Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold • Hacker News Board

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#61

Post by mardix » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:11 PM UTC

pook1e wrote: post #43

eta_carinae wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> iOS will maintain high price points What high price points? iOS devices (phones and tablets) are pretty much at the same price as the competition.

In the past, I'd agree with you. However, comparing Google's latest lineup with Apple's latest lineup tells a much different story (all 16GB): Nexus 4: $349; iPhone 5: $699 Nexus 7: $199; iPad Mini: $329 Nexus 10: $399; iPad: $499 Of course, Apple and Google aren't in the same business, but they are very much competitors.

You also have to see in USA, people will get the phone at subsidized amount. Like most phone on a two year plan cost between $99 to $199.

Macbook maybe luxury in the computer world, but iPhone, not really

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#62

Post by shinratdr » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:11 PM UTC

RivieraKid wrote: post #30

sinnerswing wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing impressive with this. I know of a few companies that sold crappy devices with crappy OS's. RIM, Nokia, etc. and they dominated the market. Android has become the new Nokia. Big Market Share. Worthless user-base.

I agree that most of Android phones are crappy. Mostly because of Android customizations, old versions of Android and boring-looking hardware. But Nexus 4 is on par with iPhone 5 (while being 2 times cheaper).

> But Nexus 4 is on par with iPhone 5 (while being 2 times cheaper).

Assuming you consider no LTE and a plastic body to be "on par".

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#63

Post by j-v » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:12 PM UTC

technotony wrote: post #31

cloudwalking wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are absolutely right in what you say regarding integration. I disagree with your final analysis of where this leaves Apple. I think Apple will continue to hold a significant chunk of the "high-end" luxury market. iOS will maintain high price points and Apple will maintain its polish--and consumers with expendable income will keep their sales strong. I suspect their market share in Europe, USA, Japan, and wealthy…

There's a slide in here which shows apple has ten times the app download revenues that android has: http://www.businessinsider.com/state-of-internet-slides-2012...

This. From an app developer's perspective, there's no contest currently.

And mobile web usage isn't looking much better for Android: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-android-mobile-web-usag...

No doubt more and more phones in pockets will be running Android. But how many will really be used like smart phones?

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#64

Post by jusben1369 » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:12 PM UTC

cloudwalking wrote: post #13

dquigley wrote: post #11

Clay Christensen in the Innovators Solution lays out an explanation for what is happening here. Apple used vertical integration to make a giant leap forward with their iPhone that you couldn't have made in a non-integrated company. They ended up overshooting the typical consumer's needs though in the following iterations of the iPhone. And the technology that was at first difficult for competitors to reproduce became…

You are absolutely right in what you say regarding integration. I disagree with your final analysis of where this leaves Apple. I think Apple will continue to hold a significant chunk of the "high-end" luxury market. iOS will maintain high price points and Apple will maintain its polish--and consumers with expendable income will keep their sales strong. I suspect their market share in Europe, USA, Japan, and wealthy…

One nitpick is the tablet isn't "up market" but rather a new market. A device that sits between an PC and a mobile phone.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#65

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:13 PM UTC

shinratdr wrote: post #60

neya wrote: post #50

This is seriously good news. What many people don't realize is how powerful Android is. Open Source doesn't mean shitty quality software, contrary to popular belief. Android can do so many things that other Operating systems still cannot provide. All Android needs is some time, and some iterations and no one can even dream of killing it (like many plan to). Because, if anything history has taught us, Open Source will…

> Because, if anything history has taught us, Open Source will eventually win the war. How does that work? Where is the open source OS that "won" the desktop war? Where is the open source codec that "won" the codec wars?

[deleted]

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#66

Post by jusben1369 » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:15 PM UTC

sinnerswing wrote: post #15

dquigley wrote: post #11

Clay Christensen in the Innovators Solution lays out an explanation for what is happening here. Apple used vertical integration to make a giant leap forward with their iPhone that you couldn't have made in a non-integrated company. They ended up overshooting the typical consumer's needs though in the following iterations of the iPhone. And the technology that was at first difficult for competitors to reproduce became…

Nothing impressive with this. I know of a few companies that sold crappy devices with crappy OS's. RIM, Nokia, etc. and they dominated the market. Android has become the new Nokia. Big Market Share. Worthless user-base.

