4 ms·

Keep in mind what Apple has been doing with the proceeds of its amazing cash cow: - smart moves to economize the supply chain - attempting to simplify/unify i

Keep in mind what Apple has been doing with the proceeds of its amazing cash cow: - smart moves to economize the supply chain - attempting to simplify/unify its various OSes. - hinting at a lower price point future (inevitable). - focusing on patented industrial design (lightning connector, new mac pro, etc.) - taking away carrier margins (iMessage) - notably ignoring "enterprise users" and focusing on making consumers happy. In the next year or two I expect Apple to start gunning for market share. It's amazing how much Android has lagged, and Apple has decided to err on the side of profits while Android has blundered along releasing phones with 4 hour battery life and jittery screens. Apple envisions a future in which you can seamlessly move between mobile, web (iCloud), and desktop/laptop experiences and you get the same high quality experience. I expect Apple to push boldly into the gaming market as well as (somewhat ironically) into web or web-enabled app ecosystem.

JonFish85 13y ago
I agree with your bullet points, but my take on the future is that they'll move towards an integrated TV/cable box. I imagine that the content providers are next on Apple's target list. It's an area rife for a takeover--it's stuck in the 1950's model and to me that's where Apple does great work. Now they may use the gaming market to get there. Just as a mind-experiment, I've wondered what would happen if Apple bought Nintendo, to get a living room presence.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
untog 13y ago
Android has blundered along releasing phones with 4 hour battery life and jittery screens. If that's the reason, then I suspect Apple have waited too long. Android phones (and the OS itself) has gone on a long, long way in the last year or two. It has a coherent UI and great performance now.
- grandalf 13y ago
  You might be right about that. My impression is that the IOS experience is still qualitatively better, so it'll be interesting to see if a lower price point iPhone impacts market share shifts...
  - kamjam 13y ago
    That depends who you ask, to be I struggle with iOS, I prefer the Android experience, and if I don't like something I am free to change that application for something which fits better for me.
Shorel 13y ago
> Apple envisions a future in which you can seamlessly move between mobile, web (iCloud), and desktop/laptop experiences and you get the same high quality experience. I believe that's more the vision of Canonical than the vision of Apple, but I like the trend.
JohnTHaller 13y ago
Yes, it's amazing how much Android has lagged, releasing best-in-class phones like the HTC Once and Sony Xperia Z1 that have no match in the iOS world (and that cost the same as Apple's 'low-end' 5C). As well as inexpensive mid-range products like the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 making modern well-made smartphones and tablets accessible to all. Not to mention the open ecosytem and OS that all kinds of companies are innovating on in all sorts of ways a single company could never dream of, both hardware and software. Summarizing the Android market by looking at the low-end devices shows a complete lack of understanding of the Android market and the smartphone market as a whole.
- pinaceae 13y ago
  so what are the sales numbers of the cited best-in-class phones? HTC in particular seems like a dead man walking.
  - JohnTHaller 13y ago
    We were discussing quality and innovation. If you want to talk sales, Android smartphones had nearly 5x the sales of iOS smartphones last quarter.
    - grandalf 13y ago
