[Business Insider] Android Is Destroying Everyone, Especially RIM -- iPhone Dead In

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[Business Insider] Android Is Destroying Everyone, Especially RIM -- iPhone Dead In Water

Android beating the other smartphone devices is not new news anymore, but this article did bring up some good points so I'd thought I'd share.

Importantly, it's not a question of which platform is "better." (This is irrelevant.) It's a question of which platform everyone else uses. And increasingly, in the smartphone market, barring a radical change in trend, that's Android.

So that's why Android's gains matter. And, yes, Apple fans should be scared to death about them.

Apple is fighting a very similar war to the one it fought--and lost--in the 1990s. It is trying to build the best integrated products, hardware and software, and maintain complete control over the ecosystem around them. This end-to-end control makes it easier for Apple to build products that are "better," but it makes it much harder for the company to compete against a software platform that is standard across many hardware manufacturers (Windows in the 1990s, Android now).
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[RainingLemur]

But...but...but... Apple is magical and stuff! The blue-jeans-n-turtle-neck'd messiah said so!

Those numbers are kinda surprising, especially the February numbers. I would've expected a larger increase in handsets for Apple following the iPhone's release on Verizon. I know that a portion of the users were just carrier-switching (from AT&T to VZW), but I figured there would be a decent drop in Android users jumping ship to the iPhone. Seems to be quite the opposite.

[=X=]

Boy Genius Report(BGR) ran an article about a mount after the iPhone was released on Verizon. It stated that the iPhone sales numbers did not come close to their target. I believe the numbers where 600K in pre-orders and 100K in walk in sales.

Yeah a lot of people thought Verizon offering the iPhone would be the end of Android. I wasn't so convinced. Contrary to what many people believe I think people are more practical than trendy. And the Android devices gives them choices, in price and form factor.

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[kennyc]

Thanks for that!

[HansTWN]

Did anyone tell Steve Jobs that choice still exists?

[Dopedangel]

Personally I use Android and won't purchase Apple devices. But I don't get why everyone keeps saying Apple should be scared etc. In the next few years the smart phone market is going to reach about 2 billion phones a year. And according to most people Apple will have just 10% of that market. That's still 200 million phones plus with the apple tax on everything they would still be raking in a lot of dough.
To me the more interesting tech battle is facebook vs google. One needs internet data to be closed for success the other needs the data to be open to everyone.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Personally I use Android and won't purchase Apple devices. But I don't get why everyone keeps saying Apple should be scared etc. In the next few years the smart phone market is going to reach about 2 billion phones a year. And according to most people Apple will have just 10% of that market. That's still 200 million phones plus with the apple tax on everything they would still be raking in a lot of dough.
To me the more interesting tech battle is facebook vs google. One needs internet data to be closed for success the other needs the data to be open to everyone.

I don't get it either, especially since Apple has never dominated phone sales...ever. I'm not even sure they've ever ranked higher than fourth. Of course, profits are another matter

But people love to talk up huge rivalries, and who sold more than who, and who is "beating" who. I guess it's like sports for some

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

That's still 200 million phones plus with the apple tax on everything they would still be raking in a lot of dough.

To some critics the game is to reduce Apples marketshare to <3% to 5% like their global PC marketshare.

But Apple is the darling of investors everywhere with just that 3% to 5%. Given how well its businesses execute, it is simply impossible for Android to ever put Apple and its iBusiness out to pasture.

A recent article:

got rid of company-issued Blackberries while letting workers choose between an iPhone or Android or Window Phone 7-powered smartphone. The company has issued 2,000 smartphones, 92% of which are iPhones.

When you have to spend your own money, go to Walmart. When the boss is paying, go to Bloomingdales.



http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...taxonomyId=154

[VicLavigne]

Apples current marketing scheme for the iPHone is what has me wondering who there target audience is. I mean, really..... games. According to their commercials, the iPhone is all about the marvellous seelctinos of games the user can play. And they top of their sales pitch with, "it its not an iPhone, then its not an Iphone". In my feeble mind. all I can see is the apple marketing campaign pitching the iPhone to the teenage market Yeah, that'll save them.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by VicLavigne

According to their commercials, the iPhone is all about the marvellous seelctinos of games the user can play. And they top of their sales pitch with, "it its not an iPhone, then its not an Iphone". In my feeble mind. all I can see is the apple marketing campaign pitching the iPhone to the teenage market Yeah, that'll save them.

Really? here are their current iPhone 4 commercials:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/ads.html

I see one commercial about games. One about apps. One about books. One about music. One showing the Retina display.

Maybe it just depends what you are watching on TV.

Regardless, the teenage market is one of the most desirable market segments to hit. So while I don't think Apple needs saving, I doubt getting the teenage market is going to hurt them. http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/...s-own-iphones/

[SlowRain]

This is Apple's plan to capture lost market share (sorry, I just couldn't resist ):

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Did anyone tell Steve Jobs that choice still exists?

He doesn't care.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Personally I use Android and won't purchase Apple devices. But I don't get why everyone keeps saying Apple should be scared etc. In the next few years the smart phone market is going to reach about 2 billion phones a year. And according to most people Apple will have just 10% of that market. That's still 200 million phones plus with the apple tax on everything they would still be raking in a lot of dough.
To me the more interesting tech battle is facebook vs google. One needs internet data to be closed for success the other needs the data to be open to everyone.

Meh.... Google has already won which means Android has already won....

I think some form of both will exist as they do now and in a very parallel way to your phone example. They are two different segments of the market that will continue to co-exist.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

...

When you have to spend your own money, go to Walmart. When the boss is paying, go to Bloomingdales.



.

Unfortunately true. This is what I did in order to try out an iPhone. No way would I have spent my own money one it. It works, it's functional, but nothing more.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by kennyc

He doesn't care.

Until he decides to care, and then Apple will give people a choice. And then it'll be revolutionary, trail-blazing, and magical.