100k Android phones activated daily!

[charrison]

Apple's selling about 75k iPhones a day. They have by far the best selling single handset in the USA. Oh and they had the biggest quarter $$$ wise this last one. I suspect the 75k a day average will stay around as long as they keep making them. They have nothing to worry about, nothing at all. People who want iPhones will buy them, people who don't will buy Androids. And I suspect a some of that 100k number of Androids were free, I know when I was at the mall the guy at the Verizon Kiosk offered me 2 free Moto Droids if I signed a 2 year 2 line contract.

But this is quickly going to become about the OS, not the handset. I really doubt apple wants an app for that coming to android first. OR people tethoring their ipad to an android.

And there are no free handsets out there. If handsets were free the etf would not be $300. People are paying for the handsets on a monthly basis.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I dont disagree there is room for more than one major player and I would prefer that there were multiple major players. But if apple is not careful they could find themselves being a minor player on the sidelines.

And apple has had more than enough to get a cdma phone out. By leaving cdma out they have left 175million customers on the sidelines in the US.

You know what? I'm just not going to rehash the same old BS for the thousandth time.

 

[Cuda1447]

Apple's selling about 75k iPhones a day. They have by far the best selling single handset in the USA. Oh and they had the biggest quarter $$$ wise this last one. I suspect the 75k a day average will stay around as long as they keep making them. They have nothing to worry about, nothing at all. People who want iPhones will buy them, people who don't will buy Androids. And I suspect a some of that 100k number of Androids were free, I know when I was at the mall the guy at the Verizon Kiosk offered me 2 free Moto Droids if I signed a 2 year 2 line contract.

So it used to be that Apple outsold Android. Now Android is outselling Apple, but Apple is still selling 75,000 a day. Well guess what, its not 100,000 a day. Or 150,000. More is always better.


Theoretical question, if Android didn't exist would Apple sell more or less Iphones? I'd venture to guess more. What that means then, is Android does hurt Apple, as it takes away some sales. Sure, Apple hasn't gone bankrupt, but they still lose money.

It doesn't matter though, this battle won't be won in a day. This is going to be a multi-year war in which Android slowly keeps increasing and increasing and increasing, until one day, we all wake up, realize there are 200 Android Handsets. 5 Android tv's, 15 Android Tablets, Android in your car computer etc etc...

Apple will still have the Iphone though. Sure, some people will buy it, but the damage will have been done. Google will be so integrated in EVERYTHING that the writing will be on the wall. If you can't see it coming, well I think you're blind. It seems plainly obvious to me that Googles plan is to integrate ALL of their shit. It already works pretty damn well.


I use a Nexus one with a Google voice phone # for my 2nd line. I have 3 gmail addresses, 2 personal and one through business. Likewise I have 3 separate calenders I keep. I use Google Maps for my navigation. I use the google rss feeder thing with an application to keep up to date with news thats important to me. And of course, I use google search, a lot. Oh and youtube! And I do all of this from my Android handset.

That is called integration ladies and gentlemen. And its only going to get more integrated as time passes. This is the end game. This is the nuke that will win the war, IMO of course.

 

[TheWart]

^^^ (not gonna quote all that text heh)

I agree with some of your points, but if you look at it in terms of revenue, Apple is still sitting very pretty vis-a-vis Google, *even if* iPhone sales hover at this level and Android jumps to 200,000 phones a day (taking marketshare from RIM and WinMo, for example).

Why? Because Apple makes its money from its hardware, and Google does not have that luxury/curse. What percentage of Google's revenues are from mobile search? The little bit of money it makes from Android handsets pales in comparison to the margins that Apple makes on its iphone.

 

[charrison]

^^^ (not gonna quote all that text heh)

I agree with some of your points, but if you look at it in terms of revenue, Apple is still sitting very pretty vis-a-vis Google, *even if* iPhone sales hover at this level and Android jumps to 200,000 phones a day (taking marketshare from RIM and WinMo, for example).

Why? Because Apple makes its money from its hardware, and Google does not have that luxury/curse. What percentage of Google's revenues are from mobile search? The little bit of money it makes from Android handsets pales in comparison to the margins that Apple makes on its iphone.

The real question is what is going to happen to those margins going forward now that there is real choice in this market.

 

[charrison]

You know what? I'm just not going to rehash the same old BS for the thousandth time.

Leaving 175m possible customers off the table is bs?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Leaving 175m possible customers off the table is bs?

And what exactly is new about that? If it wasn't for the iPhone, Android would likely be a damn ugly, unwieldy OS.

Whether you love hate or give a shit about the iPhone, the iPhone drug smartphone OS's from a barely functional, non intuitive OS to something that works rather well.