      Have you ever been to a Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T store? There are commissioned salespeople ready to lie about the phone and sell a contract. I'd guess that 80% of Android purchasers didn't really buy the phone, someone aggressively sold it to them, and, especially if it was a cheapo phone with lots of carrier add-ons, they probably hate it and are resentful of being locked into the contract. Chances are few of them ever compared their phone side by side to an iPhone. If Apple times it right, when this wave of disgruntled customers come out of contracts, a lower priced iPhone could take much of that market share.
      - JohnTHaller 13y ago
        And, at the same time, Verizon was forced to push the iPhone to customers who otherwise wouldn't want it because they had to buy a certain number to get Apple to let them sell the iPhone in store... and Verizon is on the hook for upwards of $14,000,000,000 to pay for all those phones even if they can't sell them. (Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/07/12/links-12-july-verizon-could-owe-apple-14-billion-over-insufficient-iphone-sales/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/07/12/links-12-... ) So, it cuts both ways. And Apple diehards have been using the argument about unhappy Android users getting out of contracts and begging for iPhones for years now. Again, we were originally talking about the quality of high-end Android phones (to compare apples to Apples instead of comparing high-end/expensive iPhones to low-end/inexpensive Android phones) and someone tried to move the goal posts of the conversation to talk about sales (which Android also wins). Are you looking to move the goal posts yet again or can we end this?
DougWebb 13y ago
...while Android has blundered along releasing phones with 4 hour battery life and jittery screens. Is Android a company now, with singular (if faulty) vision and execution? Some Android phones are junk. Some are great. Most are in-between, and there are a LOT of them. You can make the same statements about desktop and laptop computers based on IBM's original standards, and you wouldn't blame IBM for the range. I do wish Google provided better vision and guidance for all of the Android implementers to complement the open choices the implementers have. Freedom to make design choices is great, but without guidance about good choices the brand takes damage.
- grandalf 13y ago
  Is Android a company now, with singular (if faulty) vision and execution? More or less. There is no incentive for carriers to help customers find the best Android experience, and so many help customers find the worst. Google utilized this perverse (and often dishonest) aspect of mobile phone showroom sleaze to gain market share quickly.
- faet 13y ago
  >Is Android a company now, with singular (if faulty) vision and execution? To you and I? No. To your parents or the general public? Yes. They will buy one low end android phone, it was suck, they will say "Android is terrible". I know people who went from iPhone 4 to a free Android phone and are wanting to return to apple. The same goes for laptop companies. They'll buy the cheapest Dell. It'll fall apart in 6 months. "Dells are terrible".
  - dasil003 13y ago
    Agreed no one knows what Android is. However, there's no sign that anyone is concluding that "Android is terrible". People who buy cheap phones are not going to be comparing to the latest iPhone.
    - grandalf 13y ago
      That has only been true b/c the starting price point for iPhone has been so high and the commissioned salespeople in mobile phone stores just want to sell a contract and don't care about overall customer satisfaction.
voidlogic 13y ago
Have you ever actually used a device with Android 4.2/3? When I have to use my work iOS device I shudder. I live in a Android dominate part of the country and by the time carriers, other than AT&T (which has poor coverage), rolled out Apple devices Android hat gotten out its painful stage and users are not migrating...

