The iWhat?

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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Castle Rock, CO
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Everything Offends Me
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/android-market-share-passes-iphones-npd-data-2010-05-10

According to the study, the Android OS -- developed by Google Inc. (GOOG 485.51, -1.50, -0.31%) -- ended the period with a domestic market share of 28%. That's up from about 20% in the December quarter, and is due mostly to strong sales of handsets such as the Droid and Droid Eris at Verizon Wireless (VZ 28.22, -0.12, -0.42%) , according to the report.

The iPhone from Apple Inc. (AAPL 250.95, +0.44, +0.18%) saw its U.S. share remain relatively flat at 21%. The leader in the U.S. remains Research In Motion (RIMM 59.20, +0.09, +0.15%) , whose BlackBerry family of "smart phone" devices has about 36% of the market, according to NPD data.
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Heh, I thought y'all said it would take much longer....
 
Not surprising to me. The iPhone is a miserable performer at its most basic job: as a phone. I know quite a few people who have sold their iPhones on eBay and switched to other phones, citing the iPhone's weak performance as a phone.

In fact, a good friend of mine owns the AT&T cell phone franchise down the street, and he's switched back to the BlackBerry after getting tired of not being able to place calls from places where he knows he should have signal. He says poor signal reception is the number one reason for iPhone returns.

-Rich
 
The reason for this is simple. Android is in far more models of phones and being sold by into multiple technologies. Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, US Cellular, etc. all have at least one Android model. iPhone is a single technology phone (GSM/UMTS) that is only sold by one operator.

The affect of the iPhone is felt throughout the industry. Touchscreens, apps, computer like capabilities are now the norm for handled devices.
 
ScottM said:
The reason for this is simple. Android is in far more models of phones and being sold by into multiple technologies. Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, US Cellular, etc. all have at least one Android model. iPhone is a single technology phone (GSM/UMTS) that is only sold by one operator.

The affect of the iPhone is felt throughout the industry. Touchscreens, apps, computer like capabilities are now the norm for handled devices.
Click to expand...

The US is NOT the only market in the world where the iPhone is sold. Other countries you can get them through multiple providers. If a phone doesn't work on GSM, it does me no good.
 
Henning said:
The US is NOT the only market in the world where the iPhone is sold. Other countries you can get them through multiple providers. If a phone doesn't work on GSM, it does me no good.
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I never claimed it was. But the article that Nick posted was for Domestic US market share. to discuss the world market, which is predominately GSM, would lead to incorrect analysies of the figures that he posted.

Outside of the US, depending on location, phones are used differently. Japan for instance has significant game usage compared to other locations. In Europe SMS traffic had surpassed voice traffic several years ago. Many non-NA/domestic location have taken away cellphone subsidies on mobiles. Plus many other differences.
 
ScottM said:
The reason for this is simple. Android is in far more models of phones and being sold by into multiple technologies. Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, US Cellular, etc. all have at least one Android model. iPhone is a single technology phone (GSM/UMTS) that is only sold by one operator.

The affect of the iPhone is felt throughout the industry. Touchscreens, apps, computer like capabilities are now the norm for handled devices.
Click to expand...

Yep, of course. And this is what I've been saying would happen for quite some time (much to the Apple Fan Boy's chagrin). It only makes sense: You develop one half assed operating system that only works on one half assed device, locked into one half assed carrier, and refuse to allow developers to contribute to the experience, you're going to get beaten by a superior product that is available across multiple devices (even those that it was not intended to run on), on multiple carriers, with an open market that is controlled by the community.

Its how technology works, and its why Apple would have died quite a few years back if not for the iPod and the bailout money.

Perhaps now they can die the death they deserve. But not before I buy a MacBook Pro at a price it is actually worth, not the $2K+ I'd have to pay now.
 
Henning said:
The US is NOT the only market in the world where the iPhone is sold. Other countries you can get them through multiple providers. If a phone doesn't work on GSM, it does me no good.
Click to expand...

