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(Newsweek) How Android is Transforming Mobile Computing.

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dave is ok

aztek is ok
On a semi-related note, here's a funny graph on who is suing who in the mobile phone industry over various patents:

mobilelawsuits.png


lolNokia
 
I just hope they manage to get a few worthwhile games on the marketplace. I keep looking at the iOS thread over on the Gaming side and feeling a little jealous at all the cool stuff they get, such as Street Fighter, DoDonPachi and Final Fantasy (and most for as low as $3-4 each). Frankly, I never use the email or organisation functions of my Galaxy S; i'm not a developer, my phone is not rooted; I don't own my own business - I only really use the internet browser and ebook reader from time to time. Maybe I should have gotten an iPhone instead. I know dedicated devices like the 3DS are coming to satisfy that portable gaming urge, but really i'm not seeing the appeal of the smartphone outside of my above uses.
 

krzy123

Member
i gets the NFL red zone on my phone for free (OG droid), not sure how but my brother can't get it on his DroidX w/o VCast (both of us on verizon).

killer app for me :eek:
 

Minsc

Gold Member
turnbuckle said:
Dunno

Another comparison would be
Mac OS vs Windows.
There's no way iOS will be the dominant platform so long as its exclusive to the iphone, but Apple's never needed to be #1 to be profitable.

iOS isn't exclusive to the iPhone. If you want to compare Android #s to iPhones, you're very erroneously forgetting to add in iTouch and iPad devices too, as they both run iOS apps, and I believe double if not triple your iPhone userbase.

I forget what the totals are (android users vs iPhone users vs iPhone + iTouch +iPad users), but part of the reason iOS is very popular is because it runs on more than just phones I believe.

I don't really see Apple overtaking Android's numbers (ever), but with the growth rate of the iPad and the iPhone moving to other carriers in the US, it should give them some decent competition.
 

delirium

Member
For all the people arguing that Apple doesn't care about marketshare: what happens if they get marginalized like they did with Mac and OS X? Will they be happy with a 5% marketshare compared to Android?
 

LCfiner

Member
I NEED SCISSORS said:
I just hope they manage to get a few worthwhile games on the marketplace. I keep looking at the iOS thread over on the Gaming side and feeling a little jealous at all the cool stuff they get, such as Street Fighter, DoDonPachi and Final Fantasy (and most for as low as $3-4 each). Frankly, I never use the email or organisation functions of my Galaxy S; i'm not a developer, my phone is not rooted; I don't own my own business - I only really use the internet browser and ebook reader from time to time. Maybe I should have gotten an iPhone instead. I know dedicated devices like the 3DS are coming to satisfy that portable gaming urge, but really i'm not seeing the appeal of the smartphone outside of my above uses.


iPod touch is a viable alternative if you happen to prefer the service you have with the Android phone you have.





oh, and watch the iPhone take that sales lead again once the White version comes out.




I’m not serious, you guuyyyssssss
 

tfur

Member
delirium said:
For all the people arguing that Apple doesn't care about marketshare: what happens if they get marginalized like they did with Mac and OS X? Will they be happy with a 5% marketshare compared to Android?

"We don't care about market share, we are profitable enough."

It's silly to think Apple does not care about market share. Steve Jobs personally mentioned Android in one of his conferences, in regards to the small market share of Android at the time.

Two years ago he did not mention Android. Last year he mentioned it, and told everyone to "put it in perspective" as how small the market share of Android was. Next year, it will be interesting to see what he says about Android, being that they have been kicked to 2nd or 3rd place in sales percentage.
 

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
delirium said:
For all the people arguing that Apple doesn't care about marketshare: what happens if they get marginalized like they did with Mac and OS X? Will they be happy with a 5% marketshare compared to Android?
there's a certain point where marketshare will be a consideration, but there's little evidence at the moment to say that Apple will be fading to such levels in the foreseeable future. even then, depending on how large the market is, that would likely still allow Apple to make a killing on Appstore/iTunes purchases and rentals.

for the most part, this isn't a zero sum game between the various mobile OS platforms.
 

delirium

Member
scorcho said:
there's a certain point where marketshare will be a consideration, but there's little evidence at the moment to say that Apple will be fading to such levels in the foreseeable future. even then, depending on how large the market is, that would likely still allow Apple to make a killing on Appstore/iTunes purchases and rentals.

for the most part, this isn't a zero sum game between the various mobile OS platforms.
But it is. iOS and Android have been growing at WinMo, Blackberry and Symbian's expense. I'm not going to argue that Apple will be marginalized within a few years, but I think that it will happen in the very same way that Windows vs Mac happened in where Apple captures a small cult following but is still profitable.
 

