Android now commands 75% of the market

[Keith_W]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/01/android-75-percent-marketshare-136-million-shipped/

Android devices already counted for a lion's share of phones shipped during Q2, and now fresh IDC figures show Google's OS claiming the top spot with a hefty 75 percent marketshare in the third quarter. In total, 136 million Android handsets were shipped during the time frame, a new record in a single quarter. Even with the help of new hardware, iOS lagged behind in second place with a 14.9 percent stake of handsets. Both Blackberry and Symbian clung to their respective 3rd and 4th place spots, making up 6.6 percent of total shipments. Windows-based phones (both WP7 and Windows Mobile) fell to 2 percent, keeping Microsoft in fifth place just above smartphones running Linux. However, with Windows Phone 8 devices making their debut, we wouldn't be surprised to see Redmond's numbers get a boost when IDC's next report rolls around.

In the last quarter, Android was 68% while iOS was 16.8%. This quarter, Android has 75% and iOS has 14.9%. Apple was absolutely right to get rid of Forstall. His stubbornness and mis-steps have cost Apple dearly. Note that this quarter includes some iPhone 5 sales - however we all know that the iPhone 5 is bottlenecked at production. By the way, there is data elsewhere that shows that Samsung by itself has a larger market share than Apple.

When Android hit 68%, I did not believe it would go any higher. Certainly a lot of Android's growth comes from people who have migrated from Apple. I didn't think that iOS would shrink to less than 15% of the market it once dominated. I suspect that 75% will be the high water mark for Android. Win 8 will start to gain market share, probably at Android's expense and maybe some of Apple.

Theoretically three quarters of everybody on WBF should be carrying an Android device. Yes, I know this forum is dominated by Americans, and Apple is actually the market leader in the USA - but there should still be more Android owners in total. So why are there so many Apple threads on WBF? Same conclusion I drew years ago when I observed Mac fanatics - they are a small but vocal group. The vast majority of us own PC's, and we just get on with it. Most Windows users don't see the need to carry on about how great Windows is all the time.

 

[MylesBAstor]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/01/android-75-percent-marketshare-136-million-shipped/



In the last quarter, Android was 68% while iOS was 16.8%. This quarter, Android has 75% and iOS has 14.9%. Apple was absolutely right to get rid of Forstall. His stubbornness and mis-steps have cost Apple dearly. Note that this quarter includes some iPhone 5 sales - however we all know that the iPhone 5 is bottlenecked at production. By the way, there is data elsewhere that shows that Samsung by itself has a larger market share than Apple.

When Android hit 68%, I did not believe it would go any higher. Certainly a lot of Android's growth comes from people who have migrated from Apple. I didn't think that iOS would shrink to less than 15% of the market it once dominated. I suspect that 75% will be the high water mark for Android. Win 8 will start to gain market share, probably at Android's expense and maybe some of Apple.

Theoretically three quarters of everybody on WBF should be carrying an Android device. Yes, I know this forum is dominated by Americans, and Apple is actually the market leader in the USA - but there should still be more Android owners in total. So why are there so many Apple threads on WBF? Same conclusion I drew years ago when I observed Mac fanatics - they are a small but vocal group. The vast majority of us own PC's, and we just get on with it. Most Windows users don't see the need to carry on about how great Windows is all the time.

Keith-

To be fair, and I have owned a Droid for years now, the original Droids weren't all they were cracked up to be. They were especially lousy if you depended on email
for your business, among many other things.

The new Galaxy 3S is much improved however--yet even on that--my aol mail is again corrupted.

 

[Steve Williams]

Keith

if that's correct why the heck aren't you buying Samsung stock. Put your money where your mouth is

 

[Keith_W]

Steve, it is Google which I like, not Samsung I don't have a single Samsung branded product in my home, unless you count RAM and chips made by Samsung but packaged and sold by somebody else. I couldn't bring myself to buy a Galaxy S3. Neither can I bring myself to buy a Samsung TV, even though it is time I replace my old TV with something more modern. I couldn't give two hoots about them, just like I wouldn't really care if Toyota suddenly imploded and disappeared.

 

[Steve Williams]

but if statistics are correct seems to me it would be a good stock to own

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/01/android-75-percent-marketshare-136-million-shipped/



In the last quarter, Android was 68% while iOS was 16.8%. This quarter, Android has 75% and iOS has 14.9%. Apple was absolutely right to get rid of Forstall. His stubbornness and mis-steps have cost Apple dearly. Note that this quarter includes some iPhone 5 sales - however we all know that the iPhone 5 is bottlenecked at production. By the way, there is data elsewhere that shows that Samsung by itself has a larger market share than Apple.