Without the multi-year contract with ATT, there likely wouldn't be an iPhone, and without the iPhone the smartphone OS development would be years delayed.

I suspect that the contract was struck rather early on in the development of the iPhone, and that it expires this year, I may well be wrong, but we shall see. We may never know, both corporations are pretty tight lipped about the deal, and all we have is 3rd hand info. One of the court documents prepared by Apple refers to a USA Today article that says the contract expires in 2012 of so. I literally laughed when I read it. Rather than come out & reveal when the contract was struck & when it expires, they refer to a newspaper article?

But then again, I could really give a shit less, I have Apple stock, but I'm honestly unlikely to purchase an iPhone, (unless they partner with TMobile) although I do enjoy my iPads.

And I'm not a massive fan of any particular company or OS, show me a tablet with Android that works as well or better than the iPad and I'll likely buy it.

 

[charrison]

And what exactly is new about that? If it wasn't for the iPhone, Android would likely be a damn ugly, unwieldy OS.

Whether you love hate or give a shit about the iPhone, the iPhone drug smartphone OS's from a barely functional, non intuitive OS to something that works rather well.

Without the multi-year contract with ATT, there likely wouldn't be an iPhone, and without the iPhone the smartphone OS development would be years delayed.

I suspect that the contract was struck rather early on in the development of the iPhone, and that it expires this year, I may well be wrong, but we shall see. We may never know, both corporations are pretty tight lipped about the deal, and all we have is 3rd hand info. One of the court documents prepared by Apple refers to a USA Today article that says the contract expires in 2012 of so. I literally laughed when I read it. Rather than come out & reveal when the contract was struck & when it expires, they refer to a newspaper article?

But then again, I could really give a shit less, I have Apple stock, but I'm honestly unlikely to purchase an iPhone, (unless they partner with TMobile) although I do enjoy my iPads.

And I'm not a massive fan of any particular company or OS, show me a tablet with Android that works as well or better than the iPad and I'll likely buy it.

I dont really disagree with anything you are saying. But I do think the exclusive contract was too long and stands to damage apples position in the market by leaving so many customers off the table for too long.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I dont really disagree with anything you are saying. But I do think the exclusive contract was too long and stands to damage apples position in the market by leaving so many customers off the table for too long.

Apple (Jobs) has a difficult time understanding how quick and cut throat the business world is, I don't think he anticipated a rival smartphone OS would be developed and adopted so quickly. It's not like you'd expect someone that sits on your board of directors would incubate and deploy a free, open smartphone OS under your nose and kick your ass with it...

Look at what happened with Microsoft and Apple back in the day. History repeats itself for those that don't learn it's lessons.

I recently rewatched "The Pirates of Silicon Valley", and saw a lot of parallels to what's going on now. It's a great show if you're a geek, and gives a lot of insight into what happened back then, and foreshadows what's going to happen. I don't think Apple will hit bottom as they did back then, it's too big and has multiple product lines.

 

[dwell]

Apple (Jobs) has a difficult time understanding how quick and cut throat the business world is, I don't think he anticipated a rival smartphone OS would be developed and adopted so quickly. It's not like you'd expect someone that sits on your board of directors would incubate and deploy a free, open smartphone OS under your nose and kick your ass with it....

If Jobs knows anything it's business. He's laughing all the way to the bank with the iPhone while Google is hoping people use their services on Android in order to collect revenue. Apple does not have to blanket the planet with iPhones in order to maintain a lucrative business with the product.

Android may be pushing units lately but as of yet they have not put even a dent in iPhone sales. Google are more of a threat to Microsoft than Apple at this point.

 

[charrison]

If Jobs knows anything it's business. He's laughing all the way to the bank with the iPhone while Google is hoping people use their services on Android in order to collect revenue. Apple does not have to blanket the planet with iPhones in order to maintain a lucrative business with the product.

Android may be pushing units lately but as of yet they have not put even a dent in iPhone sales. Google are more of a threat to Microsoft than Apple at this point.

It is a threat to everyone in the space. If apple is not viewing it as a threat, they are foolish.

 

[Narmer]

If Jobs knows anything it's business. He's laughing all the way to the bank with the iPhone while Google is hoping people use their services on Android in order to collect revenue. Apple does not have to blanket the planet with iPhones in order to maintain a lucrative business with the product.

Android may be pushing units lately but as of yet they have not put even a dent in iPhone sales. Google are more of a threat to Microsoft than Apple at this point.

People are using their services. Now that their mobile ad acquisition has been approved, even more will use it. Furthermore, Google is expanding everywhere with their bread-n-butter at the core of these new ventures. Operating systems, desktops, phones, TVs, cloud services, etc... They are on a roll and seem to be taking over from Microsoft as the dominant tech company. With Android being on so many devices and search being at the heart of so many services, they are building something that will eventually keep Jobs up at night.

 

[TheWart]

In light of the discussion, I thought John Gruber's illustration of the issue to be very insightful imo:

The big loser this week, though, was Microsoft. They’re simply not even part of the game. RIM looms large, as BlackBerrys continue to reign as the best-selling smartphones in the U.S. But Microsoft? They’ve got nothing. No interesting devices, weak sales, and a shrinking user base. Microsoft’s irrelevance is taken for granted.

Google’s competitive focus on the iPhone at I/O was intense and scathing. But it’s Microsoft’s lunch they’re eating. Apple’s and RIM’s game is selling the integrated whole — their own devices, running their own software. Google is playing Microsoft’s game — licensing a platform to many device makers.

The big problem for Microsoft is not that there isn’t, in theory, room for more than one licensed mobile platform, but rather that Microsoft’s model hinges upon monopoly-sized market share. Apple could positively thrive with a long-term mobile market share of, say, 20-25 percent. In the PC industry, Apple generates an outsized share of the profits despite selling only 5 percent of the total units worldwide, because all of Apple’s PCs are in the middle and high price range of the market. In the phone industry today — all mobile phones, not just smartphones — Nokia sells more than 10 times as many units as Apple, but Apple generates more profit.

Microsoft can’t afford for its mobile platform to account for just a sliver of the industry’s unit sales. Their licensing model is all about volume — low per-unit profits multiplied by an enormous number of units. They’re not selling $400-600 phones, they’re selling $8-15 licenses for an OS.

But Google lets carriers and handset makers license Android for free. And not only has Google cut the bottom out of the market price-wise, by the time Windows Phone 7 phones actually come to market, Android will have two complete years of momentum and market share behind it.

Three years ago, just before the original iPhone shipped, here’s what [Steve Ballmer said in an interview with USA Today’s David Lieberman]:

“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60 percent or 70 percent or 80 percent of them, than I would to have 2 percent or 3 percent, which is what Apple might get.”

Not only was he wrong about the iPhone, but he was even more wrong about Windows Mobile. Three years ago Ballmer was talking about 60, 70, 80 percent market share. This week, Gartner reported that Windows Mobile has dropped to 6.8 percent market share in worldwide smartphone sales, down dramatically from 10.2 percent a year ago. (The same report puts iPhone OS at 15.2 percent, and Android at 9.6.)

Microsoft can’t undercut Android on price, and it seems increasingly unlikely that they can beat Android in terms of features or experience. They didn’t warrant even a passing reference from Google at I/O. No chance, indeed.

 

[zerocool84]

If Jobs knows anything it's business. He's laughing all the way to the bank with the iPhone while Google is hoping people use their services on Android in order to collect revenue. Apple does not have to blanket the planet with iPhones in order to maintain a lucrative business with the product.

Android may be pushing units lately but as of yet they have not put even a dent in iPhone sales. Google are more of a threat to Microsoft than Apple at this point.

You don`t think Android has put a dent in iPhone sales??? Lol whatever helps you sleep at night. Stay funny.

 

[dwell]

You don`t think Android has put a dent in iPhone sales??? Lol whatever helps you sleep at night. Stay funny.

iPhone just had a record quarter with no hardware refresh in over a year. I'm not really seeing the Android effect taking its toll.

http://www.techspot.com/news/38667-apple-celebrates-record-quarter-iphone-sales-up-131.html

Cupertino shipped 8.75 million iPhones, a massive 131% leap from last year

 

[zerocool84]

iPhone just had a record quarter with no hardware refresh in over a year. I'm not really seeing the Android effect taking its toll.

http://www.techspot.com/news/38667-apple-celebrates-record-quarter-iphone-sales-up-131.html

So there's zero possibility that they could have had more growth cus no way anyone, not one single person in the world that wanted a iPhone would even look at an Android phone? There's a big difference between supporting a product because it's good and being a blind fanboi. I guess all those people buying Android phones are in places of the world where they haven't heard of an iPhone seeing as that's how you're looking at it. Are you really that naive to think that the iPhone has zero competition from anyone else? Seriously are you?

 

[dwell]

So there's zero possibility that they could have had more growth cus no way anyone, not one single person in the world that wanted a iPhone would even look at an Android phone? There's a big difference between supporting a product because it's good and being a blind fanboi. I guess all those people buying Android phones are in places of the world where they haven't heard of an iPhone seeing as that's how you're looking at it. Are you really that naive to think that the iPhone has zero competition from anyone else? Seriously are you?

I am sure *some* potential iPhone sales are going to Android, but not in any way to make a significant dent in sales. People want a iPhone because of the brand. Anyone who wants an iPhone and ends up with an Android phone is pretty much settling.