LCfiner

Member
delirium said:
But it is. iOS and Android have been growing at WinMo, Blackberry and Symbian's expense. I'm not going to argue that Apple will be marginalized within a few years, but I think that it will happen in the very same way that Windows vs Mac happened in where Apple captures a small cult following but is still profitable.


the entire market is still growing. I think that’s what scorcho meant about it not being a zero sum game.

at some point, it’ll stop growing but that’s not gonna be for a while
 

ccbfan

Member
I think Apple is again allowing history to repeat itself.

Providers are starting to integrate Data and Talk together. Before you know it data is pretty much going to be required. This means more and more people are going to start getting phones with data capabilities. Most of these are going to be smartphones.

As smartphone start to become more and more common place items and less like luxury items Apple's market share is going to decrease. Because quite frankly with Apple's pricing model, Apple products will always be luxury items. People are going to to so used to the "Android OS" that comes with the free Android phone. Its gonna be synonomous with be the Smartphone must like Windows is synonomous with being the computer. All this is gonna do is continue to drop Apple's market share, decreasing developer support causing even more maret share loss.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
delirium said:
But it is. iOS and Android have been growing at WinMo, Blackberry and Symbian's expense. I'm not going to argue that Apple will be marginalized within a few years, but I think that it will happen in the very same way that Windows vs Mac happened in where Apple captures a small cult following but is still profitable.


So you think Android will capture over 60% market share within the next few years?
 

Davidion

Member
delirium said:
But it is. iOS and Android have been growing at WinMo, Blackberry and Symbian's expense. I'm not going to argue that Apple will be marginalized within a few years, but I think that it will happen in the very same way that Windows vs Mac happened in where Apple captures a small cult following but is still profitable.

This isn't an entirely good comparison, since we're now looking at the operating systems stretch across multiple classes of electronics, and the variation between different hardware markets will have a considerable impact on OS popularity.

edit: This doesn't even include the overall growth of the mobile phone market. To generalize, there are a lot more variables in play now compared to the tech markets of old.
 

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
LCfiner said:
at some point, it’ll stop growing but that’s not gonna be for a while
bingo. for the foreseeable future the market should be expanding rapidly enough to allow Android and iOS to gain users at a nice clip - even with competition from RIM, WebOS and WM7.
 
ccbfan said:
I think Apple is again allowing history to repeat itself.

Providers are starting to integrate Data and Talk together. Before you know it data is pretty much going to be required. This means more and more people are going to start getting phones with data capabilities. Most of these are going to be smartphones.

As smartphone start to become more and more common place items and less like luxury items Apple's market share is going to decrease. Because quite frankly with Apple's pricing model, Apple products will always be luxury items. People are going to to so used to the "Android OS" that comes with the free Android phone. Its gonna be synonomous with be the Smartphone must like Windows is synonomous with being the computer. All this is gonna do is continue to drop Apple's market share, decreasing developer support causing even more maret share loss.
What makes you think Apple wouldn't have a free phone if Android went that far?
 

delirium

Member
mckmas8808 said:
So you think Android will capture over 60% market share within the next few years?
Maybe not in 2-3 but I could see it within 5-6. Android's growth is just been explosive.

Davidion said:
This isn't an entirely good comparison, since we're now looking at the operating systems stretch across multiple classes of electronics, and the variation between different hardware markets will have a considerable impact on OS popularity.

edit: This doesn't even include the overall growth of the mobile phone market. To generalize, there are a lot more variables in play now compared to the tech markets of old.
I don't see why not. Apple like with Mac, has limit its platform and OS for themselves only. They can only produce so many models, but with Android, any company can. One hardware manufacturer (Mac/iOS) vs one OS with many manufacturers (Windows/Android).

Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
What makes you think Apple wouldn't have a free phone if Android went that far?
Because its Apple and people here have been arguing against the very same notion (Apple would rather have profitability than marketshare)?
 

otake

Doesn't know that "You" is used in both the singular and plural
I'm still using my old blackberry. I can't see why people love these Android phones but it's market penetration is difficult to not see.
 

tokkun

Member
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
What makes you think Apple wouldn't have a free phone if Android went that far?

