Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
Weak demand creates a lack of leverage in negotiations with carriers, who burden their phones with unremovable crapware and try to block rookits, hurting customers.
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I'll agree with you there. However, the choice available does mean that discerning customers can shop around for outlets that don't do this. I bought my Galaxy outright so it's just got Samsung's poor software on it, and there are tablets that give a pure Android experience from Google and Asus.
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
Personally, I prefer to have the option to pay for an app rather than be forced to use a spammy, ad-supported version.
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You usually have that option under Android as well. The only app of mine that I can think of that doesn't offer a paid version is Words With Friends.
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
Customers seem to love it.
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Well, the whole point of this thread is that outside the US in general the share of customers is static or declining. Admittedly the market is still growing, but fewer new customers are choosing iOS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
The iPhone 4S is the most popular phone in the world. The second most popular is the iPhone 4. Those will be displaced next week by... another Apple product.
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In August the
most popular phone in the US was the Samsung Galaxy S3, which has also been the most popular phone
in the UK. Given that those are the number 1 and 3 largest markets, and that we know that Samsung has well over double the market share of Apple in China, I think the iPhone 4S is likely to have been knocked off the top spot.
The iPhone 5 may well reclaim the crown worldwide, but it's by no means a dead certainty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
Then there's tablets, something like 90% of which are iPads.
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I think your figures are out of date. Most sites have the iPad share at more like 65% to 70% nowadays. See:
http://www.bgr.com/2012/08/14/ipad-m...all-time-high/
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
Its main competitor, the Kindle Fire, is using a version of Android so forked that it doesn't even merit the name. There are no legitimate Android alternatives.
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Interestingly, Samsung's tablets are outselling the Kindle Fire.
What's more the latest figures aren't really showing the impact of the Galaxy Nexus 7 yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness
Then there's JD Power & Associates user satisfaction rankings, which Apple has topped every year for the last half decade.
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That's a slightly circular argument as previously Apple had the higher share of users. I'll concede that the simpler UI of Apple devices is more likely to lead to user satisfaction, but it will be interesting to see how those rankings change as a) the market share shift really starts to have an effect, and b) the latest versions of Android gain traction.
Graham