When Android hit 68%, I did not believe it would go any higher. Certainly a lot of Android's growth comes from people who have migrated from Apple. I didn't think that iOS would shrink to less than 15% of the market it once dominated. I suspect that 75% will be the high water mark for Android. Win 8 will start to gain market share, probably at Android's expense and maybe some of Apple.

Theoretically three quarters of everybody on WBF should be carrying an Android device. Yes, I know this forum is dominated by Americans, and Apple is actually the market leader in the USA - but there should still be more Android owners in total. So why are there so many Apple threads on WBF? Same conclusion I drew years ago when I observed Mac fanatics - they are a small but vocal group. The vast majority of us own PC's, and we just get on with it. Most Windows users don't see the need to carry on about how great Windows is all the time.

I know you're clamoring for anything you can come up with to discredit Apple, Keith, but I'm not sure this one works. Small but vocal -- the same conclusion I've come to about tube and vinyl users. But I haven't concluded that they're vocal becasue they feel the need to "carry on" to justify their choice. I think the analog crowd is genuinely enthusiastic about their choice and just love to discuss it. I don't agree that these technologies are more musical or revealing or life-like. I wish their discussion didn't have to so often be comparative and declare the inferiority of what they didn't choose. But that does nothing to diminish the sincere passion those folks have for those technologies.

Tim

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

but if statistics are correct seems to me it would be a good stock to own

You can't buy stock in the Android operating system; you have to buy stock in Google, but it's not a bad choice, depending on how long you tend to hold. I'm a hold 'em guy, so I look at 5-year performance, and Google is good. It had a couple of really high months in the fall of 07, so that wouldn't be fair to compare, but that year, Google prices hovered around $500. If you sold today, you'd get $692 or thereabouts. $192 a share; not bad at all. Of course using the same math, if you sold Apple bought in '07 today you'd make in the neighborhood of $400 a share.

I think you're still in the right stock, Steve.

Tim

 

[Steve Williams]

You can't buy stock in the Android operating system; you have to buy stock in Google, but it's not a bad choice, depending on how long you tend to hold. I'm a hold 'em guy, so I look at 5-year performance, and Google is good. It had a couple of really high months in the fall of 07, so that wouldn't be fair to compare, but that year, Google prices hovered around $500. If you sold today, you'd get $692 or thereabouts. $192 a share; not bad at all. Of course using the same math, if you sold Apple bought in '07 today you'd make in the neighborhood of $400 a share.

I think you're still in the right stock, Steve.

Tim

Considering when I bought it, it was somewhere between $30-$40 per share, I tend to agree

 

[amirm]

I don't trust the "mobile" statistics that we get for WBF. But trusting it anyway, in the last month, by far the largest number of mobile users were iPad. The next largest with half the share of iPad was iPhone. The list of devices after that drop like rock to noise level. All of them combined do not add up to 10% of iPad!

Looking at Browser statistics, #1 share is "safari." Assuming this is sum of Mac OS and iOS, we can't use this as it being just mobile. But still, this site's *usage* by far is dominated by Apple users no matter which way you skin it.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

I don't trust the "mobile" statistics that we get for WBF. But trusting it anyway, in the last month, by far the largest number of mobile users were iPad. The next largest with half the share of iPad was iPhone. The list of devices after that drop like rock to noise level. All of them combined do not add up to 10% of iPad!

Looking at Browser statistics, #1 share is "safari." Assuming this is sum of Mac OS and iOS, we can't use this as it being just mobile. But still, this site's *usage* by far is dominated by Apple users no matter which way you skin it.

Buncha hippies.

Tim

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Buncha hippies.

Tim

Hippies I can deal with....iSheep I can't.

Truth be told, can't deal with anyone who's so entrenched in one thing that he/she can't see the forest....

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Hippies I can deal with....iSheep I can't.

Truth be told, can't deal with anyone who's so entrenched in one thing that he/she can't see the forest....

It's hard to understand unless you're there, John, but I think lots of Apple users are deeply entrenched, not because they're fanboys, but because they bought the second Apple product and it worked so easily, so well with the first Apple product, that it was a no-brainer to buy the third. Enough of that will turn you into a fanboy, but it's not blind fanaticism, it is very much driven by the user experience.

With that said, if you're the kind of person who likes to fool around with operating systems, if you have a bit of an IT or DIY bent, you may never appreciate it, and that's ok. Most of the serious, multi-Apple product users I know just want the things to do what they're supposed to do, with a minimum of fuss. I'm a bit of an exception. I don't mind installing plug-ins and drivers and doing what needs to be done to get the Apple to share with the Windows machine, the PS3, the interesting, sometimes quirky 3rd party software product. Most? Most Apple users don't want to touch anything that doesn't either say Apple or is endorsed by Apple. Why? Becasue they know that they're going to plug it in, follow a handful of bullet points worth of instruction, and get to play.

