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| Apple survey: people choose Android because of carrier, screen |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-08-14 22:17:47 |
| You wouldn't believe it, but something actually, truly interesting came out of the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit yesterday. Apple had conducted a survey to find out why, exactly, consumers opted to go with Android instead of the iPhone. The results are fascinating - not only do they seem to invalidate Apple's claims, they provide an unusual insight into consumer behaviour. The gist? People choose Android not because it's an iPhone copy - they choose it because of Android's unique characteristics. |
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| Apple's world |
| By benali72 on 2012-08-15 01:45:03 |
| It's difficult for Apple to accept that some people don't want to buy their locked-down consumer stuff. Or that other factors outside their control, like the carrier, could be determinative. |
 - Score: 6 |
| key qualification |
| By pooo on 2012-08-15 01:57:46 |
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A key qualification of this data that makes it all very misleading is that these stats are for people "that were considering and iphone". Well I know a lot of people that didn't consider the iphone at all. What is that percentage? Who knows. The graphs suggest a distorted better picture for apple because it doesn't include those people at all. Also, if you add up the stats it is clear that people were asked to "check all that apply". So this doesn't say that even those people chose android over iphone because of carrier issues but only that it was one of many possible factors. So again, these stats aren are misleading except we do know that the actual interesting number, how many people chose android *only because* iphone was not available and would have otherwise, is likely far far lower than the 48% shown here. Edited 2012-08-15 02:02 UTC |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: Comment by ilovebeer |
| By ilovebeer on 2012-08-15 01:59:19 |
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> Apple is trying to make a "trade dress" case that people were fooled into buying Samsung phones because they look so much like Apple phones that they didn't realize they were buying the knockoff. To counter such a case, it's entirely appropriate to ask only those who bought a Samsung phone why they did so. None of that has anything to do with what I said. I was talking about the spin Thom tried to put on it, nothing else. > People aren't stupid. I respect Apple's design and engineering skills, but I don't buy their stuff because I don't want to live in a pretty jail. I can install apps on an Android phone or tablet that Apple would never allow in a million years, like SSHdroid (make your device into an SSH server and see the filesystem directly) just to give one example. That's nice and there are certainly others of the same opinion. I doubt the vast majority of cellphone users view their phone in terms of how "jailed" it is. Joe User has no use for his phone having SSH access. He has no need to browse the filesystem. Whatever a persons reasons are for buying whichever phone they chose, as long as it suits their needs then they bought the right phone. There isn't a universal "best" as what's best is nearly 100% relative to the user. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Not convinced |
| By ze_jerkface on 2012-08-15 02:06:58 |
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People are image conscious about appearing cheap which is why you can't trust a survey like this one. If Android phones were all $200 then you wouldn't see as many people buying them for these reasons. I'm especially dubious given the amount of people that claimed to prefer the Android app store. That's incredibly hard to believe. I'm not an Apple fan and I own an Android tablet and I will be the first to tell you that the Android app store is a distant second place. Android has some nice benefits but the game selection just plain sucks. I don't care about mobile games so I can live with it but a spade is a spade. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Comment by shmerl |
| By shmerl on 2012-08-15 02:08:40 |
|
Just to note, iOS and Android aren't too innovate OS architecture wise. Both. Interface isn't the only part which needs innovation. I'd even say they are quite aged already. That's why stronger contenders will still come to the market. Edited 2012-08-15 02:09 UTC |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: About Apple not being able to deliver |
| By krreagan on 2012-08-15 02:26:55 |
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> They're a big corporation, they have lots of money, but they're still thinking like the little guys with 1% share of the market. That's what makes Apple products so good!! Large corporations usually suck at innovation. Look at M$. There is a reason that most innovation comes from small companies. Apple has been able to hold onto that mind set. I just hope they can continue to do so. Look at this column, you are saying "Android" vs "iPhone" You are comparing apples and oranges! You should compare iPhone's to Galaxy S3's. You cannot really compare iOS to Android since Most Android phones use an outdated version that will never get updated. Another consequence of its fragmentation. The Android market would be completely fragmented if it were not for Samsung's dominance. You guy's don't get it! Apple makes one line of computers, one line of phones one line of ipods and they do them all very well! If they make 15 different phones none would be very good (see Samsung's phones). Android phones continued success can only help Apple stay sharp. |
| - Score: -1 |
| RE[2]: About Apple not being able to deliver |
| By viton on 2012-08-15 04:30:25 |
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> Which they can get only with a large variety, something that Apple doesn't have. So what is the problem? There're zillions of different phones available from companies that use "fire&forget" tactics. Apple is one of few who stay focused on their primary product. I used several Sony-Ericsson phones for a decade, but I no more wish to support a company that can't even support their less-than-year-old product. Edited 2012-08-15 04:31 UTC |
| - Score: 2 |
| handset subsidies ending in Australia |
| By unclefester on 2012-08-15 04:43:08 |
| Telstra and Optus (Australia's two biggest phone carriers) have both decided that handset subsidies are going to end soon due to a lack of profits. This is disastrous news for Apple and very good news for Android. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE[3]: About Apple not being able to deliver |
| By d3vi1 on 2012-08-15 04:51:54 |
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> That's what makes Apple products so good!! Large corporations usually suck at innovation. Look at M$. While I agree with the rest of the arguments of your post, I think that you got it wrong on this one. 'M$' doesn't suck at innovation. The Windows Phone 7 UI/ the Metro tiles thing is the first decent attempt to reinvent the phone UI since the iPhone. I agree that the Android UI doesn't really innovate, but Microsoft has been quite innovative lately. Honestly I wish they get a better chance over here. They deserve to sit a the big boys table with Apple and Google and their product is quite good. Furthermore, while I'm an "Apple fanboy" by some definitions, I think that more competition is good as long as Apple is able to keep innovating at the same rate. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[3]: About Apple not being able to deliver |
| By cdude on 2012-08-15 05:44:06 |
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> Look at this column, you are saying "Android" vs "iPhone" You are comparing apples and oranges! You should compare iPhone's to Galaxy S3's. iPhone == iOS since there are no other iOS mobile devices. Whereas with Android the Galaxy S3 is only one of many mobile devices in the market running Android. Samsung itself does offer far more Android devices then only the S3 and all of them contribute to the iPhone vs Android market share. But unlike iPhone there are even more companies offering Android tyen Samsung only and even all there devices are of relevance if the contribute to the Android success story. You yourself wrote iPhone and combining all iPhone models into that whereas you decline to do the same for Android. I would say thats Apple's vs Oranges. You need to understand that one of the reasons why Android is such a success are all the very different devices offered. If only google would make Apple-like one device and nobody else, eg Samsung, would offer other Android devices then Android would not be where it is today. So, when we talk about Android and try to compare with the iPhone then we need to compare all offers, all of the ecosystems with each other. |
| - Score: 3 |
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