Well - the situation here in Europe is basically the same. In Germany, the iPhone was exclusively sold via t-mobile.
As far as I know, iPhones have worldwide been overtaken by Android phones.
 
SkyHog said:
Yep, of course. And this is what I've been saying would happen for quite some time (much to the Apple Fan Boy's chagrin). It only makes sense: You develop one half assed operating system that only works on one half assed device, locked into one half assed carrier, and refuse to allow developers to contribute to the experience, you're going to get beaten by a superior product that is available across multiple devices (even those that it was not intended to run on), on multiple carriers, with an open market that is controlled by the community.

Its how technology works, and its why Apple would have died quite a few years back if not for the iPod and the bailout money.

Perhaps now they can die the death they deserve. But not before I buy a MacBook Pro at a price it is actually worth, not the $2K+ I'd have to pay now.
Click to expand...
I recently started using the Droid on AT&T. The phone is pretty nice but the corporate email and calendar (exchange) support is not that great. I have to open my iTouch to accept meetings and have them entered on my calendar. There is no way to move email to other folders on the droid. Still a few bugs in the Android software. The nice thing about the Apple mobile product is that it works and does what I want.
 
SkyHog said:
... Fan Boy's ... half assed operating system ... half assed device ... half assed carrier ... refuse to allow developers ... Apple would have died ... die the death they deserve...
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How come nobody ever sees the irony in accusing the "other team" of "fanboyism" in the middle of a "my team is red hot, your team ain't doodly-squat" diatribe?

Having a fair amount of experience with both Android and iPhone (I have one of each within reach right now), iPhone struck me as having the better software and the hardware was closer to my preferences. Having control of the platform also has its advantages, for instance you can run any version of iPhone/OS on any iPhone, whereas my HTC G1 is stuck running a much older version of Android, and I'm dependent on the vendor to provide an upgrade, which there's some question whether the platform can even support. And the G1 sucks in some very fundamental ways that a vendor with some self-respect should really never allow to escape the lab, like having a miniscule storage capacity for apps, despite a huge empty SD card (which it refuses to store apps onto).

But people make decisions on a variety of bases, and a broad lineup with a variety of phones at varying prices and varying styles and varying carriers seems to have been good for Android. Competition is a good thing.
-harry
 
RJM62 said:
Not surprising to me. The iPhone is a miserable performer at its most basic job: as a phone. I know quite a few people who have sold their iPhones on eBay and switched to other phones, citing the iPhone's weak performance as a phone.

In fact, a good friend of mine owns the AT&T cell phone franchise down the street, and he's switched back to the BlackBerry after getting tired of not being able to place calls from places where he knows he should have signal. He says poor signal reception is the number one reason for iPhone returns.

-Rich
Click to expand...



So are you saying, "just get the Touch" because it will do all the things you "want" in an iPhone, and get another phone to use as an actual phone?

I already have the Touch (bought in 2008) and love it. Also have a berry (two actually - my own, and work).
 
ScottM said:
The reason for this is simple. Android is in far more models of phones and being sold by into multiple technologies. Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, US Cellular, etc. all have at least one Android model. iPhone is a single technology phone (GSM/UMTS) that is only sold by one operator.

The affect of the iPhone is felt throughout the industry. Touchscreens, apps, computer like capabilities are now the norm for handled devices.
Click to expand...



AT&T has an Android - IE a competitor to the iPhone? You'd have thought they would have wanted the exclusivity to go both ways...?
 
woodstock said:
AT&T has an Android - IE a competitor to the iPhone? You'd have thought they would have wanted the exclusivity to go both ways...?
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IE?

AT&T has the Motorola Backflip. I still have not actually seen one to play with, but I know it is Android based. I am not sure how the features compare to the iPhone which AT&T still tout as their main smart phone platform.

