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Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

extremetech.com

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Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#111

Post by hiddenstage »

mardix wrote: post #61
pook1e wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

So isn't that telling then that Android is outpacing the iPhone in sales?

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#112

Post by taligent »

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).

It's pretty clearly from reviews so far that Nexus 4 is just another mid range Android phone.

No LTE, poor build quality, slow CPU/GPU, average camera.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#113

Post by Steko »

bdcravens wrote: post #91
panabee wrote: post #80

Apple has designed its business model to cede the mass market. It focuses on capturing the majority of industry profits, not sales. It should surprise no one that more phones ship with Android than iOS. As a platform company, this strategy exposes a vulnerable flank since historically the platform company with the most market share attracts the best software and the most end users. The greatest difference between mob…

This was more true 2 years ago. I think they are trying to capture back some of that "mass market" where people expect a cheap or free phone as opposed to the high end where we are used to paying $200-400: http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare-iphones/ (4: free, 4S: $99)

These are contract prices. The unlocked iphone 4 still sells for $450+ which is around what carriers pay.

What we talk about when we talk about the "mass market" is the half a billion plus smartphones sold this year that range anywhere from less then $100 to $350. Apple has thus far refused to compete in this part of the market.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#114

Post by eertami »

w1ntermute wrote: post #49
pook1e wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Apple and Google aren't in the same business And this makes a world of difference. Google is selling products at cost to drive their ad business. There's no way you can compare that to Apple's business model. The idea that Apple sells expensive products is a belief born out of the PC market, and if you want to compare apples to apples, you should be looking at the iPhone 5 vs the Samsung Galaxy S3.

> you should be looking at the iPhone 5 vs the Samsung Galaxy S3.

But the S3 is so far ahead of the iPhone that it also is not a fair comparison.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#115

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

taligent wrote: post #109
pook1e wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Of course just comparing on price ignores some big differences. Nexus 4 has no LTE. Nexus 7 has terrible build quality. Nexus 10 has nearly half the battery life.

You're the first person I've ever heard say that the Nexus 7 has terrible build quality and the AnandTech figures show that the 10 has around 90% of the iPad battery life rather than "nearly half".

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#116

Post by bryanlarsen »

taligent wrote: post #112
RivieraKid wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

It's pretty clearly from reviews so far that Nexus 4 is just another mid range Android phone. No LTE, poor build quality, slow CPU/GPU, average camera.

What reviews are you reading? Every review I've read has been praising the build quality, the CPU/GPU performance and the camera.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#117

Post by drivebyacct2 »

sinnerswing wrote: post #87
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we accept the framework that all people are idiots, which I certainly often find myself thinking, then it's probably great to be Android in that world. You know? Whether or not people are dumb (which is obviously a gross exaggeration of people's perception of Android... but let's be serious, you know that) does not change the numbers.

I'll take 25% of the smart, willing-to-pay-and-buy userbase, than 75% of the dumb, not-willing-to-pay-for-anything android users.

Why are you being so stubborn? Just, why? What do you stand to gain from this?

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#118

Post by drivebyacct2 »

Steko wrote: post #98
jusben1369 wrote: post #74

What Apple does well: Take a nascent but exploding market and create a fantastically superior experience via vertical integration. Get way out of in front of the competition and own the consumer mindshare: PC/iPod/iPhone (almost Newton) What Apple doesn't do well: Own the mass market. The one place they have - music players - has really collapsed as a stand alone market and merged in with smart phones. (ie no one in…

"Why Apple is in trouble: 47% of all revenue comes from the iPhone and it's clear that that market has moved past their sweet spot" This is not clear at all. Selling tiny computers with mobile broadband is clearly going to be the biggest hardware business for the next 10+ years and 10 years from now the device that generates the bulk of Apple's revenues will probably still be called an iPhone. It may bear little simi…

>Selling tiny computers with mobile broadband is clearly going to be the biggest hardware business for the next 10+ years and 10 years from now the device that generates the bulk of Apple's revenues will probably still be called an iPhone.

It is completely my opinion, but I also suspect the opinion of others that if that's Apple's strategy, they're in for a very rude awakening. They're taking an increasingly smaller portion of the pie and there is a lot of pie left to take.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#119

Post by taligent »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #116
taligent wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty clearly from reviews so far that Nexus 4 is just another mid range Android phone. No LTE, poor build quality, slow CPU/GPU, average camera.

What reviews are you reading? Every review I've read has been praising the build quality, the CPU/GPU performance and the camera.

Engadget and Anandtech.

Engadget complained that the glass back easily cracked and that the camera was average. And we know from Anandtech benchmarks that the CPU/GPU is about half that of the iPhone 5.

Re: Android now powers 75% of all smartphones sold

#120

Post by r00fus »

mtgx wrote: post #101
rogerbinns wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asymco (highly recommended analysis site for the mobile industry) has an excellent article on this "over serving" issue http://www.asymco.com/2012/09/18/is-the-iphone-good-enough/ One thing he notes is that Apple sell the current (new) generation device at the same time as they sell the previous generation for less. By looking at sales they can tell if they are over serving - people will buy the previous generation b…

And yet, even with that strategy being implemented for the past few years, the iPhone is losing in global market share, and Android is 5x bigger now. So it's not very effective in this context.

Apple has never been interested in marketshare alone, unlike Google or Microsoft.

For Apple, it's all about profit, profit-share and units sold. All else matters little to them if they don't have those three.

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