not the only iOS device, with the iPod touch doing pretty well (7M last quarter) and the iPad having essentially no competition and growing around %100 a year. To me, this implies that a very large n…

It's also worth noting the high rates of returns for Android devices versus iOS devices. Activations don't really take this into account whereas net sales probably does.

Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#12
post #10
post #9

Its interesting that this number, 400k per day, is significantly less than the 700k per day that Google has recently claimed to be activating. Yet at the same time, the iPhone is %55 of Verizon's sales, and the iPhone is not the only iOS device, with the iPod touch doing pretty well (7M last quarter) and the iPad having essentially no competition and growing around %100 a year. To me, this implies that a very large n…

Sales numbers by Apple are hard, cold, verifyable numbers. "Activations" is still a term that has no clear definition. Google has hinted at what they are (and are not), but even their meaning to Google in terms of the bottom-line are unclear. Android is no doubt a phenomenon that is sweeping the mobile world... how does Google profit or succeed from this?

> Android is no doubt a phenomenon that is sweeping the mobile world... how does Google profit or succeed from this?

I suppose Google's goal with Android is to maintain those numbers up http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_search_engine-ww-monthly-2...

Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#15
post #11
post #9

Its interesting that this number, 400k per day, is significantly less than the 700k per day that Google has recently claimed to be activating. Yet at the same time, the iPhone is %55 of Verizon's sales, and the iPhone is not the only iOS device, with the iPod touch doing pretty well (7M last quarter) and the iPad having essentially no competition and growing around %100 a year. To me, this implies that a very large n…

It's also worth noting the high rates of returns for Android devices versus iOS devices. Activations don't really take this into account whereas net sales probably does.

I haven't seen any numbers on Android/iPhone returns. I can understand that counting activations might inflate the numbers but is the return rate so high as to make a real difference?

Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#16
post #9

Its interesting that this number, 400k per day, is significantly less than the 700k per day that Google has recently claimed to be activating. Yet at the same time, the iPhone is %55 of Verizon's sales, and the iPhone is not the only iOS device, with the iPod touch doing pretty well (7M last quarter) and the iPad having essentially no competition and growing around %100 a year. To me, this implies that a very large n…

There seems to be a higher ratio of Android to Apple phones in non English speaking countries. I wonder if it is largely the Apple marketing machine not so geared up. I think the smartphone upgrade is pretty universal in richer countries.

Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#17
post #15
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also worth noting the high rates of returns for Android devices versus iOS devices. Activations don't really take this into account whereas net sales probably does.

I haven't seen any numbers on Android/iPhone returns. I can understand that counting activations might inflate the numbers but is the return rate so high as to make a real difference?

It's just speculation but here's some sources http://androidcommunity.com/android-return-rate-30-40-on-som... & http://seekingalpha.com/article/312394-kindle-fire-returns-c...

Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#18
post #10
post #9

Its interesting that this number, 400k per day, is significantly less than the 700k per day that Google has recently claimed to be activating. Yet at the same time, the iPhone is %55 of Verizon's sales, and the iPhone is not the only iOS device, with the iPod touch doing pretty well (7M last quarter) and the iPad having essentially no competition and growing around %100 a year. To me, this implies that a very large n…

Sales numbers by Apple are hard, cold, verifyable numbers. "Activations" is still a term that has no clear definition. Google has hinted at what they are (and are not), but even their meaning to Google in terms of the bottom-line are unclear. Android is no doubt a phenomenon that is sweeping the mobile world... how does Google profit or succeed from this?

From my understanding Apples sale numbers are sales to stores, not to customers. So they are hard, cold, verifyable numbers of what are sold to storefronts and not necessarily to people who are using the phone.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#19
post #9

Its interesting that this number, 400k per day, is significantly less than the 700k per day that Google has recently claimed to be activating. Yet at the same time, the iPhone is %55 of Verizon's sales, and the iPhone is not the only iOS device, with the iPod touch doing pretty well (7M last quarter) and the iPad having essentially no competition and growing around %100 a year. To me, this implies that a very large n…

I believe, besides the great success that Apple has with its mobile devices, the most interesting here are the enormous sums the mobile carriers are spending to subsidize this growth - up to US$300 per device.

This is certainly not something they can sustain much longer at these levels and also cross-sponsoring Apple devices by all their other phones (mostly Android) will not stretch this much further.

I guess we've just seen the peak of that where both Apple & the mobile operators had underestimated demand.

The most likely outcome of that will be that the mobile operators might start selling new Apple devices at their true cost - i.e. those will become substantially more expensive for the consumers with a market saturation happening / having already happened at the same time - or in other words - less phones with similar income for Apple but consumers not buying a new Apple phone every year.

Re: There are now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day

#20
post #9

Its interesting that this number, 400k per day, is significantly less than the 700k per day that Google has recently claimed to be activating. Yet at the same time, the iPhone is %55 of Verizon's sales, and the iPhone is not the only iOS device, with the iPod touch doing pretty well (7M last quarter) and the iPad having essentially no competition and growing around %100 a year. To me, this implies that a very large n…

So would that make Android the Orkut of smartphone operating systems?
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