From Apple's history? How many low-margin devices do they sell? I'm not saying they couldn't do it and still make the money back from the content side, but it would be a departure from the way they've done business for a while.
 

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
delirium said:
Because its Apple and people here have been arguing against the very same notion (Apple would rather have profitability than marketshare)?
they can and have remained very profitable even when slashing prices on their last-gen models when the yearly update happens. even considering the likely advancements in Android hardware, a $99 16-gig iPhone 4 next July still looks good.

there's also little reason to see why they can't or wouldn't offer a cheaper models down the line. they've done that already with the Macbook lines, and also iPod.
 
delirium said:
Because its Apple and people here have been arguing against the very same notion (Apple would rather have profitability than marketshare)?
A free subsidized phone isn't necessarily separate from creating profit.

Don't forget how it's really just a hub for you to buy shit on the phone itself.
 

Davidion

Member
delirium said:
I don't see why not. Apple like with Mac, has limit its platform and OS for themselves only. They can only produce so many models, but with Android, any company can. One hardware manufacturer (Mac/iOS) vs one OS with many manufacturers (Windows/Android).

But that's not accounting for the breaking of new hardware markets in general. It can't really be denied that Apple has been breaking not just new product, but new classes of product, for a while, and if they're able to unify their OS and ecosystem presence across multiple product categories, you can't just assume that an open system will by default overtake every single one out there, or even if they'll compete.

There are obviously similarities, but the competition is not exactly the same thing. The competition is extending across multiple markets.
 

Burger

Member
ccbfan said:
I think Apple is again allowing history to repeat itself.

Providers are starting to integrate Data and Talk together. Before you know it data is pretty much going to be required. This means more and more people are going to start getting phones with data capabilities. Most of these are going to be smartphones.

As smartphone start to become more and more common place items and less like luxury items Apple's market share is going to decrease. Because quite frankly with Apple's pricing model, Apple products will always be luxury items. People are going to to so used to the "Android OS" that comes with the free Android phone. Its gonna be synonomous with be the Smartphone must like Windows is synonomous with being the computer. All this is gonna do is continue to drop Apple's market share, decreasing developer support causing even more maret share loss.

Really now. Just like the iPod has been completely marginalised by cheap PMP's from China.

Apple computers are still seen as luxury items and in the face of Windows 7 they are still clawing market share away from the PC market. Saying that consumers are always going to go with the most ubiquitious, cheapest product is a complete fallacy.

Anyway, who exactly is cultivating Android as a brand unto itself? I hear it mentioned now and again, but it seems to me that Motorola pushes Droid, Samsung pushes Galaxy, but nobody is advertising the shit out of the Android brand, what's the point? You would be advertising your competitors phones.
 
Burger said:
Really now. Just like the iPod has been completely marginalised by cheap PMP's from China.

Apple computers are still seen as luxury items and in the face of Windows 7 they are still clawing market share away from the PC market. Saying that consumers are always going to go with the most ubiquitious, cheapest product is a complete fallacy.

Anyway, who exactly is cultivating Android as a brand unto itself? I hear it mentioned now and again, but it seems to me that Motorola pushes Droid, Samsung pushes Galaxy, but nobody is advertising the shit out of the Android brand, what's the point? You would be advertising your competitors phones.
I think Motorola does it best. Droid is synonymous with Android. When you mention Android, most people immediately think of the Droid line of phones.
 

andycapps

Member
Burger said:
Really now. Just like the iPod has been completely marginalised by cheap PMP's from China.

Apple computers are still seen as luxury items and in the face of Windows 7 they are still clawing market share away from the PC market. Saying that consumers are always going to go with the most ubiquitious, cheapest product is a complete fallacy.

Anyway, who exactly is cultivating Android as a brand unto itself? I hear it mentioned now and again, but it seems to me that Motorola pushes Droid, Samsung pushes Galaxy, but nobody is advertising the shit out of the Android brand, what's the point? You would be advertising your competitors phones.

Droid is really becoming the chosen word for Android phones these days, even though that is only Verizon's slogan and encompasses all their Android phones. The slogan itself has been catchy, but as seen with you, the Droid Incredible and the Droid 2 are not both made by Motorolla. Those are just Android phones that are on Verizon's network. The funny thing is that with Verizon's ads, they're doing more for the Android name than Google is. And honestly, Google doesn't need to do much now. They're flying off shelves so they don't even need to waste their money on marketing, let the carriers do it for them.
 

