• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

iPhone outselling all Android versions combined

wasn't that long ago in the news that Android app downloads surpassed Iphone apps, which means most Iphone are just fashion accessories that ring ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: QoS
dan330 said:
interesting.. but not sure of the facts that they posted. might be a little biased.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm hoping that somebody here who sees that article will highlight what seems "spun" and what's just data reportage. I don't have time right now, but I suspect the holiday push and Mr. Jobs' death could have quite a bearing on the sales numbers.
 
I would imagine Android will be on top again next quarter, since those in the market for an iOS phone will slowly start waiting for the iPhone 5. And then the iPhone 5 will come out this summer, and the pendulum will swing again.

Which is exactly how it should be. When two platforms are in a hard-core battle for market supremacy, advancements and enhancements will keep coming faster and faster, and ultimately the consumers on both platforms will be the ones who win.
 
It's the old market leader statistics game. They throw around numbers like units shipped vs. units sold vs. units activated, and top it off with quarterly income, gross revenue and profits. Seems like not so long ago there were big market leaders called GM, Bear Stearns and AIG that had stellar quarterly reports.

As far as I'm concerned its all a spreadsheet shell game.

"There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."
-- Samuel Clemens
 
Well, there are lies, damn lies, statistics - and then there's Boy Genius Reports.

Here's the article they used as source material -

Core suppliers savor bigger Apple pie | Reuters

What was said was that Samsung beat them in Q3, but Apple beat Samsung in Q4, with 37 vs. 30 million units shipped. (Based on estimates, Samsung to release numbers on Friday.)

And that because of that, Apple grew more quickly than Android to rise to a share of 44.9% vs. 44.8% for Android. (Down from 50%.)

But how tricky are the numbers? Only as tricky as blogs want them to be, and I think a few of them were asleep in math class.

How about HTC? Plenty of dark, distorted news about their 4th quarter. Poor dears appear to have only sold about 10 million smartphones and tablets to get their US$3+ billion in revenue.

MobileBurn: HTC's profit growth skids to a halt in Q4 2011

We have to play analyst to guess the phone sales. Given that Android is their big OS, and that HTC isn't the world's biggest tablet seller, what number sounds good, down from 10 million?

With similar numbers, Motorola sold over 5 million smartphones in Q4. Anyone know of a non-Android OS for Motorola smartphones?

Motorola Mobility Gives Quick Preview of Q4
 
This is always something that makes me chuckle. I've never been one to care which OS, carrier or manufacturer is the top selling. I suppose that for the average consumer the "Top selling _______" means it is the best one out there, but to many it could just mean the price is right. If iOS sells more than Android it doesn't bother me, I have the best phone for me and I'm good with that. The day that WP7 is the number one OS, I'll be a little concerned though. ;)

I do find it interesting that BGR would throw something out there with such poor fact checking involved though. They used to be a great blog and good source of information. I guess everything changes.
 
Like all big and complex data sets, there are plenty of different ways to parse the numbers ... and conspiracy theorists on either side of the game can easily make the adjustments that they need to support their cause.

For me, the key bit of data in the original article is the qualifier that the market share numbers are only for a subset of nine (unspecified) countries that a particular financial analyst is following. I don't think there's necessarily any bias in that analyst's data, but I imagine the analyst was focusing on the US and western Europe, where iOS is likely to be relatively strong ... rather than, say, Asia, where Android is more dominent.

There's no doubt that Apple had a rather amazing quarter, and there's also no doubt that Android is still doing quite well. Beyond that, I'd say it all just boils down to fanboy bragging rights that don't matter all that much in the real world.

For me, the most interesting statistic that was generated from yesterday's earning announcement doesn't even have anything to do with smartphones ... and that is that if one counts the iPad as a "computer," then last quarter Apple was probably the country's largest computer manufacturer. Of course, that would start a whole 'nuther round of semantics battles. :)
 
Yep, credit where credit is due.

My point, I hope was clear - going from suppliers can be happy as the source title to, Oh thank you iPhone for proving that Android is teh suxors! was just too much to bear.

Competition is a good thing, we all win because of it, and I care about us consumers, not the big corporations. If Apple sales competitively drive up the quality of my next Android phone, fine by moi.

Android has been number one for me, that's what makes me happy.
 
EarlyMon said:
Yep, credit where credit is due.

My point, I hope was clear - going from suppliers can be happy as the source title to, Oh thank you iPhone for proving that Android is teh suxors! was just too much to bear.

Competition is a good thing, we all win because of it, and I care about us consumers, not the big corporations. If Apple sales competitively drive up the quality of my next Android phone, fine by moi.

Android has been number one for me, that's what makes me happy.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%! We always win in the end with healthy competition.