But even if one is comparing Android to iPhone one is missing the bigger picture, RIM's Blackberry. They still own the smart phone space in the US.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/News/2010/06/Devices-RIM-Market-Share-Android-iPhone/
An informal online poll being conducted by Android Central asks the question, "What platform are you leaving to join Android and the Evo 4G?" The majority of defectors were from the BlackBerry camp. Fully 38 percent of just over 13,000 respondents were coming to the Evo from a Research In Motion (RIM) device. Fourteen percent were iPhone users and 11 percent said this was their first smartphone.
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RIM only makes smart phone models, Apple only has the iPhone, and Motorola is a mixed product market share of smart and non-smart phones.

It will be interesting to see the market reports later this summer as we go into the fall sales periods to see who really lost out. Right now it looks like most people are happy with iPhone and that RIM stands to be the biggest loser. But that can all change. It will change once the exclusivity deal with AT&T runs out and is not renewed. If that happens, in the next few months expect to see T-Mobile and perhaps a few other smaller GSM operators, start to carry the iPhone. I doubt you would see it on Sprint and Verizon because they use a different technology and I do not see Apple developing an iPhone for that small niche market of CDMA. In parts of Europe iPhone is already sold through T-Mobile.
 
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mantakos said:
for instance you can run any version of iPhone/OS on any iPhone, whereas my HTC G1 is stuck running a much older version of Android, and I'm dependent on the vendor to provide an upgrade, which there's some question whether the platform can even support.
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I have a G1 running Android 2.1. Yes, I had to root it, and yes, that is equivalent of having to jailbreak an iPhone, but its proof that it can support it. It also runs smoother and more cleanly that 1.6 does, surprisingly.

You can blame T-Mobile squarely for not releasing Eclair to the G1. T-Mobile has a history of doing that kinda crap though (remember Blackberry 8100 being stuck on 4.2.2.108 software? That was a T-Mobile choice, not a RIM choice).
 
woodstock said:
So are you saying, "just get the Touch" because it will do all the things you "want" in an iPhone, and get another phone to use as an actual phone?

I already have the Touch (bought in 2008) and love it. Also have a berry (two actually - my own, and work).
Click to expand...

I really don't know. I'm just passing on what I've been told by a lot of people, including a dealer.

From what I'm told, the iPhone does everything well -- except dependably catch a signal to make a phone call. But I have absolutely zero personal experience with the iPhone, and I'm not even sure what an iTouch is. Is it basically the iPhone minus the phone part?

I can ask my buddy when I see him later, if you want.

-Rich
 
RJM62 said:
From what I'm told, the iPhone does everything well -- except dependably catch a signal to make a phone call.
Click to expand...
That is true and measurable. The new iPhone is supposed to have a better RF section and antenna to improve this issue.

---DISCLAIMER--
I have no knowledge of the new version of the iPhone RF performance and if I did, I still could not disclose it. The opinion offered above is my own and is based on public sources of information.
 
SkyHog said:
... You can blame T-Mobile squarely for not releasing Eclair to the G1...
Click to expand...
Yes, but we can't overlook the "structural" nature of the problem, that such responsibility is even placed in the hands of the carrier or hw vendor, instead of in the hands of the sw vendor.

I recall the same issues when I was using my HTC Mogul with Sprint, I was at the mercy of the nebulous Sprint/HTC affiliation to get new WM releases, which were always delayed. We think of these things as little computers, but I think we'd be a little annoyed if we couldn't use a new version of Windows on our laptop until Dell or Toshiba or Sony got around to making one for us.

It's great that Android works on a variety of carriers and hw platforms, and that Google has a Free Willy attitude, instead of the controlling nature of Apple. But that also means that it takes months or years for new sw releases to become available for our particular model, if they're provided at all, and hw vendors can produce crap like an HTC G1 that only has memory capacity for a few apps, a short-coming that is unlikely to survive the discerning glare of a Steve Jobs.
-harry
 
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