 

[rudeguy]

I am sure *some* potential iPhone sales are going to Android, but not in any way to make a significant dent in sales. People want a iPhone because of the brand. Anyone who wants an iPhone and ends up with an Android phone is pretty much settling.

People who want an iphone now want one because they are sheeple. You are 100% right. They are not buying a phone based on their needs, specs, longevity...any kind of intelligent decision. They are buying it because it has a little apple on the back.

But I'm glad that iphone is still selling phones to the idiots. Keeps the android forums a lot cleaner.

 

[dwell]

People who want an iphone now want one because they are sheeple. You are 100% right. They are not buying a phone based on their needs, specs, longevity...any kind of intelligent decision. They are buying it because it has a little apple on the back.

But I'm glad that iphone is still selling phones to the idiots. Keeps the android forums a lot cleaner.

I bought one because it irrefutably has the best apps available for it. That's part of the allure of the iPhone brand. I suspect a lot of people buy the iPhone for the same reason. Are they "sheeple" too?

 

[TheWart]

People who want an iphone now want one because they are sheeple. You are 100% right. They are not buying a phone based on their needs, specs, longevity...any kind of intelligent decision. They are buying it because it has a little apple on the back.

But I'm glad that iphone is still selling phones to the idiots. Keeps the android forums a lot cleaner.

troll troll troll your boat...

 

[gsaldivar]

Apple is still sitting very pretty ... Because Apple makes its money from its hardware ... The little bit of money it makes from Android handsets pales in comparison to the margins that Apple makes on its iphone.

To say it plainly: Apple is at a disadvantage here precisely because they leave so little money on the table for other companies.

Google's platform is so more than a single phone, on a single carrier... it's an entire ecosystem. Individuals can CHOOSE whatever hardware that suits them, on whatever carrier gives them the best price/performance. You can debate the iPhone-on-Verizon rumors all you want, but the fact is that Google's ecosystem is mature, diverse, stable, and well-supported... and it's here today.

Apple has gone through great efforts to maximize the amount of profit they are getting from each stage of their own platform. I think Newsweek blogger Daniel Lyons says it best:

In the 1980s, Apple jumped out to an early lead in personal computers, but then got selfish. Steve Jobs, a notorious control freak, just could not play well with others.

Along came Microsoft, with Windows, which was a knockoff of Apple's operating system. Microsoft partnered with everyone and today has 90 percent market share, while Apple's share lingers in the single digits.


Today the battlefield is mobile devices, and just as before, Apple jumped out to an early lead. And just as before, Jobs got selfish. He won't support Flash, or any cross-platform tools—because he wants developers locked into his platform, and his App Store, where he collects a 30 percent commission.


He's created his own advertising platform, and stacked the deck in his favor by refusing to share user data with other platforms. On that one he'll take a 40 percent slice, thank you very much.


He's even censoring content, ruling out material that he deems to be offensive. Not just porn, but anything that's racy or suggestive, or that "ridicules public figures."


What makes this even more insulting is that Jobs tries to dress up his selfishness as a kind of altruism. He says it's all about creating a beautiful experience, that while he may be selling you an intentionally crippled device, he's doing it for your own good.


Well, bull. The truth is, this is about Apple wringing every last dime out of its ecosystem and leaving nothing on the table for anyone else.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tech...nara-iphone-why-i-m-switching-to-android.aspx

 

[gsaldivar]

I bought one because it irrefutably has the best apps available for it.

Since when does more = better?

 

[jpeyton]

It's not worth the argument, honestly. The Apple Defense Force will continue to sing the iPhone's praises even as Android leapfrogs Apple in market share over the next few years.

It's inevitable. I have one friend on T-Mobile who just switched from his BlackBerry to an HTC Android phone (MyTouch-something). I have another friend on AT&T who is so tired of dropped calls that they are switching to Verizon with a Droid Incredible this summer. And the company I work for is having a lot of employees switch their work phones from BlackBerrys to Moto Droids (company is on a Verizon account).

Steve was right to be pissed at Google. Apple didn't enter the search business, but Google did enter the phone business. And now 175 million cell phone subscribers in the US who don't have AT&T have a variety of Android phones to keep them from ever needing an iPhone.

 

[dwell]

Since when does more = better?

Best = better. I can't find replacements for nearly 1/2 the apps I use on the iPhone and the other 1/2 are not as well made in most cases.

 

[charrison]

Best = better. I can't find replacements for nearly 1/2 the apps I use on the iPhone and the other 1/2 are not as well made in most cases.

Really what apps can you not find replacements for?

I will agree that iphone apps tend to better at this point, but that is a point that is not going to last much longer.