JonFish85 13y ago

I agree with your bullet points, but my take on the future is that they'll move towards an integrated TV/cable box. I imagine that the content providers are next on Apple's target list. It's an area rife for a takeover--it's stuck in the 1950's model and to me that's where Apple does great work. Now they may use the gaming market to get there. Just as a mind-experiment, I've wondered what would happen if Apple bought Nintendo, to get a living room presence.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

untog 13y ago

Android has blundered along releasing phones with 4 hour battery life and jittery screens. If that's the reason, then I suspect Apple have waited too long. Android phones (and the OS itself) has gone on a long, long way in the last year or two. It has a coherent UI and great performance now.

grandalf 13y ago
You might be right about that. My impression is that the IOS experience is still qualitatively better, so it'll be interesting to see if a lower price point iPhone impacts market share shifts...
- kamjam 13y ago
  That depends who you ask, to be I struggle with iOS, I prefer the Android experience, and if I don't like something I am free to change that application for something which fits better for me.

Shorel 13y ago

> Apple envisions a future in which you can seamlessly move between mobile, web (iCloud), and desktop/laptop experiences and you get the same high quality experience. I believe that's more the vision of Canonical than the vision of Apple, but I like the trend.

JohnTHaller 13y ago

Yes, it's amazing how much Android has lagged, releasing best-in-class phones like the HTC Once and Sony Xperia Z1 that have no match in the iOS world (and that cost the same as Apple's 'low-end' 5C). As well as inexpensive mid-range products like the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 making modern well-made smartphones and tablets accessible to all. Not to mention the open ecosytem and OS that all kinds of companies are innovating on in all sorts of ways a single company could never dream of, both hardware and software. Summarizing the Android market by looking at the low-end devices shows a complete lack of understanding of the Android market and the smartphone market as a whole.

pinaceae 13y ago
so what are the sales numbers of the cited best-in-class phones? HTC in particular seems like a dead man walking.
- JohnTHaller 13y ago
  We were discussing quality and innovation. If you want to talk sales, Android smartphones had nearly 5x the sales of iOS smartphones last quarter.
  - grandalf 13y ago
    Have you ever been to a Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T store? There are commissioned salespeople ready to lie about the phone and sell a contract. I'd guess that 80% of Android purchasers didn't really buy the phone, someone aggressively sold it to them, and, especially if it was a cheapo phone with lots of carrier add-ons, they probably hate it and are resentful of being locked into the contract. Chances are few of them ever compared their phone side by side to an iPhone. If Apple times it right, when this wave of disgruntled customers come out of contracts, a lower priced iPhone could take much of that market share.
    - JohnTHaller 13y ago
      And, at the same time, Verizon was forced to push the iPhone to customers who otherwise wouldn't want it because they had to buy a certain number to get Apple to let them sell the iPhone in store... and Verizon is on the hook for upwards of $14,000,000,000 to pay for all those phones even if they can't sell them. (Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/07/12/links-12-july-verizon-could-owe-apple-14-billion-over-insufficient-iphone-sales/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/07/12/links-12-... ) So, it cuts both ways. And Apple diehards have been using the argument about unhappy Android users getting out of contracts and begging for iPhones for years now. Again, we were originally talking about the quality of high-end Android phones (to compare apples to Apples instead of comparing high-end/expensive iPhones to low-end/inexpensive Android phones) and someone tried to move the goal posts of the conversation to talk about sales (which Android also wins). Are you looking to move the goal posts yet again or can we end this?

DougWebb 13y ago

...while Android has blundered along releasing phones with 4 hour battery life and jittery screens. Is Android a company now, with singular (if faulty) vision and execution? Some Android phones are junk. Some are great. Most are in-between, and there are a LOT of them. You can make the same statements about desktop and laptop computers based on IBM's original standards, and you wouldn't blame IBM for the range. I do wish Google provided better vision and guidance for all of the Android implementers to complement the open choices the implementers have. Freedom to make design choices is great, but without guidance about good choices the brand takes damage.

grandalf 13y ago
Is Android a company now, with singular (if faulty) vision and execution? More or less. There is no incentive for carriers to help customers find the best Android experience, and so many help customers find the worst. Google utilized this perverse (and often dishonest) aspect of mobile phone showroom sleaze to gain market share quickly.
faet 13y ago
>Is Android a company now, with singular (if faulty) vision and execution? To you and I? No. To your parents or the general public? Yes. They will buy one low end android phone, it was suck, they will say "Android is terrible". I know people who went from iPhone 4 to a free Android phone and are wanting to return to apple. The same goes for laptop companies. They'll buy the cheapest Dell. It'll fall apart in 6 months. "Dells are terrible".
- dasil003 13y ago
  Agreed no one knows what Android is. However, there's no sign that anyone is concluding that "Android is terrible". People who buy cheap phones are not going to be comparing to the latest iPhone.
  - grandalf 13y ago
    That has only been true b/c the starting price point for iPhone has been so high and the commissioned salespeople in mobile phone stores just want to sell a contract and don't care about overall customer satisfaction.

voidlogic 13y ago

Have you ever actually used a device with Android 4.2/3? When I have to use my work iOS device I shudder. I live in a Android dominate part of the country and by the time carriers, other than AT&T (which has poor coverage), rolled out Apple devices Android hat gotten out its painful stage and users are not migrating...