Windows is getting better at this, but they're still not there. And I remember too well when Windows and plug and play, in the same sentence, was a very dark joke. A lot of Apple users remember it too, and they're not going back. They see the forest. It's a very tidy, comfortable forest filled with friendly woodland animals who clean up after themselves and cause no problems.

Tim

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

It's hard to understand unless you're there, John, but I think lots of Apple users are deeply entrenched, not because they're fanboys, but because they bought the second Apple product and it worked so easily, so well with the first Apple product, that it was a no-brainer to buy the third. Enough of that will turn you into a fanboy, but it's not blind fanaticism, it is very much driven by the user experience.

With that said, if you're the kind of person who likes to fool around with operating systems, if you have a bit of an IT or DIY bent, you may never appreciate it, and that's ok. Most of the serious, multi-Apple product users I know just want the things to do what they're supposed to do, with a minimum of fuss. I'm a bit of an exception. I don't mind installing plug-ins and drivers and doing what needs to be done to get the Apple to share with the Windows machine, the PS3, the interesting, sometimes quirky 3rd party software product. Most? Most Apple users don't want to touch anything that doesn't either say Apple or is endorsed by Apple. Why? Becasue they know that they're going to plug it in, follow a handful of bullet points worth of instruction, and get to play.

Windows is getting better at this, but they're still not there. And I remember too well when Windows and plug and play, in the same sentence, was a very dark joke. A lot of Apple users remember it too, and they're not going back. They see the forest. It's a very tidy, comfortable forest filled with friendly woodland animals who clean up after themselves and cause no problems.

Tim

LOL! Let me leave it at that, since I'm still busting a gut!

I'm off to power up my Samsung phone using the same cable I used to power up my Logitech keyboard. No fuss at all.

 

[Keith_W]

I'm off to power up my Samsung phone using the same cable I used to power up my Logitech keyboard. No fuss at all.

That's a great point, actually! Hey Tim - I think i've seen you go on rants about overpriced cable? Well, what do you think of the $40 Lightning connectors that Apple forces you to use? Magical? Splendiferous? Do they transfer data any better than plain old USB? Do they perhaps ... sound better? Micro-USB cables used by the rest of the industry are readily available for $5 in any computer shop.

One set of standards for hifi, and another for Apple.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

One set of standards for hifi, and another for Apple.

And Sony! Haven't bought any of their stuff either after my $1500 Betamax!

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

That's a great point, actually! Hey Tim - I think i've seen you go on rants about overpriced cable? Well, what do you think of the $40 Lightning connectors that Apple forces you to use? Magical? Splendiferous? Do they transfer data any better than plain old USB? Do they perhaps ... sound better? Micro-USB cables used by the rest of the industry are readily available for $5 in any computer shop.

One set of standards for hifi, and another for Apple.

Nope. None of the above. They are quantifiably faster. One does not need to believe in magic or imagine benefits that you can sense but cannot yet be measured by science to understand the benefit, one only needs an application for the speed. I don't personally have one. I'm content with USB and optical. I never even got around to using the firewire in my MacBooks.

But you probably know all that. And you certainly know that a $40 cable is cheap by audiophile standards. A $40 cable that actually makes a measurable difference? Has the high end even come up with a $4,000 cable that does that?

Tim

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

LOL! Let me leave it at that, since I'm still busting a gut!

I'm off to power up my Samsung phone using the same cable I used to power up my Logitech keyboard. No fuss at all.

I think we both know we're not talking about connecting key boards. I had a plain (Microsoft, actually) usb keyboard connected to my first MacBook, too.

Tim

 

[amirm]

Here is a down side to owning 75% of the mobile phone OS market: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/google-antitrust-lawsuit-apple-microsoft,18890.html

FTC May Recommend Antitrust Suit Against Google

Google is reportedly facing antitrust allegations over restricted access to smartphone patents the company owns.

According to an article published by Bloomberg, a "majority" of the FTC's five commissioners may recommend a lawsuit against Google sometime after the presidential election on November 6. Apparently, there are mounting concerns that Google is using patents it acquired with the purchase of Motorola to block the import of products made by Apple and Microsoft.

While the FTC declined to comment on the report, Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick stated that Google takes its "commitments to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms very seriously" and would be willing to answer "any questions". It appears that the U.S. government may be cracking on an industry that is currently focused on using lawsuits as a critical measure to compete in the U.S. market place. Bloomberg noted that the Department of Justice will be investigating Samsung's claims of industry-standard patent claims, while the FTC zeroes in on Google's Motorola Mobility unit.

Google is currently estimated to hold about 75 percent of the smartphone platform market.

------------------------------

Motorola could have enforced those patents much easier than now as part of Google. Google can easily be accused of using a "dominant" position to keep out competitors.

Inverted, Apple can run lose with much more freedom here since it doesn't have "dominant" position!