Why are you being so defensive and dismissive to the point of making a number of really inaccurate generalizations?

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#67

Post by veemjeem » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:16 PM UTC

akmiller wrote: post #59

enraged_camel wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simple: people who have the kind of income to pay a premium for Apple devices will also be more willing and able to pay a premium for good apps. There lies your profit. (Not to mention your costs will be lower since iOS ha no fragmentation.)

> iOS has no fragmentation I think the correct statement would be iOS has "less" fragmentation. They still have fragmentation though. Not only through the devices but also the version of iOS running on the device. It can get pretty hairy trying to maintain support for multiple iOS devices with versions of even just 4.3 and up.

If you think iOS is hairy supporting 4.3 and up, you probably have no experience supporting Android apps. The fragmentation extends beyond the Android version. The differences between handsets are so big that one pretty much has to ignore the users who own phones that are impossible to test with. You'll get some random complaint from a user running your app on a device from a manufacturer you've never even heard of.

Look at Google's own wallet app -- it only runs on only 6 android devices. If you want to run google wallet on your Nexus S, you'll have to run a 3rd party "hacked" version of Google Wallet.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#68

Post by blinkingled » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:17 PM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #42

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, 75% of the market loves to buy crappy devices with crappy OSs. The fact that high end Android devices are popular and sell well (SGSIII? Samsung's profits being damn impressive next to Apple's?) is just a weird inconvenient fact.

Can you make your mind what you are talking about? Unless 75% of the market is taken by those high-end devices (which are two models really: SGSIII and Nexus). If you want inconvenient facts: many of those Android phones are really just dumb phones (or used as such) with Android. Some with very old versions of Android.

Why should they be high end devices? Do you define what devices people should use, what qualifies as high end and how people should use them?

Sorry, but I just don't get the argument - if people want a smart phone, any Android phone is a smart phone. If they didn't they would be still buying Nokia true dumb phones. If people want a lower cost smartphone - like those in 3rd world - why would you have a problem with that? Also why aren't people buying cheap RIM phones or cheap Windows Phones if cheap is all they are into?

Older versions? Why would that have anything to do with SmartPhone sales numbers? It is just asinine to look at this from a negative or Apple Salesman attitude.

Fact is simple - people are continuing to buy Androids for many reasons - choice, preference, cost whatever. If Android is enabling the poorer sect of the world to get connected/enabled/smart at a cost they can afford - that's a good thing.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#69

Post by Steko » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:18 PM UTC

bane wrote: post #24

dquigley wrote: post #11

Clay Christensen in the Innovators Solution lays out an explanation for what is happening here. Apple used vertical integration to make a giant leap forward with their iPhone that you couldn't have made in a non-integrated company. They ended up overshooting the typical consumer's needs though in the following iterations of the iPhone. And the technology that was at first difficult for competitors to reproduce became…

I'd bet that Apple is taking Glass very seriously. Or at least the wearable, always on, always connected computer.

The first NYT article on Glass reported that Apple was also doing a lot of research on wearables. Predictably when they come out with whatever they do everyone will say they are "reacting to Google" but I'm sure many companies have been hard at work on this for years. If I had to bet I would bet on a startup that just takes bluetooth accessories to the next level and leverages the phone in your pocket for the connection/cpu/gpu. Bluetooth headset with a camera and custom voice control app. It's not near what Project Glass promises but you could build it today and sell millions for $99/$149.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#70

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 8:20 PM UTC

shinratdr wrote: post #60

neya wrote: post #50

This is seriously good news. What many people don't realize is how powerful Android is. Open Source doesn't mean shitty quality software, contrary to popular belief. Android can do so many things that other Operating systems still cannot provide. All Android needs is some time, and some iterations and no one can even dream of killing it (like many plan to). Because, if anything history has taught us, Open Source will…

> Because, if anything history has taught us, Open Source will eventually win the war. How does that work? Where is the open source OS that "won" the desktop war? Where is the open source codec that "won" the codec wars?

[deleted]