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Are Apple and Google needlessly destroying each others margins, here? Apple pushing ahead with this will just make Google desperately push Android as hard as th

by jfoster 11y ago

Are Apple and Google needlessly destroying each others margins, here? Apple pushing ahead with this will just make Google desperately push Android as hard as they can. If Google's ecosystem were left alone on iOS, Google would have fewer reasons to push Android heavily. On the other hand, if Google need Android devices out there in order for their ecosystem to survive, they might be more willing to see Android devices put into consumers' hands at break-even (or even loss-making) prices. Apple will either see market share decline or need to sacrifice part of their margins to maintain share.

charlesarthur 11y ago
"Apple pushing ahead with this will just make Google desperately push Android as hard as they can." What does that mean, exactly? "they might be more willing to see Android devices put into consumers' hands at break-even (or even loss-making) prices" That already happens. Samsung's profits and phone shipments are substantially down, LG made 1.5cents operating profit per phone in Q2, Sony made a loss, HTC made a loss; and those are the premium handset makers, most of them part of conglomerates. All selling Android. "Apple will either see market share decline or need to sacrifice part of their margins to maintain share." This is a common refrain since about 2010. Hasn't happened so far.
- qq66 11y ago
  > This is a common refrain since about 2010. Hasn't happened so far. iOS market share has declined tremendously since 2010, from approximately 80% to approximately 20%.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > iOS market share has declined tremendously since 2010. Has it? It looks to me like most measures have current iOS smartphone marketshare at or above 2010, but down from a peak in 2011-2012. Android is a lot higher than in 2010, having eaten most of everything that isn't iOS
  - charlesarthur 11y ago
    "iOS market share has declined tremendously since 2010, from approximately 80% to approximately 20%." Not so. IDC data: iPhones shipped in 2010: 47.45m. Total smartphones shipped worldwide in 2010: 303.9m. iPhone share: 15.6%. iPhones shipped in 2014: 192.6m. Total smartphones: 1.295bn. iPhone share: 14.8%. As a percentage of all mobile phones (including featurephones), iPhone shipments have risen steadily from about 3.3% (average across 2010) to 11.8% (average first two quarters of 2015). I don't know where you got your numbers from, but they don't match any I recognise. (Equally, if you're using "market share" to mean "install base" - don't. They're not congruent.)

by jfoster 11y ago

charlesarthur 11y ago

"Apple pushing ahead with this will just make Google desperately push Android as hard as they can." What does that mean, exactly? "they might be more willing to see Android devices put into consumers' hands at break-even (or even loss-making) prices" That already happens. Samsung's profits and phone shipments are substantially down, LG made 1.5cents operating profit per phone in Q2, Sony made a loss, HTC made a loss; and those are the premium handset makers, most of them part of conglomerates. All selling Android. "Apple will either see market share decline or need to sacrifice part of their margins to maintain share." This is a common refrain since about 2010. Hasn't happened so far.

qq66 11y ago
> This is a common refrain since about 2010. Hasn't happened so far. iOS market share has declined tremendously since 2010, from approximately 80% to approximately 20%.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > iOS market share has declined tremendously since 2010. Has it? It looks to me like most measures have current iOS smartphone marketshare at or above 2010, but down from a peak in 2011-2012. Android is a lot higher than in 2010, having eaten most of everything that isn't iOS
- charlesarthur 11y ago
  "iOS market share has declined tremendously since 2010, from approximately 80% to approximately 20%." Not so. IDC data: iPhones shipped in 2010: 47.45m. Total smartphones shipped worldwide in 2010: 303.9m. iPhone share: 15.6%. iPhones shipped in 2014: 192.6m. Total smartphones: 1.295bn. iPhone share: 14.8%. As a percentage of all mobile phones (including featurephones), iPhone shipments have risen steadily from about 3.3% (average across 2010) to 11.8% (average first two quarters of 2015). I don't know where you got your numbers from, but they don't match any I recognise. (Equally, if you're using "market share" to mean "install base" - don't. They're not congruent.)