Apple up, Android flat in smartphone growth
loopinsight.com
loopinsight.com
Nielson's analysis is equally bad. FTA, "Android share of recent acquirers flattened in 2011; Apple is now driving smartphone growth." This is simply not true. Android is still grabbing the largest portion of new smartphone users.
I guess you could say Apple's departments handling marketing and Verizon launch details are driving smartphone adoption.
Is a lot more helpful. There's still a lot of market to cover, so it's not like iOS and Android are cannibalizing each others sales yet.
I'd like to know why people aren't getting smartphones? Is the cost of the data plans? If so, I think we may see growth in this market segment slow down a lot faster than some people expect.
My mother got an iPhone, not because she wanted lots of apps, but because the user interface was simple enough to understand and use for making phone calls, and because she never figured out the T9 stuff. I was quite surprised when I discovered that she'd figured out how to use Safari on her own.
Some other friends got an iPhone after buying and iPod touch for watching videos and listening to music while commuting, and gradually discovered that it was pointless carrying around two devices.
So the potential market is very big IMO, and only limited to how far down the price can be pushed. Of course, there will always be a big market for "non"-smartphones, as these will get cheaper as well and reach even more people.
It's what's stopping me. $60/month for both lines -> $720/year, and given how much I'm in front of computers and in range of free-to-me WiFi that's a terrible, terrible deal. I've got a "feature phone" and I'm not really feeling the pain.
It's cheaper than any other option to a ridiculous degree.
Many android phones are sold as "the nice phone that you can get with your 2-year contract" as opposed to an item that the owner sought out explicitly, so they're less likely to explore the full potential of the device.
In Canada where the rule is 3 year contracts (and thus free is even more expensive than in the States), I've seen low-end Androids for $0 with 3 year contract, no data plan required and 2 phones + a PS3 for 2 three year contracts.
True, but Canada has a strangely high iOS adoption rate and carriers are just doing whatever the hell they can to increase that existing 9% of Canadian smartphone users that own Androids. I think it's because they can negotiate better with the individual Android device makers than they can negotiate with Apple or even RIM.
Android should go after AT&T fast.
That article merely demonstrates that statistics will tell you anything.