Burger

Member
andycapps said:
Droid is really becoming the chosen word for Android phones these days, even though that is only Verizon's slogan and encompasses all their Android phones. The slogan itself has been catchy, but as seen with you, the Droid Incredible and the Droid 2 are not both made by Motorolla. Those are just Android phones that are on Verizon's network. The funny thing is that with Verizon's ads, they're doing more for the Android name than Google is. And honestly, Google doesn't need to do much now. They're flying off shelves so they don't even need to waste their money on marketing, let the carriers do it for them.

I'm not American, so I've never read, listened to or watched an ad for a Droid phone, which is probably why I made that mistake :)
 
andycapps said:
Droid is really becoming the chosen word for Android phones these days, even though that is only Verizon's slogan and encompasses all their Android phones. The slogan itself has been catchy, but as seen with you, the Droid Incredible and the Droid 2 are not both made by Motorolla. Those are just Android phones that are on Verizon's network. The funny thing is that with Verizon's ads, they're doing more for the Android name than Google is. And honestly, Google doesn't need to do much now. They're flying off shelves so they don't even need to waste their money on marketing, let the carriers do it for them.
Droid 2 is Motorola. Same with Droid X. The Incredible is HTC.

But you echoed my shorter statement. The Droid line is what people think of when they hear Android.
 
YuriLowell said:
Android Marketplace is a mess and most of the apps suck.

They just need to add more filters to the search function. As of now, the cream cannot rise to the top.

I should add that I do think there are more than enough 'general purpose' and fart apps, but not nearly enough good game apps from top publishers.
 

delirium

Member
scorcho said:
they can and have remained very profitable even when slashing prices on their last-gen models when the yearly update happens. even considering the likely advancements in Android hardware, a $99 16-gig iPhone 4 next July still looks good.

there's also little reason to see why they can't or wouldn't offer a cheaper models down the line. they've done that already with the Macbook lines, and also iPod.
But Apple products have always had a luxury feel to them. Dropping the price on an old model is one thing, announcing a new model marginalizes the luxury brand that Apple cultivates. MacBooks might have different models but there still exist a large premium vs normal laptops.


Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
A free subsidized phone isn't necessarily separate from creating profit.

Don't forget how it's really just a hub for you to buy shit on the phone itself.
But Apple isn't a company to follow the Gillette model of selling a phone for cheap, making profits from the sales of apps. To me, that seems to go against the very core of Apple.


Davidion said:
But that's not accounting for the breaking of new hardware markets in general. It can't really be denied that Apple has been breaking not just new product, but new classes of product, for a while, and if they're able to unify their OS and ecosystem presence across multiple product categories, you can't just assume that an open system will by default overtake every single one out there, or even if they'll compete.

There are obviously similarities, but the competition is not exactly the same thing. The competition is extending across multiple markets.
Every market that Apple breaks into with iOS, Android can easily follow. I'm not going to assume Android is going to beat iOS in every one of those market, but it will have a huge advantage like Windows did by having multiple manufacturers vs a single corporation making only a few devices. Apple really only caters to the luxury crowd and while they're extremely good at it, I doubt they want or will compete with Android over the mass market.
 

Burger

Member
delirium said:
Every market that Apple breaks into with iOS, Android can easily follow. I'm not going to assume Android is going to beat iOS in every one of those market, but it will have a huge advantage like Windows did by having multiple manufacturers vs a single corporation making only a few devices. Apple really only caters to the luxury crowd and while they're extremely good at it, I doubt they want or will compete with Android over the mass market.

Android has only struggled to break into the new 'touchscreen tablet' market created by the iPad. There is a deluge of crappy chinese knockoffs, the JooJoo, and soon to be the Galaxy Tab. LG just announced they are going to wait for Android 3.0 as they don't feel FroYo is suitable (it isn't).

There is still no competitor to the iPod touch.

Android is a worthy rival to iOS in the phone business, not so much in any other market.
 

ccbfan

Member
Burger said:
Really now. Just like the iPod has been completely marginalised by cheap PMP's from China.

Apple computers are still seen as luxury items and in the face of Windows 7 they are still clawing market share away from the PC market. Saying that consumers are always going to go with the most ubiquitious, cheapest product is a complete fallacy.

