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1) Uhm that is exactly what I said. It's common practice to compare Android as an OS adoption vs the iPhone adoption rates. Then when people do the same for App

by sp4rki 16y ago

1) Uhm that is exactly what I said. It's common practice to compare Android as an OS adoption vs the iPhone adoption rates. Then when people do the same for Apple and add the other iOS devices, then articles as the one in the OP are born. Read my post again, because you're agreeing with me kind sir. 2) Here you're assuming that the users actually care about the iOS vs Android wars. A regular user who has an Android phone will not buy another Android phone because of its OS, they'll buy it because it's marketed as the successor of the phone they used before. By your example a regular user of Blackberry phones would easily move to another brand because it used the same Blackberry OS, or a iPhone user would move to a different phone manufacturer because he was told it also has iOS. This is simply not true. Nexus One users are more likely to buy a Nexus Two (and not a HTC Magic 2 in contrast) and iPhone4 users are more prone to buying a iPhone5 because of the product loyalty and brand popularity inherent in both choices. Industry trajectory is not measured by who has the most amount of devices with an specific OS out there, it's measured on who has the most amount of POPULAR devices period. Twelve years ago, people bought Nokia phones because they where the most popular ones around, not because they used Symbian OS. On the downloadable app part you seem to equate quantity with quality, which is flawed at best. Quality developers will flock to the platform that is more profitable and merchantable. You're right, the most popular platform is the one that will get more developer attention, but device share is not a measure of popularity in the mobile app sector. Profits are.

usaar333 16y ago
1) Oh I was agreeing with you; probably should have prefixed that with 'I agree'. 2) I disagree with you here. How much loyalty do users have to HP, Dell, etc? Certainly some, but I feel the loyalty to Windows, OS/X, etc. exceeds that loyalty. In terms of users wanting a certain phone, the mobile industry has changed a lot in the past 10 years -- phones are much more powerful. Users now end up investing substantial time and money into apps. Such apps lock users in; on an upgrade the user better have the damn things work out of the box. Profits of a given device are quite different from profits of applications made for that device. Sure, there's some correlation, but how much? Case in point, the operating profit percents of Macs as a total % of computers is 35%. I'd be amazed if the operating profits of OS/X software profit as a % of total desktop software are even a third of that.
- sp4rki 16y ago
  At least we agreed on one count ^_^ Anyways, on the loyalty issue, I use an iMac and a System76 laptop with Arch Linux, and as such I am loyal to my operating systems, as you probably are too. Now the machines in my college where either Macs for design or Dell's for everything else. The machines in my girlfriend's families' house are all Toshiba. My sister has had 4 HP laptops and wants a new one for christmas. These people (the regular people that are the bulk of computer users everywhere) follow brands more than anything else. I had a company that did integration of computer systems 8 years ago and trust me, most of this people (regular folks) follow brands and products, and seldom care about implementations, operating systems, and the such. I agree with you completely on the the app lock in, and here come's a thought: The reason most people start buying Android devices, is because of the integration with their Google accounts, though you can use your accounts on an iPhone, it makes more sense to the general consumer to use the "Google phone" right? And of course, the catch with the iPhone couldn't have been far away... there are so many more usable apps, that are linked not only with software, but with webservices on the iPhone that it isn't even funny. I'll give you two examples of lock in (in my case): I will not buy an iPhone or a Nexus, because I need my Blackberry with the Blackberry Messenger service; I will also not buy an Android tablet, because they don't have Things nor Plaintext as the iPad does. iOS already has such penetration with the "cool, new, and awesome" apps that it's hard to compete with them, and in the cases where there's a cool app for Android, there's also an equivalent for the iPhone, though not generally the same case the other way around. The one thing that drives millions of people to Android devices is not Android itself, it's both the marketing based on integration with Google services AND the AT&T fiasco that Apple for some reason didn't understand was maiming their business. On the profits topic, I meant profit for app developers not profit on device sales. As long as iPhone developers are making thousands, and in some cases millions of dollars, in comparison to Android developers whom are making much much less on an average, quality developers are going to stick with the iPhone platform, Android being a second class citizen for them. It all comes down to the fact that developers are going to flock to Android only after, and if, it becomes the next goldmine. To be honest, last time I used an Android phone, I liked it a lot. Until I tried the keyboard. That completely sealed the deal for me. I'm sticking to my Blackberry until I can use BBM on the iPhone (probably never :S)!

by sp4rki 16y ago

usaar333 16y ago

1) Oh I was agreeing with you; probably should have prefixed that with 'I agree'. 2) I disagree with you here. How much loyalty do users have to HP, Dell, etc? Certainly some, but I feel the loyalty to Windows, OS/X, etc. exceeds that loyalty. In terms of users wanting a certain phone, the mobile industry has changed a lot in the past 10 years -- phones are much more powerful. Users now end up investing substantial time and money into apps. Such apps lock users in; on an upgrade the user better have the damn things work out of the box. Profits of a given device are quite different from profits of applications made for that device. Sure, there's some correlation, but how much? Case in point, the operating profit percents of Macs as a total % of computers is 35%. I'd be amazed if the operating profits of OS/X software profit as a % of total desktop software are even a third of that.

sp4rki 16y ago
At least we agreed on one count ^_^ Anyways, on the loyalty issue, I use an iMac and a System76 laptop with Arch Linux, and as such I am loyal to my operating systems, as you probably are too. Now the machines in my college where either Macs for design or Dell's for everything else. The machines in my girlfriend's families' house are all Toshiba. My sister has had 4 HP laptops and wants a new one for christmas. These people (the regular people that are the bulk of computer users everywhere) follow brands more than anything else. I had a company that did integration of computer systems 8 years ago and trust me, most of this people (regular folks) follow brands and products, and seldom care about implementations, operating systems, and the such. I agree with you completely on the the app lock in, and here come's a thought: The reason most people start buying Android devices, is because of the integration with their Google accounts, though you can use your accounts on an iPhone, it makes more sense to the general consumer to use the "Google phone" right? And of course, the catch with the iPhone couldn't have been far away... there are so many more usable apps, that are linked not only with software, but with webservices on the iPhone that it isn't even funny. I'll give you two examples of lock in (in my case): I will not buy an iPhone or a Nexus, because I need my Blackberry with the Blackberry Messenger service; I will also not buy an Android tablet, because they don't have Things nor Plaintext as the iPad does. iOS already has such penetration with the "cool, new, and awesome" apps that it's hard to compete with them, and in the cases where there's a cool app for Android, there's also an equivalent for the iPhone, though not generally the same case the other way around. The one thing that drives millions of people to Android devices is not Android itself, it's both the marketing based on integration with Google services AND the AT&T fiasco that Apple for some reason didn't understand was maiming their business. On the profits topic, I meant profit for app developers not profit on device sales. As long as iPhone developers are making thousands, and in some cases millions of dollars, in comparison to Android developers whom are making much much less on an average, quality developers are going to stick with the iPhone platform, Android being a second class citizen for them. It all comes down to the fact that developers are going to flock to Android only after, and if, it becomes the next goldmine. To be honest, last time I used an Android phone, I liked it a lot. Until I tried the keyboard. That completely sealed the deal for me. I'm sticking to my Blackberry until I can use BBM on the iPhone (probably never :S)!