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Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

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61–70 of 73 posts

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#61
post #2

> Apple won the smartphone wars a long time ago. This claim is made, but it's not very specific. In what way did Apple win the smartphone wars ?

Profit and PR. When people think about buying a phone, it's always between an iPhone and something else. Something else is the entire rest of the world, iPhone being the reference for the consumer.

> When people think about buying a phone, it's always between an iPhone and something else.

Not really. When my dad wanted to buy a phone, it was either a Samsung or something else. iPhone never entered the conversation. When my mom wanted to buy a phone, she just got the same thing as my dad so they could help each other. Same thing with my sister and her husband.

My wife used a Samsung Galaxy S3 and then an S5 for the last five years or so. She never even thought about getting an iPhone until recently when I convinced her to do an experiment with me.

You know what every single one of those people that I just mentioned cared about most in their phone? "Having a big screen." And when they first started looking, iPhones all had tiny screens, so they didn't even consider them.

I personally also never even considered an iPhone until very recently when I decided to just try it out for kicks. It's a decent phone. I miss that back button though. Navigating back in iOS is tedious and I think iOS is total shit in a lot of ways, like not letting me absolutely position the home icons or even letting me replace the home screen.

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#62
post #28
post #8

A couple nitpicks: - Virtual Reality - still hasn't demonstrated mainstream appeal. I'm pretty bearish on it being the next 3d TV's - Resolution - Does anything north of 300dpi really matter at this point? Maybe for VR, but see above - Privacy - as data breaches become the norm, where/how do you want your data stored?

I agree, personally I think VR has interesting applications in gaming and other areas that we haven't seen yet. But you're never going to get my mom to spend money on VR.

My mom would never buy lots of stuff that has succeeded spectacularly. She'd never buy video games in general. I don't think this "mom metric" is very useful or meaningful.

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#63
"Apple won the smartphone wars a long time ago"

So no data to back that up? Did this become a topic of opinion rather than fact? YoY sales and market dominance would suggest the opposite is true (http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/1/11836816/iphone-vs-android-...)

Also (and I know this is anecdotal evidence), in the past 3-4 years anyone I know who jumped ship went from iPhone to Android and never went back. Not a single person switched away from Android.

In my opinion (which is mostly backed by fact, but I'll keep it as an opinion) iPhone is quickly becoming a niche product, and there's nothing Apple can do to change that.

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#64
post #33

I think this article underestimates the power of brand loyalty. Tons of customers have almost a decade of iOS under their belt, and convincing them to learn something new is often impossible because they don't care . Their iPhone is working for them. Tech people think they can list off android-only features and convince people, but it usually doesn't work that way. Only when/if their iPhone really lets them down will…

Yeah, it's my case too. I'm really satisfied with the iPhone. I upgrade it every 2 or 3 years without even looking at the competitors.

In addition to your comment: iOS was THE platform for mobile gaming during years. Some people on NeoGAF have spent $100, $200 or more in games. I personally have several Square Enix titles (games at $15-$20) and dozens of games at $5. You don't even think to move to Android when you have invested so much.

For those interested to learn about iOS gaming:

- http://toucharcade.com

- http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1287308

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#65
post #62
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, personally I think VR has interesting applications in gaming and other areas that we haven't seen yet. But you're never going to get my mom to spend money on VR.

My mom would never buy lots of stuff that has succeeded spectacularly. She'd never buy video games in general. I don't think this "mom metric" is very useful or meaningful.

That's a good point. But when talking about cell phone sales, the mom metric is pretty big.

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#66
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm inclined to agree, simply because everyone I've seen review this recent iteration of VR has great things to say about it. I don't recall hearing many positive things about 3D.

Well 3DTVs looked really good, they just also hurt your eyes and you had to wear glasses, so people weren't willing to make that tradeoff. Those concerns are pretty consistent with VR's current iteration.

[deleted]

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#67
post #50
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, personally I think VR has interesting applications in gaming and other areas that we haven't seen yet. But you're never going to get my mom to spend money on VR.

>you're never going to get my mom to spend money on VR We'll see how personal they can make Play With Your Grand-Kids on the Other Side of the Country™ , before I make that call.

The younger generations may one day enjoy Walk Around your Grandparents' House, Decorated for Christmas, from When You Were Eight Years Old

I've got no interest in VR that costs any serious amount of money, but hell, I'd go buy a VR headset and high-end video card tonight if it could offer me that. Maybe they'll come up with a way to stitch it together from old Polaroids.

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#68
post #56
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, personally I think VR has interesting applications in gaming and other areas that we haven't seen yet. But you're never going to get my mom to spend money on VR.

While most people here will probably disagree, I believe that Microsoft's approach, that is, with AR, will be more successful. Virtual Reality has yet to prove that it can be useful in areas other gaming. Augmented Reality has plenty of use cases - in more areas than the consumer space. For example, the demo that Microsoft showed off yesterday with testing out how furniture looks before you buy it could be huge. Or h…

With AR, you don't have any of the motion-sickness issues either. And you can move your eyes more naturally instead of swinging your head around.

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#69
There was one word missing from that article

   Motorola
Didn't Google, years ago, already fully control its own phone, both hardware and software?

In addition, doesn't Google's track record of dalliances make the Pixel something to be discarded and forgotten at the inscrutable whims of higher-ups?

Re: Google vs. Apple – The Smartphone Race Is Over, and a New One Begins…

#70
It's getting to a point that I hate any device prefixed with the word smart. I don't want my device to suggest, hint, or predict anything with regard to my behavior. I don't need an advertisement disguised as a smart phone. I just want a smart phone that lets me search the web, make calls, stream music from shoutcast servers, and take pictures. I really just wished Google and Apple would just stop trying to wall off content they can't monetize.
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