700,000 Android devices activated each day • Hacker News Board

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#21

Post by psychotik » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 5:58 AM UTC

X-Istence wrote: post #20

And these numbers are the reason why Android development is going to be a royal pain in the butt for a long time to come. There is just no incentive for Google to change the developer tools to be more developer friendly, to be more powerful when developers are forced to release an Android application simply because it is the platform with the most users on it. Despite the fact that from a development standpoint it is…

Amen. I wish they also included how many different variants of Android were actually being shipped, and what version each one was. _Those_ numbers would make us developers tremble.

With iOS, it's simple -- if a million iOS devices were activated today, I'd know they all ran the exact same version of iOS 5.x, and none were customized or bastardized by OEMs. At least on that front, I'm thankful to Apple (I can write a whole other rant about iOS' crappiness too, but that's not relevant here)

PS: Here's an example of how Android EMs screw over apps/devs: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5358014/android-httpclien...

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#22

Post by theSuda » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:00 AM UTC

I guess these numbers will increase as mobile vendors provide better ROMs with their mobiles. I bought a LG Optimus one to get started on Android (a year ago)and I got sick of its LG ROM in two weeks flat. Then I rooted it and put a custom ROM from XDA forums (with a custom optimised Kernel). I couldn't be more happier with my mobile's performance than this. Also I hear some new models of LG, HTC, Samsung have minimal default apps and lightweight ROMs now. So people don't have to be frustrated with un-removable built in apps and crap default home launchers. This will certainly get usability freaks (like me) interested.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#23

Post by nextparadigms » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:00 AM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #18

arron61 wrote: post #3

Andy Rubin: "...and for those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service." So it seems like a new device only.

I wonder why they don't just use a word that people understand.

If it's a new device that is activated by the carrier, then it's a new "sold" device. So the numbers signify 700,000 Android devices sold per day.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#24

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:02 AM UTC

psychotik wrote: post #21

X-Istence wrote: post #20

And these numbers are the reason why Android development is going to be a royal pain in the butt for a long time to come. There is just no incentive for Google to change the developer tools to be more developer friendly, to be more powerful when developers are forced to release an Android application simply because it is the platform with the most users on it. Despite the fact that from a development standpoint it is…

Amen. I wish they also included how many different variants of Android were actually being shipped, and what version each one was. _Those_ numbers would make us developers tremble. With iOS, it's simple -- if a million iOS devices were activated today, I'd know they all ran the exact same version of iOS 5.x, and none were customized or bastardized by OEMs. At least on that front, I'm thankful to Apple (I can write a…

[deleted]

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#25

Post by moocow01 » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:05 AM UTC

arron61 wrote: post #3

Andy Rubin: "...and for those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service." So it seems like a new device only.

Does this take into account people who are upgrading to a new Android phone from an old one? If not it could really impact the metrics if one is looking at this as a measurement of new entrants into the Android ecosystem.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#26

Post by whatusername » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:10 AM UTC

diminish wrote: post #14

danielharan wrote: post #9

That sounded way too high. But then, holy crap: 1 billion people buying a device once every 3 years is ~ 1 million a day. Wow.

2 years is a better interval.

Not over 1 billion people it's not.

There's a lot of families that use hand-me-down phones.

Consider the scenario where Mum gets a new Phone every 2 years and Dad gets her old one when she's done. The phone has a 4 year life.

Averaging it out (over the richest 1billion people in the world) and 3 years is possibly a pretty close figure.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#27

Post by X-Istence » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:17 AM UTC

psychotik wrote: post #21

X-Istence wrote: post #20

And these numbers are the reason why Android development is going to be a royal pain in the butt for a long time to come. There is just no incentive for Google to change the developer tools to be more developer friendly, to be more powerful when developers are forced to release an Android application simply because it is the platform with the most users on it. Despite the fact that from a development standpoint it is…

Amen. I wish they also included how many different variants of Android were actually being shipped, and what version each one was. _Those_ numbers would make us developers tremble. With iOS, it's simple -- if a million iOS devices were activated today, I'd know they all ran the exact same version of iOS 5.x, and none were customized or bastardized by OEMs. At least on that front, I'm thankful to Apple (I can write a…

I recently read this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3362072 a post by user "calloc" which I find quite interesting. I personally work for Absio Corp (http://absio.com/) and we do Android development for the DoD and we too have found many of the issues that I've mentioned above and that calloc has found as well. At the moment we are testing on the Evo 4G, Photon 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II, and the Droid X, with a couple of other devices mixed in. I believe we also got a new Galaxy Nexus that we are testing on.

It's a pain, and we've had issues with bugs only cropping up on one device but not another (even if they have the same Android version).

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#28

Post by Maxious » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:19 AM UTC

moocow01 wrote: post #25

arron61 wrote: post #3

Andy Rubin: "...and for those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service." So it seems like a new device only.

Does this take into account people who are upgrading to a new Android phone from an old one? If not it could really impact the metrics if one is looking at this as a measurement of new entrants into the Android ecosystem.

This metric is used is because Apple uses it for their iOS devices in keynotes. Surely both platforms could use "app store accounts with their first device added" per day as a metric if they wanted to. And for Android, you'd want to know what version these activated devices are - no reason a 1.5 device couldn't still be activated today even if the app ecosystem has seemingly moved on.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#29

Post by arron61 » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:25 AM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #18

arron61 wrote: post #3

Andy Rubin: "...and for those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service." So it seems like a new device only.

I wonder why they don't just use a word that people understand.

They don't sell the phones so they don't know how many are sold. The only count they have is all the activations that are coming from every new phone.

I don't think there can be a better measurement for them than this.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#30

Post by rjd » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:26 AM UTC

byoung2 wrote: post #2

I wonder what number of distinct users is. Once you go Android, you tend to stay there. Between my wife and me, for example, we have had 6 Android phones (1 HTC Hero, 2 HTC Evo 4Gs, 3 HTC Amaze 4Gs), and 5th Android tablet (2 Samsung Galaxy Tabs, 1 Asus Transformer, 1 Acer Iconia, and 1 T-Mobile G-Slate). I'm sure each activation was recorded, but there isn't really a way to deactivate a device. Even a factory reset…

Well both my parents have replaced android phones with iphones because they had trouble using them. I had a cheap LG that went flat continuously and I gave it away and went back to a feature phone so I could use the phone for the purpose I need it.

I know a few people who are sysadmins with android, but I also know more sysadmins with black berries. I don't know anyone who isn't a sysadmin that has an android phone, most people I associate with tend to be in sale or design... so probably no surprise all of them use iphones.