Anyway, who exactly is cultivating Android as a brand unto itself? I hear it mentioned now and again, but it seems to me that Motorola pushes Droid, Samsung pushes Galaxy, but nobody is advertising the shit out of the Android brand, what's the point? You would be advertising your competitors phones.


Cheap products are cheap product. IPod is a much better product than those horrendous China knockoffs. Android phones and Iphone are comparable.

Obviously the not all consumers are going to go for the cheap product. Nobody said they are. There'll always be a luxury market which is why Apple computer's market share worldwide is less than 4%.

Burger said:
I'm not American, so I've never read, listened to or watched an ad for a Droid phone, which is probably why I made that mistake :)

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

So you're acting like you know crap when you're just making everything up.
 
Burger said:
Android has only struggled to break into the new 'touchscreen tablet' market created by the iPad. There is a deluge of crappy chinese knockoffs, the JooJoo, and soon to be the Galaxy Tab. LG just announced they are going to wait for Android 3.0 as they don't feel FroYo is suitable (it isn't).

There is still no competitor to the iPod touch.

Android is a worthy rival to iOS in the phone business, not so much in any other market.
Zune HD, but it is missing the biggest thing iOS has going for it, which is apps.
 

delirium

Member
Burger said:
Android has only struggled to break into the new 'touchscreen tablet' market created by the iPad. There is a deluge of crappy chinese knockoffs, the JooJoo, and soon to be the Galaxy Tab. LG just announced they are going to wait for Android 3.0 as they don't feel FroYo is suitable (it isn't).

There is still no competitor to the iPod touch.

Android is a worthy rival to iOS in the phone business, not so much in any other market.
Android has struggle because it hasn't been designed for the tablet market and Google really hasn't given its blessing to any tablets. Give Google a year and Android will enter the tablet market in full force with multiple manufacturers making tablets.
 

ccbfan

Member
Burger said:
Android has only struggled to break into the new 'touchscreen tablet' market created by the iPad. There is a deluge of crappy chinese knockoffs, the JooJoo, and soon to be the Galaxy Tab. LG just announced they are going to wait for Android 3.0 as they don't feel FroYo is suitable (it isn't).

There is still no competitor to the iPod touch.

Android is a worthy rival to iOS in the phone business, not so much in any other market.

Actually the biggest competitor for the ipod touch is going to be smartphones and tablets.

The evolution of the handheld phone device is going to kill off the ipod touch. As more and more people get smartphones there's gonna be less and less need for an Ipod touch.

Last barrier is going to be battery life, after that Ipod touch is dead.
 

Burger

Member
ccbfan said:
Cheap products are cheap product. IPod is a much better product than those horrendous China knockoffs. Android phones and Iphone are comparable.

Obviously the not all consumers are going to go for the cheap product. Nobody said they are. There'll always be a luxury market which is why Apple computer's market share worldwide is less than 4%.

What is wrong with 4% when you make more money than anyone else ?

eg:

Screen-shot-2010-10-05-at-10-5-10.04.22-PM.png


So you're acting like you know crap when you're just making everything up.

I was asking a question. I wasn't 'making stuff up'.
 

andycapps

Member
Burger said:
I'm not American, so I've never read, listened to or watched an ad for a Droid phone, which is probably why I made that mistake :)

Ah okay, that would explain it. But yes, Droid has become the catch-all name for Android phones due to some good marketing by Verizon. It has muddied the waters when some friends of mine have asked me if the Droid Eris (by HTC) and the original Droid (by Motorolla) were basically the same thing. They were actually pretty disparate spec and performance wise.

Phonicle Bone said:
Droid 2 is Motorola. Same with Droid X. The Incredible is HTC.

But you echoed my shorter statement. The Droid line is what people think of when they hear Android.

I know that, that's what I said. I said that the Droid Incredible and the Droid X aren't both made by Motorolla, all phones on Verizon are branded Droid regardless of the manufacturer. It's a blessing and a curse in that it muddies the waters of who is what, but it's good for Android in general as Droid has become the buzzword.
 

delirium

Member
Burger said:
What is wrong with 4% when you make more money than anyone else ?

eg:

Screen-shot-2010-10-05-at-10-5-10.04.22-PM.png




I was asking a question. I wasn't 'making stuff up'.
Because you get marginalized easily and as a consumer, you really don't care about how much money Apple or Google makes, but as a consumer marketshare means more apps, more choices, etc?