Now, if we could get all the manufacturers to tone down the high volume releases each year and stick to making just a couple of really well built devices I'd be even happier. ;)
 
That stuff you're bringing out, EM, and you too, Pitamakan, reminds me, or rather validates my observation that the "#1 vs #2" in marketing, by who or whatever's stats, seems like the winner vs losers of the Indianapolis 500: there are seldom more than fractions of a second between them, as they rocket around that oval at about 230 miles per hour (all of them).

They give a trophy and a drink of milk and a girl to the "winner" of that race, what's the prize when iPhone is the "winner" of this blogged race? 15 minutes of "we're number one!" PR?
 
can we discuss instead whether the Big Mac or the Whopper was the best seller for Q4 2011 instead?
 
  • Like
Reactions: B2L
novox77 said:
can we discuss instead whether the Big Mac or the Whopper was the best seller for Q4 2011 instead?
Click to expand...

You know, I was a Wendy's man until BK came out with its new French fry recipe last fall ... and now it's Whoppers all the way! :D
 
Still, I think that while there is good news for Apple there, my gripe goes back to my constant refrain about wanting unbiased news.

The news here is that Apple slowed their downward spiral in a dramatic turnaround and now enjoys a tenth percentage point in market share over Android, according to one source.

What factors drove that? Was it the age-old look how good iPhone is? I don't think so. I think that Apple offering a line of 3 choices proved what Android already did, that consumers respond to choices. And how many Android sales were impacted by Apple's legal moves, both for actual availability and shopper fears?

That's where real analysis comes in.

By selling false infotainment, BGR clearly only cares about sensationalism and stirring the pot.

In no way does any data support that the iPhone outsold all Android as the BGR title and story falsely indicate.

But it does support us wasting time discussing BGR and that is all that BGR cares about.

There is some truth to the idea that there is no such thing as bad advertising and to a sleezy organization like BGR, it's particularly true.

PS, New Mexico's Blakes Lottaburger beats all others.
 
I think there was a large pent up demand from people who upgraded from 3GS / 3G phones, so hard to read into the iPhone numbers.

As a daily user of the iPhone 4S / iPad 2, along with my Android devices, I am convinced Android is heads and shoulders superior to iOS.

Competition is a good thing, and it's too bad Apple is trying to quash the competition through frivolous lawsuits. If not for the lawsuits, I'd actually spend more money on Apple products, but the way things are I do not spend a dime of my own money on Apple products. All my Apple devices are business assets given to me.

PS - BGR is one of the worst tech blog sites I visit. The writers do not do independent research nor do they do any semblence of true journalism. Many people see through them the comments are pretty hilarious to read.
 
EarlyMon said:
Still, I think that while there is good news for Apple there, my gripe goes back to my constant refrain about wanting unbiased news.
Click to expand...

Well, I'd argue that there's no such thing as unbiased news, period. Internet tech sites of all flavors are particularly suspect to me, though, because they're so blatantly focused on generating page views. Nothing else matters to them in the brave new online world.

AndroidSPCS's comment is an important one to remember, though. Apple just has one or two product releases per category per year, and so its sales figures are inherently cyclical, going up and down in response to how far they are from a new product release. That's why this supposed Apple sales lead isn't going to be around next quarter ... and also why Apple's supposed death spiral in the previous quarter was also an illusion.
 
I agree that there is no unbiased news, but I can remember a time when it wasn't as bad as today. And while I may be an old fart, that's not simple nostalgia speaking. Read all you can about Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly.

And while I agree about your comment on Apple's 3rd quarter death spiral, my downward spiral remark was not based on that. I was referring to the Android market share ascension over the downward spiral of others, including the iPhone, over the past years.
 
EarlyMon said:
I agree that there is no unbiased news, but I can remember a time when it wasn't as bad as today. And while I may be an old fart, that's not simple nostalgia speaking. Read all you can about Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm an old fart myself! I have fond memories of watching the Huntley-Brinkley Report on television ... now that was news! :)

Murrow and Friendly did some great things, especially during the McCarthy era ... but of course there were also lots of other "journalists" at the time who were working in the opposite direction, trying only to incite people in exchange for attention. Same as now in a lot of ways, except that the Internet has made it a lot easier to do -- on both ends of the spectrum.
 
As Bob so aptly put, the times they are a-changin'. News used to be broadcast to grab viewers and boost ratings to secure higher advertising revenues, but there was no interaction with the viewers, per se. Topics needed to be sensational, but not necessarily pit one group against another to whip the villagers into a frenzy.

Now the more controversy, especially with a passionate group (go to a vegan blog and post how bacon is health food) the more clicks and comments generated directly effect the revenue of the sites. Even if you comment to dispute the legitimacy of the information, it adds to the bottom line. The incentive is there to inflame rather than inform. Shame really.
 
Then I am in the minority - the story that I think is there plus a real analysis is what I think would interest enough people to really make plenty of revenue.

Then again, maybe P. T. Barnum was right after all.

Good night, Chet!

PS - and who would today's Murrow be? And where is the evidence that students from Columbia took Fred's teaching to heart. Can't agree that it's the same today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom