Android continues to own Apple - Now half a million activations a day

"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen"



This is the Mac vs PC thing all over again. I hate to say "I told you so" but...

Who am I kidding. I love saying I told you so.

 

I can't get choked up over tech mergers and acqusitions for this reason. Technology moves too fast and the winners and losers change places for other reasons than being bought out.

So who cares if A&T buys T-Mobile?

 

This is really more of a competition between ideology than companys. Closed system (Apple) vs open system (Android).

Apple does not need to be on top to make lots of money. That does not mean these numbers do not sting though...obviously they would like to retain the top spot in marketshare as well.

 

This is good news because I hate Apple and Applephiles.

 

I'm sure Apple is shaking in their boots atop their great big pile of money--a pile of money large enough to buy out literally any hardware competitor with their cash on hand. In another two years at current rates, Apple will have more cash on hand than the total asset value of the rest of the smartphone industry combined. Google is also in more danger of losing customers to Windows 8 devices; the sort of people who are attracted to Google's platform will probably also be attracted to the bells and whistles of Windows 8 devices. The same isn't as true for iOS buyers. Google is going to have an even bigger problem when it comes to the tablet market, because Apple already has a huge installed base, and people invest more in software (buy more expensive apps) for tablets than for phones. Convincing a person shopping for a new phone to buy an android phone rather than an iPhone is an easier sell than convincing people to not only buy an Android tablet rather than an iPad, but also to rebuy all their existing software. That can be a significant expense if you've got $150-$200 in iPad software you'd need to buy again for Android, but not for a newer iPad.

Google has many more significant strategic problems at this point than Apple does, and fewer options to address them. They've already opened the floodgates as wide as they're going to get, and they still aren't doing all that much better than Apple is, who has a number of strategic options to increase sales that haven't been used yet.

Google's only real advantage here is that android phones are available for a wider range of carriers. Apple can always open the iPhone to more carriers, and they could increase development activity by reducing the price of developing for iOS. Marketshare is not determined by technical features; though availability of apps may be an issue for iOS someday in the future. At present, the situation is reversed--android may have more apps, but they don't have any 'killer' app that isn't also on the iPhone. The reverse is not true.

Apple's huge pile of cash also gives them a much larger safety net than any of their competitors have. They can move forward on very expensive R&D projects or radical and risky product ideas without worrying about immediate payoffs. They could cease generating income today and survive for years on their cash alone--$70 billion is a lot of money, and money is huge advantage in platform fights. Money is usually what wins these sorts of fights, not product quality.

 

The laughable part is that some fools think that Android is a substantially more open platform. It's not, and it's only going to get more restrictive as Google moves to counter legal issues and security problems.

 

Strictly speaking you are correct. It's really not open source as in you can get in there to tinker sense. But as a developer who works on both iOs and soon will be working on games for the Android.

Apple is like a nazi compared to other companies. They are INCREDIBLY restrictive on both a hardware and software front. Seriously they went out of their way to change their user agreements to make sure Adobe cannot get flash to operate in their device and continue to do so until this day.

I doubt they will go crazy and format their platform to resemble Apple's. Because let's get real. iOS device aren't that secure either. People jailbreak iPhones all the time and steal free apps. Just a few months ago they were criticized because they were publicly saving gps locations on the iPhone. They have since fixed that though.

Google is making momentum because it's a solid alternative to the iPhone, as well as the fact it attracts developers. As the userbase increases that will increase. My company is ready to hop on board the Android devices.

 

Apple all the way. Hopefully their new iOS and its security will allow use in the corporate world.

 

I love my iPhone4.

Wouldnt change it for any other phone. Wavered a bit last time out....looked into an EVO...but 4G tech is not maximized yet and theres wifi almost everywhere I go.

There are so many different android platforms...it no wonder that these numbers are what they are. It should be interesting in the long run if these phones and tablets can maintain a loyal following like Apple. Once the market is saturated and people have to upgrade consistently,will they choose android again?

Apple has it drawbacks ,but the benefits outweigh the liabilites IMO.

Personally I know far more folks leaving one brand to go to Apple then vice versa.

Im not understanding this Sept iphone releaser tho. Seems like an iphone 4 upgrade not a new unit.

 

The primary reason to jailbreak an iPhone is either to unlock it or run apps that violate the App Store's terms of use agreement. This isn't the security I was talking about. Trust is incredibly important for application distribution services, and Apple's model helps make sure the the trivial malware doesn't get released over the App Store. Is it restrictive? Yes. But it's not restrictive in a way that most users will care about, but it has the side effect of keeping the obvious malware out of the App Store.

As Google's recent malware removal efforts have shown, the Android Market doesn't have any good preventative measures--the best Google seems to be able to do is remove the apps after the fact. Neither platform is very secure from dedicated outside attackers, however.

Android is going to hit a ceiling relatively shortly.