Apple also might be making more money than a single competitor in this scenario, but what about the entire Android ecosystem?
 

tfur

Member
delirium said:
Android has struggle because it hasn't been designed for the tablet market and Google really hasn't given its blessing to any tablets. Give Google a year and Android will enter the tablet market in full force with multiple manufacturers making tablets.


It would be interesting if there was a Nexus Two, and it was actually a tablet.

You are right, they have not really entered the tablet market yet. The Galaxy Tab is pretty much the first reputable tablet, and it is not for sale yet.

Once Google goes into phase two, things will get interesting: Market/web update, Google books, cloud music and video, voip chat/video, etc.
 

Dizzan

MINI Member
I'm looking into picking up avnew phone and iPhone 4s hd video is impressive. Are there any android phones with a similar feature
 
andycapps said:
I know that, that's what I said. I said that the Droid Incredible and the Droid X aren't both made by Motorolla, all phones on Verizon are branded Droid regardless of the manufacturer. It's a blessing and a curse in that it muddies the waters of who is what, but it's good for Android in general as Droid has become the buzzword.
Not all Android phones on Verizon are Droids though. There are several LG and Samsung phones on there without the Droid branding, but still run Android. There have only been four Droid phones so far: Droid, Droid Incredible, Droid X, and Droid 2. (Well 5 if you count the R2D2 edition). Soon we will have the Droid Pro.
 

LCfiner

Member
ccbfan said:
Actually the biggest competitor for the ipod touch is going to be smartphones and tablets.

The evolution of the handheld phone device is going to kill off the ipod touch. As more and more people get smartphones there's gonna be less and less need for an Ipod touch.

Last barrier is going to be battery life, after that Ipod touch is dead.


how long do you think it will take for smartphone plans to be <40 bucks a month? or for a 13 year old to sign a 2 year phone contract? or get their parents to do so for them?

there’s going to be a market for a portable media player/ game machine that’s not attached to a phone for a very long time.



delirium said:
Because you get marginalized easily and as a consumer, you really don't care about how much money Apple or Google makes, but as a consumer marketshare means more apps, more choices, etc?

Apple also might be making more money than a single competitor in this scenario, but what about the entire Android ecosystem?


what do you mean about ecosystem exactly? if you mean third party developer profits. it’s not even close. iOS developer revenue is a fuckton higher than Android developer revenue.

And Google needs to do a lot of work with its current restrictions concerning countries you can sell apps in and countries you can, as a developer, live in to receive payments.

If they can get that shit sorted, then they’ll have a chance of catching up in the next couple years
 

Burger

Member
delirium said:
Because you get marginalized easily and as a consumer, you really don't care about how much money Apple or Google makes, but as a consumer marketshare means more apps, more choices, etc?

Apple also might be making more money than a single competitor in this scenario, but what about the entire Android ecosystem?

What about the entire iOS ecosystem ? That's far larger than the Android ecosystem.

If it's so hard to be marginalised when you have a huge marketshare, what happened to Microsoft and Palm ? They used to own that market, now they both have nothing.

If anything the smartphone industry is prone to rapid change, I would say that Apple has cleverly segmented their iOS product line to grow very sustainably, with maximum profits.
 

andycapps

Member
PhoncipleBone said:
Not all Android phones on Verizon are Droids though. There are several LG and Samsung phones on there without the Droid branding, but still run Android. There have only been four Droid phones so far: Droid, Droid Incredible, Droid X, and Droid 2. (Well 5 if you count the R2D2 edition). Soon we will have the Droid Pro.

I thought they were all Droid branded. My bad. I'm on Sprint so I don't pay too much attention to it. Is it just the higher end Android phones that are branded "Droid" now?

LCFiner said:
What about the entire iOS ecosystem ? That's far larger than the Android ecosystem.

If it's so hard to be marginalised when you have a huge marketshare, what happened to Microsoft and Palm ? They used to own that market, now they both have nothing.

If anything the smartphone industry is prone to rapid change, I would say that Apple has cleverly segmented their iOS product line to grow very sustainably, with maximum profits.

It's larger than the Android ecosystem for now. Anyone that is seeing how this is working so far in the mobile space knows that the tablet space will likely have a majority of users running an Android OS within a year or two of the first ones being launched. The simple fact that it's free to the manufacturers, that it's with multiple manufacturers, and that it's with multiple carriers means that it's inevitable that it'll have the dominant OS in the mobile phone and tablet markets.

