The Epic Battle Between Apple & Google Is All But Over - Who Won?

[frahse]

Originally Posted by John Carroll

My teenagers have made it very clear to me that they'd rather have the iPhone.

I know the feeling.
Kids want the "in" things, and iPhones are right there.

When they get older they will start looking at the specs more, and might slide over to HTC or Samsung top of the line phones for they then can compare what the phone can do, not just the name.

Parents have to pay the bills so we try to keep the costs down. We see that the cost isn't just $200 or $600 for a phone, but it is also $100 a month forever.

I have found that an automobile can get a child out of the iPhone mode.

Ok.
Your car costs $4000 and insurance and licensing cost $1200 a year but we are spending $2,400 every 2 years on an iPhone.
Can't do both. Something has to give.

Likewise college costs so much after scholarships, etc.

And then they end up working too, becoming pay as you go citizens.

You got to get them out of the "free lunch" mode.

[John Carroll]

Originally Posted by frahse

I know the feeling.
Kids want the "in" things, and iPhones are right there.

When they get older they will start looking at the specs more, and might slide over to HTC or Samsung top of the line phones for they then can compare what the phone can do, not just the name.

Parents have to pay the bills so we try to keep the costs down. We see that the cost isn't just $200 or $600 for a phone, but it is also $100 a month forever.

I have found that an automobile can get a child out of the iPhone mode.

Ok.
Your car costs $4000 and insurance and licensing cost $1200 a year but we are spending $2,400 every 2 years on an iPhone.
Can't do both. Something has to give.

Likewise college costs so much after scholarships, etc.

And then they end up working too, becoming pay as you go citizens.

You got to get them out of the "free lunch" mode.

I didn't actually say mine got the iPhones, just that they want them. And there are always parents who want their kids to be the coolest and will spend the money to get whatever the kids want.

[danskmacabre]

One of my kids has a ipod, she inherited it off her brother when he went to an Android phone, which he inherited off me when I upgraded it to a newer Android phone.

They both seem to be happy with what they have.

I personally prefer Android over iOS for various reasons, but still I would not want to see iOS disappear and there only be Android around.
Competition is important for us consumers.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

One of my kids has a ipod, she inherited it off her brother when he went to an Android phone, which he inherited off me when I upgraded it to a newer Android phone.

They both seem to be happy with what they have.

I personally prefer Android over iOS for various reasons, but still I would not want to see iOS disappear and there only be Android around.
Competition is important for us consumers.

Preach on, Brother, preach on! Competition is what keeps a company sharp. It's always good to have multiple quality products to choose from. I like the iOS infrastructure better, but the top end Android phones are more than good enough.

[MrDoug]

Google Android Wins.. Android devices out selling Apple so far in the month of May to date.. which is nothing really new.. just a continuing slide for Apple.. wow.. Steve Jobs.. Please be resurrected from the Dead.. Apple needs you BAD.. Be the New GOD of Technology once again..
Doug

[david_e]

Originally Posted by MrDoug

Google Android Wins.. Android devices out selling Apple so far in the month of May to date.. which is nothing really new.. just a continuing slide for Apple.. wow.. Steve Jobs.. Please be resurrected from the Dead.. Apple needs you BAD.. Be the New GOD of Technology once again..
Doug

Ah, the market segment no one is competing for, AARP + ADHD

[theinfamousj]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

You seem to be misunderstanding what is being said. Apple doesn't try to take over the market. They establish markets with new products (iPhone and iPad) and they make money by selling quality products with a big profit margins. Companies that try to take over markets sale typically at a loss or a small profit margin. That simply isn't Apple's game.

But Apple didn't create the smart phone market nor the tablet market. Both existed for many - and in the tablet market 's case, for at least ten years. Bro had a Toshiba Satellite tablet - years prior to Apple' s entry into those markets.

Before the iPhone came out, I had already imported a Nokia smart phone from the Ukraine. It even had (Symbian) apps and an integrated GPS.

So this comparison to Mercedes is faulty. Best to compare it to Jaguar. Makes high end in an already pre-established market, at times copying features - though just enough not so as to avoid IP issues - from the early pioneers in that market 's successful models.

Google, on the other hand is a car upholstery company. It lets someone else determine the actual engineering while contributing something key for the consumer-product interface. Lots of "cars" can sport Google-fabric seats, and they'll even allow the car manufacturers to tweak the color (something purely cosmetic).

In the end, Google loses if the hardware folks decide to go with a different interface. Apple loses if they cannot convince enough consumers to buy their hardware model with its exclusive interface. But the consumer? The consumer has already moved on to the personal hovercraft market being established by SpaceX (to keep the metaphor going) that Apple will try to use their marketing team to convince you that they started.

(My whole family are early adopters. Oh the stories I can tell of original netbooks, nettops, tablets, PDAs, and portable music players.)

[Dopedangel]

This quarter Samsung is likely to beat apple not just on smartphone sales but on profits as well. Apple fans keep changing the line when it comes to Android vs iOS. At the start it was iOS sells more once Android got ahead. It was its multiple manufactures and no single manufacturer is ahead then Samsung got ahead. Then it was multiple handsets vs 1 iPhone.
This quarter Samsung is likely to sell more GS4 than Apple sells Iphone 5 as well as make more profit. So likely we will see a new argument that samsung is not pure android etc.

[JSWolf]

And the winner is...

THE LAWYERS!

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

This quarter Samsung is likely to beat apple not just on smartphone sales but on profits as well. Apple fans keep changing the line when it comes to Android vs iOS. At the start it was iOS sells more once Android got ahead. It was its multiple manufactures and no single manufacturer is ahead then Samsung got ahead. Then it was multiple handsets vs 1 iPhone.
This quarter Samsung is likely to sell more GS4 than Apple sells Iphone 5 as well as make more profit. So likely we will see a new argument that samsung is not pure android etc.

And Android is also closing in on total app downloads. Apple recently crossed the 50B mark, while Android just crossed the 48B one. And the monetization difference is also narrowing significantly.

[forsooth]

I hope apple comes up with great idea
then others will emulate and all devices improve

innovation or improvement always welcome

if not apple maybe sony or google or nokia or htc
maybe finally China or Taiwan do something innovative

the consumer waits

[forsooth]

even maybe a European invention or improvement
even eastern European

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by forsooth

I hope apple comes up with great idea
then others will emulate and all devices improve

They're working on a secret project now - codename Apple Shades. It's a computer you wear like glasses. Nobody's ever done this before; and when it hits the market, Android makers will be scratching their heads and saying "why didn't we think of that".

[david_e]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

They're working on a secret project now - codename Apple Shades. It's a computer you wear like glasses. Nobody's ever done this before; and when it hits the market, Android makers will be scratching their heads and saying "why didn't we think of that".

They're called iEyes.

[kennyc]

Apple won in the 'cheat the tax system' contest: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...94J0TK20130521