[jonKranked]

Android 28% of smartphone sales, iPhone 21%. RIM still beat them both with 36%.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/WHOA-Google-Android-Outsells-siliconalley-81178543.html?x=0&.v=1

 

[binary visions]

Just like with Syadasti, I find these to be odd conclusions - or rather, I find it odd that this is worthy of note.

Apple sells a single device on a single carrier.

It is, of course, more noteworthy that Android has accomplished this because they're a new player - and that's great news because I would love to shift to the Android platform, so more users = more development. But RIM has been around for years, has a solid hold on the business market through excellent enterprise integration, and sells phones on ALL of the carriers.

Android, too, has many models on all of the major carriers.

So, what's being noted here is, that a single model of phone on a single network carrier has managed to almost keep pace with 14 models on all major carriers from Android, and all of the various flavors/models from RIM on all major carriers with enterprise integration software.

I guess I would call that a win for Apple.

 

[jonKranked]

I find it to be odd conclusions as well. As is noted in the Article, there are Android devices on all major carriers. You can interpret the data any way you want.

One thing that isn't mentioned - Apple Launched the iPhone June 2007. The first Android to hit the market (HTC Dream) didn't launch until October 2008. So Apple had just over a year head start. Apple has been on the market just under 3 years now (around 35 months), Android devices have been on the market a little over a year and a half (19 months). This could be interpreted that Android may be gaining some serious momentum - the fact that they sold more devices in a quarter despite being on the market 16 fewer months than Apple.


Again, I definitely agree that its a bit of a stretch to compare the two - that Android has many devices on all major carriers vs (essentially) one device for Apple.

 

[jonKranked]

Also - the fact that there are so many different versions of Android on so many carriers could be its' Achilles heel. Yes, they have a large (and growing) user base, but when it comes to apps, this can create difficulties. You may have to port the same Android app in several versions to accommodate all the devices. At least this is an issue that google has acknowledged and is working to find a solution.

 

[berkshire_rider]

Google and the Nexus isn't working out so well.

It doesn't look like apple is doing a lot more (and by that I mean what you can already do with Android, Blackberry, HTC, or Nokia phones) than coming out with a new 4g phone and pissing off developers. They are still stuck on a crappy network for 2 more years unless litigation or a settlement takes place.

Android phones appear to be evolving quickly and with their availability at multiple carriers are in position to become more dominant.

Right now, it appears Android has more potential for new users and innovation than apple does. Time will tell.

 

[jonKranked]

By not taking the "one size fits all approach" (like Apple did), I definitely think that helps Android evolve quicker as well as help them reach a larger audience by being more versatile with the style/form factor of the devices they offer.

 

[binary visions]

I disagree completely with that article.

I think the Nexus One was exactly what Google needed it to be.

- It provided a demonstration of what Android is capable of with the right hardware, and sure enough, recent Android handsets are all coming with MUCH better hardware

- It provided a large test platform for the raw Android O/S on some good hardware. They got a solid environment for OTA updates and new features without third party development (Sense, Motoblur) sitting on top of their software. Feedback came directly to Google and consequently they essentially got a giant test environment.

- It gave Google a great tool to encourage developers with. Google is still giving away phones to developers.

I don't see this as a failure at all. I don't think Google was ever going to take over the world with this phone: the fact that they didn't have a dedicated support staff is evidence enough that they didn't really expect this phone to pillage the cellphone market.

Just my opinion, anyway.

 

[berkshire_rider]

Well, if your analysis is correct, lets hope the Google 1gig intarweb service will do the same to help improve what we receive from the cable companies.

 

[IH8Rice]

Well, if your analysis is correct, lets hope the Google 1gig intarweb service will do the same to help improve what we receive from the cable companies.

thats not a high bar to try and raise.

 

[jonKranked]

Good luck google, if this story is any indication, you've got a long road ahead of you:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/lousiana-fiber-network-running-despite-cable-telco-lawsuits.ars

 

[berkshire_rider]

Sadly, that is typical behavior from a telecom/cable provider.

 

[ridiculous]

The way I see it everything is a win for Google in the long run. How many of those apps for the iphone depend on a google service, maps, gmail etc? When they first started all I remember hearing about was the g1 on t mobile I didnt even know about the HTC. Granted im a verizon customer I didnt hear of it. I knew about the iphone immediately due to all the hype.

