iPhone vs Android

[ken0042]

^^ So in the 3 months leading up to the launch of the "worst kept secret" of a new iPhone; Android devices vastly outsold iPhone.

It would be interesting to see the numbers for the entire year.

[photon]

It's also a bit of a different comparison, it's like comparing the popularity of apples to the popularity of oranges, bananas, pears, apricots, peaches, and lemons combined.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by ken0042

^^ So in the 3 months leading up to the launch of the "worst kept secret" of a new iPhone; Android devices vastly outsold iPhone.

It would be interesting to see the numbers for the entire year.

ummmm Apple actually increased their numbers from last year. 13.8% up to 14.9%.

Also with 1.3 million android activations a day, i'm sure those numbers are fairly reflective to how many phones are in the marketplace.

[Tinordi]

Had an interesting conversations over beer with two friends last night. Both are regular and long laying Apple users. They aren't fanatics or fanboys about Apple but they've been brought in by the "it just works" selling point.

Anyway, unprompted, both of them stay talking about how they're going to get nexus 4s. Both said they're tired of the iPhone, don't like how out of date it feels compared to new Android that they played around with in the store. But the reason they're moving now is because of Apple maps. They said that it just paddles in comparison too what they had before.

Now these guys are not techies, they're just kind of regular guys, I was left wondering how fundamental the Apple maps issue may end up being.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by photon

It's also a bit of a different comparison, it's like comparing the popularity of apples to the popularity of oranges, bananas, pears, apricots, peaches, and lemons combined.

True but at the end of the day they are still smart phones. Also i'm sure if they did a one on one comparison Samsung activates more units than Apple on a daily basis.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by photon

It's also a bit of a different comparison, it's like comparing the popularity of apples to the popularity of oranges, bananas, pears, apricots, peaches, and lemons combined.

Here is your apples to apples. It looks the S3 may have out sold the 4S.

Strategy Analytics estimated Samsung sold 18 million S3 models in the third quarter, compared with iPhone 4S sales of 16.2 million.

Mawston, adding the new iPhone 5 would likely reclaim the top spot for Apple in the current quarter.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technol...667/story.html

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Had an interesting conversations over beer with two friends last night. Both are regular and long laying Apple users. They aren't fanatics or fanboys about Apple but they've been brought in by the "it just works" selling point.

Anyway, unprompted, both of them stay talking about how they're going to get nexus 4s. Both said they're tired of the iPhone, don't like how out of date it feels compared to new Android that they played around with in the store. But the reason they're moving now is because of Apple maps. They said that it just paddles in comparison too what they had before.

Now these guys are not techies, they're just kind of regular guys, I was left wondering how fundamental the Apple maps issue may end up being.

It's still mind bottling that apple would go against their company philosophy of perfection by giving it's users an far inferior app.

Personally i thought that apple maps was the best thing about the new iphone. haha. It looks pretty good. I don't usually use a gps though.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Here is your apples to apples. It looks the S3 may have out sold the 4S.

Strategy Analytics estimated Samsung sold 18 million S3 models in the third quarter, compared with iPhone 4S sales of 16.2 million.

Mawston, adding the new iPhone 5 would likely reclaim the top spot for Apple in the current quarter.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technol...667/story.html

and the s3 isn't even the number 1 samsung phone. It's the s2!

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by photon

It's also a bit of a different comparison, it's like comparing the popularity of apples to the popularity of oranges, bananas, pears, apricots, peaches, and lemons combined.

Especially when you have distribution numbers like the following for the various Android versions:

Eclair (Jan 2010): 3.1%

Froyo (May 2010): 12%

Gingerbread (Dec 2010): 54.2%

Honeycomb (May 2011): 1.8%

Ice Cream Sandwich (Oct 2011): 25.8%

Jelly Bean (Jul 2012): 2.7%


Nearly 70% of Android users are using 2+ year old software. Those people aren't buying Galaxy S3s; they're buying Galaxy Prevails and LG Xpressions.

I'm glad Google is pushing the Nexus platform so people can get modern software and a good handset for a reasonable price.

[Flaming Choy]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Had an interesting conversations over beer with two friends last night. Both are regular and long laying Apple users. They aren't fanatics or fanboys about Apple but they've been brought in by the "it just works" selling point.

Anyway, unprompted, both of them stay talking about how they're going to get nexus 4s. Both said they're tired of the iPhone, don't like how out of date it feels compared to new Android that they played around with in the store. But the reason they're moving now is because of Apple maps. They said that it just paddles in comparison too what they had before.

Now these guys are not techies, they're just kind of regular guys, I was left wondering how fundamental the Apple maps issue may end up being.

That sounds like me too. Not an Apple fanatic (think i'm fairly balanced and see the good and bad across all the systems) but my last 2 phones have been iPhones and have a Macbook Pro as my computer.

I feel the Nexus 4S is the perfect device to give something else a try. The cost is pretty cheap, hardware seems near or at the top of the line, it's unlocked and I can easily switch over to it from my 4S since they are both micro-sims. I've like the idea of Android for a while but wasn't ready to switch since I felt the Android platform was still a little behind. It seems like now it is at the very least caught up to Apple and in many cased exceeded it (app availability is pretty much the same now and the features and display quality are pretty similar). Worse case, if i don't like it I can go back to the 4S and sell the nexus or eat the loss since it isn't too expensive. Best case, I've opened myself up to a platform with more freedom and choice.