The mobile phone space is definitely susceptible to rapid change and you have to keep up with the other players to stay relevant. Ask MS about that. :lol

As far as maximum profits, Apple is able to command those profits due to the price points their devices command, as well as the amount of kickbacks they can get from carriers. I'm sure AT&T is giving them quite a bit to keep it exclusive to their network for so long. It works for Apple in their bottom line that they are making such a huge profit on each device. In the long run, when their marketshare is surpassed and grows increasingly irrelevant, you will probably see more development on the dominant platform (Android). iOS will still have good apps, but the devs will go where the market is, and if it's not on iOS, they won't put the majority of their efforts there.
 
andycapps said:
I thought they were all Droid branded. My bad. I'm on Sprint so I don't pay too much attention to it. Is it just the higher end Android phones that are branded "Droid" now?
Yeah. They are being picky with the Droid branding. Perhaps they dont want to pay Lucasfilm royalties on all the phones. :D
 

Minsc

Gold Member
andycapps said:
It's larger than the Android ecosystem for now. Anyone that is seeing how this is working so far in the mobile space knows that the tablet space will likely have a majority of users running an Android OS within a year or two of the first ones being launched. The simple fact that it's free to the manufacturers, that it's with multiple manufacturers, and that it's with multiple carriers means that it's inevitable that it'll have the dominant OS in the mobile phone and tablet markets.

Yea, I really don't see that happening. Tablets are different than phones, in that they're not subsidized, and not quite as much locked to a single carrier (I know people who don't have or want iPhones, but they have iPads). All I've been reading about the Tablet space is what a mistake it is and how no one wants to go up against the iPad, and basically everything that is, is doomed to fail. An Android OS tablet would probably take well over 5 years to take away Apple's iPad momentum now, and Android still needs to get a few big things straightened out, really big things, like having a legit & nice marketplace for devs to sell their products afaik.
 

tino

Banned
PhoncipleBone said:
Yeah. They are being picky with the Droid branding. Perhaps they dont want to pay Lucasfilm royalties on all the phones. :D
Verizon only brand high end phones with the Droid name. Mid-tier android phones don't get the droid brand and have *gasp* bing as default search engine. I figure samsung galaxy s doesn't get the droid sub-brand becuase Verizon doesn't get it exclusively.

Creating the "Droid" sub-brand and owning it is the smartest thing Verizon has done in years.
 
bean breath said:
Virgin Mobile has the Samsung Intercept for $250 (£157).

virgin-intercept-10-04-2010.jpg


cfCvP.png

Better, but its still using a tiny (3") screen with a crappy (400x240) resolution which is far from ideal for Android. SOC seems decent at least.
 

turnbuckle

Member
Minsc said:
iOS isn't exclusive to the iPhone. If you want to compare Android #s to iPhones, you're very erroneously forgetting to add in iTouch and iPad devices too, as they both run iOS apps, and I believe double if not triple your iPhone userbase.

I forget what the totals are (android users vs iPhone users vs iPhone + iTouch +iPad users), but part of the reason iOS is very popular is because it runs on more than just phones I believe.

I don't really see Apple overtaking Android's numbers (ever), but with the growth rate of the iPad and the iPhone moving to other carriers in the US, it should give them some decent competition.

Sorry, meant exclusive to Apple products.
 
PhoncipleBone said:
Y Once those restrictions are out of the way and Apple is on multiple carriers, it will be quite different.
.

Well the iPhone is on all the major networks here in the UK and it hasn't stopped Android's rise in popularity here. Of course, the Android offerings are much better here and even basic PAYG plans come with data in the UK these days so its a market that was always going to be better suited to the platform but its still worth pointing out. I don't think the iPhone moving to other networks in the US will stop the growth of Android devices but it may expand the market as a whole and/or eat into NOKIA/RIM's marketshare.


delirium said:
For all the people arguing that Apple doesn't care about marketshare: what happens if they get marginalized like they did with Mac and OS X? Will they be happy with a 5% marketshare compared to Android?

If their absolute unit sales don't decrease in the process (which given how fast the smartphone market is expanding, is quite possible) then I don't think they'll be overly concerned. Its always been about profit margins and units for Apple, their position in terms of marketshare has never really been all that important and those metrics don't seem to going south anytime soon. Between the itouch, iphone and ipad there'll still be a big enough marketplace to support the app store even if iPhone sales do eventually slip.
 
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