Android Market vs itunes. Itunes is setup better for sure but the majority of its apps you have to pay for and typically cost more than their android equivalent. Googles ad integration has been a nice perk for users trying to save on costs.

 

[binary visions]

Itunes is setup better for sure but the majority of its apps you have to pay for and typically cost more than their android equivalent. Googles ad integration has been a nice perk for users trying to save on costs.

That seems to be the popular opinion but I'm not sure it's true. Is there evidence to support this? A blanket percentage comparison of paid apps to non paid apps doesn't really tell the whole story, either.

Most of the apps on my phone are free or are ad-supported free versions of paid apps.

Also, I have to say, the iTunes App Market is better than the Android market by orders of magnitude. It's better organized - browsing it just looking for new apps is much easier - and you can absolutely count on the fact that any app you decide to download is going to work, and work right. That's not the case on the Android market. Plus, the Android marketplace reviews are chock full of spam.

Google needs to get a handle on that Android market. The implication of total freedom is great but the reality is that this is technology being put in the hands of people who are not capable of filtering a lot of this stuff on their own, or understanding that some bad apps are something to accept. Also, if there were a better system for browsing it, it would promote app development.

 

[ridiculous]

Im with you on that. The marketplace needs to be way better. There should be a web back up for everything just like on iTunes. Browsing for apps on the phone is pretty silly. I have most of the apps on my phone through reviews on websites or friends recommendations. Whether it works or not is backed by the 30 day gurantee I guess. But replacing the phone or upgrading to a newer one doesnt bring everything with it.

Can there also be a batch installer for these app updates? Its one thing when there are only 2 apps that want to update, its way different when there are 9. No way am I going through the process 9 times to get updates. Dare I say make it like windows updater?

 

[jonKranked]

BV - can't remember the source but as of earlier this year (i wanna say January of February, but since then the # of android apps has substantially increased - about 4 times as many now):

iTunes store apps:
~73% paid
~27% free

Android Market (apps):
~25% paid
~75% free

 

[binary visions]

Right, but that's my point - a direct % comparison doesn't work. Apple inflates their app numbers by doing things like counting multiple versions of the same app, or counting e-books, stuff like that. All of those are paid apps and will skew the numbers. Also, the development/submission process for Android is tremendously easy, so how many of those free apps are crap, many not even working?

I got to use a Droid pretty extensively when I was out at a job site. Fact is, the market has a pretty substantial number of apps that crash, or won't even launch.

There's no good way to measure it, unfortunately. Someone would have to put a lot of work into an anecdotal analysis of what kind of free apps are available between systems, and that would be flawed anyway.

I just think there are clearly a huge number of free, quality apps and games for the iPhone and have not seen a lot of evidence that there are substantially more free, quality apps or games for Android.

 

[jonKranked]

Right, but that's my point - a direct % comparison doesn't work. Apple inflates their app numbers by doing things like counting multiple versions of the same app, or counting e-books, stuff like that. All of those are paid apps and will skew the numbers. Also, the development/submission process for Android is tremendously easy, so how many of those free apps are crap, many not even working?

I got to use a Droid pretty extensively when I was out at a job site. Fact is, the market has a pretty substantial number of apps that crash, or won't even launch.

There's no good way to measure it, unfortunately. Someone would have to put a lot of work into an anecdotal analysis of what kind of free apps are available between systems, and that would be flawed anyway.

I just think there are clearly a huge number of free, quality apps and games for the iPhone and have not seen a lot of evidence that there are substantially more free, quality apps or games for Android.

which is a problem entirely unto itself

 

[binary visions]

which is a problem entirely unto itself

Sure. It's a problem in the fact that it's sort-of dishonest, although it's technically a true statement.

But it's actual affect on anyone is pretty minimum. It sounds nice in marketing literature. But the Android marketplace has apps that won't even open, so there are little problems everywhere - I don't see Apple's inflation of its app count as a big deal.

 

[jonKranked]

Sure. It's a problem in the fact that it's sort-of dishonest, although it's technically a true statement.

But it's actual affect on anyone is pretty minimum. It sounds nice in marketing literature. But the Android marketplace has apps that won't even open, so there are little problems everywhere - I don't see Apple's inflation of its app count as a big deal.

I wouldn't call it dishonest, misleading seems to be a more appropriate term.