 

Oh yeah, the Android fanatics are just as nuts.

There's speculation that Apple might release a 7" iPad mini and a hardware revision to the iPhone 4, like the old 3GS improved the iPhone 3G.

 

I wonder if they're counting the two phones I activated because my previous ones were faulty and replaced under warranty.

 

Yes, they're counting activations, not deactivations.

 

So is Apple btw. So the numbers are still consistent.

 

Lots of companies used to sit on big piles of money. Blockbuster just died this year because the competition overwhelmed them. They used to own the DVD/VHS market.

If current trends continue, Google will have even more. Android marketshare is current increasing at 10 times that of Apple.

LOL

WP7 has actually been losing marketshare, not gaining it. They have the exact same model as Apple but without the massive App store and polished OS and brand name recognition.

The sort of people attracted to Google's platform will not want to squirm under the severe limitations imposed by the Windows OS. This will not be the Windows we are all used to...it will be a walled garden just like iOS. Only it wont be iOS.

You mean like the huge installed base they had in the smartphone market?





Things change.

iOS used to own the smartphone world. Now Android has a massive lead in Marketshare and is still growing. This is a repeat of what happened in the Mac vs PC wars. Explain to me why it will be different with tablets.

LOL

Going from nothing to majority marketshare in the space of 2 years is pretty good IMO.

...in the US.

Apple people like to use this excuse. But the reality is that outside the US, the iPhone is available on pretty much all major carriers. Android is still outselling it there too.

You mean like they did with Verizon? That has not appeared to help their marketshare so far. They are still crawling at a snail's pace compared to Android.

Google is not exactly dirt poor.

Money is not the be-all end-all in platform fights. If it was, Windows would be way ahead of Android right now.

 

Why do you hate Apple so much? Bad experience? Share with us!

 

Who said I hate Apple? Apple makes great products, and they are an American company. I think their success is great.

What I hate is their closed model. I want to see the closed model itself fail, and I am taking a sadistic delight in watching it happen. Apple is merely the most convenient target because they are the largest proponent of the closed model.

Apple losing marketshare to phones with an open model is therefore a win. Apple converting to an open model would also be a win (though that will never happen unless Steve jobs dies, and maybe not even then...we all have our fingers crossed but I am not holding my breath).

 

How is Android NOT more open?

I can install any app I want on my phone, without rooting. Not only can I install from a competing market (Amazon and Gameloft both have their own markets that run in parallel to Google's), but I can even install apps not associated with any market at all.

That being said, Google's Android market is also substantially more open than Apple's. You can (gasp) actually find apps promoting competing products or even (gasp) showing boobies!

Google treats you like an adult. Supernanny Steve jobs treats you like a child.

 

uh huh.

For the record, I have had a rooted Droid for almost 2 years....not a single virus so far. I do not know anyone with an Android phone that has gotten a single virus either. The only way I even know that they exist is from news websites.

 

What benefits do you get from the open system?

 

Freedom and flexibility. I thought that was obvious.

I do not like other people telling me what sites I am allowed to visit or what apps I should be allowed to use or what content I should be allowed to view. I think I can make those decisions for myself better than Apple can, because I am a grown adult.

 

Yeah, but do you actually do that? I mean I don't know of your demands for obscure apps and so forth.

I find no problem with the iTunes market, what are you looking for that they don't have?

 

Yeah, lots of times. I have viewed stuff on my pgone that Supernanny Steve Jobs would never have allowed. I have installed lots of Apps from sources that Supernanny Steve jobs would have forbidden.

But that really isnt the point. Would it be ok for the US government to arbitrarily forbid me to travel to the state of Ohio simply because I dont have a reason to go there right now? If not, why?

How about a way to transfer apps without having to go through their bloated iTunes software interface? How about being able to drag and drop content to my phone without having the OS alter the formating? You cant just transfer MP3s to your iDevice...iTunes will alter the file into its own format. Both those things would be nice.

I told a story in another thread a while back about using the dropbox app on my newphew's iTouch. iOS did have a version of Dropbox available. This is an app that allows you to store files on the internet, and download them to your PC or phone at will. I wanted to use it to see if I could get music onto his iTouch without having to use iTunes, because his computer was down at the time.

But it would not let me actually download anything. When I selected an item, all it would do is stream it. I asked him what settings I could change so that it would actually let me download files to the device instead of merely streaming them. He shrugged and said that was normal...and then when the realization hit him he said "You mean Android lets you actually download stuff to the phone??" LOL. It never even occurred to him that that would be possible.

Needless to say they are both a lot less satisfied with their iTouches now and have been bugging my sister for Android phones. This is a good example about how freedom is a good thing when it comes to apps.

 

Apple has an unlocked iPhone 4 now available.

 

I can download apps and music directly to my iphone with a wifi connection.

There are app store and itunes apps built into the phone.

Downloaded Rainbow Six the other night.