I know, cool story bro, but figured I'd chime in also.

[automaton 3]

My wife and I both currently have iPhones, not fanbois by any means but expect our phones to just work properly with minimal screwing around. The craptastic quality of the new Maps and the switchover to the new plugin have us cranky. Siri has improved but still not very functional.

She just received an S3 as her new work phone and after playing around with it, I have to say it is very impressive. Will definitely shop around for my next phone.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Here is your apples to apples. It looks the S3 may have out sold the 4S.

Yeah that's a better comparison, and even then where things are in their product cycles makes a difference too.. fewer iPhone 4S sales while people wait for the 5, then 4S sales probably bump up again as it becomes a cheaper option (like how the S2 sells well because it's good and cheap), then Samsung sales will slow as people wait for the new model when it's that time, etc etc.

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

Originally Posted by photon

It's also a bit of a different comparison, it's like comparing the popularity of apples to the popularity of oranges, bananas, pears, apricots, peaches, and lemons combined.

Your analogy is a bit off. What OS a phone is running is more important than the specific model of the phone. This will drive app development which, in turn, feeds back into an OS's market share. That's how it turned out with PC OSs.

As much as I love Android, I don't want an ecosystem completely dominated by one OS, but that's the way things are trending. It can lead to stagnation. Going back to my PC example, if MS didn't help prop up Apple back in the day, we probably wouldn't have the choices we have today.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Super Nintendo Chalmers

Your analogy is a bit off. What OS a phone is running is more important than the specific model of the phone. This will drive app development which, in turn, feeds back into an OS's market share. That's how it turned out with PC OSs.

As much as I love Android, I don't want an ecosystem completely dominated by one OS, but that's the way things are trending. It can lead to stagnation. Going back to my PC example, if MS didn't help prop up Apple back in the day, we probably wouldn't have the choices we have today.

App development also follows the money though, and even with a smaller market share iOS apps generate far more revenue. iOS's top 200 paid apps generate about 9 times the revenue that the top 200 paid ones for Android do. Until Android's market share actually translates into revenue and profits for those involved, iOS is going nowhere. Piracy is also a far bigger concern on Android where it's trivially easy to load pretty much any app you want without paying for it.

Not to mention the profitability of the parent companies makes this completely unlike the Windows/Mac situation. Google is estimated to make $6-10 per device including ad revenue over the life of an Android phone; Apple makes about $300 per device before it's even turned on, never mind all the revenue from app sales.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by opendoor

App development also follows the money though, and even with a smaller market share iOS apps generate far more revenue. iOS's top 200 paid apps generate about 9 times the revenue that the top 200 paid ones for Android do. Until Android's market share actually translates into revenue and profits for those involved, iOS is going nowhere. Piracy is also a far bigger concern on Android where it's trivially easy to load pretty much any app you want without paying for it.

Not to mention the profitability of the parent companies makes this completely unlike the Windows/Mac situation. Google is estimated to make $6-10 per device including ad revenue over the life of an Android phone; Apple makes about $300 per device before it's even turned on, never mind all the revenue from app sales.

For now. Once Android is at 80% market share and their phones become better and cheaper you are going to see a shift over.

Besides with apps i'm sure it's pretty easy to cross platform them.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

For now. Once Android is at 80% market share and their phones become better and cheaper you are going to see a shift over.

Besides with apps i'm sure it's pretty easy to cross platform them.

I don't disagree that Google Play will eventually overtake the App Store for revenue, probably within the next year or two. I was just pointing out that market share belies the actual money in app development because a large portion of Android users simply haven't been buying apps. Despite having hundreds of millions of users on the platform, the top 200 Android apps generated a paltry $675K a day in revenue based on numbers from earlier this year. With fewer than half the users, the App Store top 200 were bringing in about $5-6 million a day at the same time.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

For now. Once Android is at 80% market share and their phones become better and cheaper you are going to see a shift over.

Besides with apps i'm sure it's pretty easy to cross platform them.

Yeah the API's are practically identical

[photon]

Yeah it's just a dropdown.. pick Android.

Heck developing Android across different Android devices can be a challenge.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Super Nintendo Chalmers

Your analogy is a bit off. What OS a phone is running is more important than the specific model of the phone.

More important in what respect? Given what criteria? With what goals? You can slice it a million different ways.

If you're just trying to compare how well a specific model is doing sales wise then OS is not a good comparison.

If you want to compare OSes (ecosystems?) that's fine too, it's just a different comparison and then you can't compare all Android devices against just the 4S, you've got to include iPods and Apple TVs and stuff, as well as Google TVs and whatever else there is.

My only point is it's easy to make unfair comparisons.

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

Originally Posted by photon

More important in what respect? Given what criteria? With what goals? You can slice it a million different ways.

If you're just trying to compare how well a specific model is doing sales wise then OS is not a good comparison.

If you want to compare OSes (ecosystems?) that's fine too, it's just a different comparison and then you can't compare all Android devices against just the 4S, you've got to include iPods and Apple TVs and stuff, as well as Google TVs and whatever else there is.

My only point is it's easy to make unfair comparisons.

More important because in a year, we won't be discussing S3 vs. iPhone5. We will still be discussing Android vs. iOS.