A Look At How Android Is Giving Apple A Run For Its Money
It’s widely believed that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will announce its latest iPhone tomorrow, but with dozens of new handsets flooding the market, the smartphone-maker will have to announce something special to make it outshine all the others.
Google’s Android is in the best position to make Apple push the limits. Through a bevy of handset makers, Android can offer a variety of phones that will make it difficult for Apple to beat with just one hardware release a year. While it is hard to ever go wrong with an iPhone, Android offers a ton of alternative form factors, price points and carriers: Sprint (NYSE: S) has released the first 4G phone on Android; T-Mobile has a new competitive Android phone with a slide-out keyboard; the HTC Incredible sold by Verizon has been flying off store shelves; and even Google’s Nexus One still boasts some of the latest hardware. Not to mention new Android phones from Samsung and LG (SEO: 066570) coming later this summer.
To evaluate the competition Apple is facing, we are providing both a rundown of the top smartphone makers in the U.S. and the latest Android phones currently on sale in the market. See both after the jump, and then check back in with us tomorrow for full coverage of Apple’s WWDC opening keynote by Steve Jobs.
Market share: While Android’s market share is gaining among smartphones in the U.S., Apple and RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) still have a sizable lead. RIM’s in first place with 35 percent of the market; Apple is in second with 28 percent; Windows Mobile is in third with 19 percent, and Android is in fourth with 9 percent, according to new research released by Nielsen. However, the market dynamic is changing quickly. In the first quarter, Android and iPhone
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I guess the way in which “Android is giving Apple a run for its money” is that there are a lot, lot, lot more options in Android-based smartphones. I dunno, nothing else about the article seemed to highlight any other differences between the platforms. Apple is way ahead of Android in installed base, and the recent Nielsen report quoted said both platforms gained 2%. Oh, and iPhone users are 10% more likely to stick with their platform of choice over Android users. So I don’t see anything in Android’s favor except product fragmentation.
And while some may see that as an advantage — i.e., “choice” — I see that the other way. It is confusing to users and dilutes the brand. With Apple, you know what you’re getting, AND who supports it. Not so with Android. There is Google, then a slew of handset makers, and then a bunch of carriers. Sure, that means there is competition and users can get the best deal — well, at least TRY to get the best deal. Go back to what I said about confusing the users.
As for “keeping up” with the competition with only annual releases, 1) a more rapid product cycle from a single handset maker would not be acceptable to users (i.e. people already feel “gypped” when the new annual model comes out with great features and the version they just bought a few months ago doesn’t have them); 2) it would be financially silly for Apple (i.e. they already discount and clear out old inventory when a new model is released, if they cycled more than once a year, that means more discounts); and 3) they’ve been doing fine with it so far…
^^didn’t apple release new version of both the iPhone and iPad only a few months after release?
I think Apple has now covered a lot of market of smart phones so Android smart phone will still Battle to establish in market.
Stop talking about run for its “money”. You’d better use another term because Google isn’t making any money from pandering Android all over the place. Android is a free OS that any smartphone vendor would use to avoid paying a licensing fee. Android is a weed. It doesn’t matter how much unit market share it gets it will be Apple that will be pulling in the big bucks from the users with money and that’s what counts. Apple will own the high-end smartphone user base and have the most loyal return customers. The Apple mobile platform is locked down and there are plenty of consumers that are happy with that situation. Apple already has three solid devices on their mobile platform with over 100 million devices sharing the same ecosystem. Android still only has one device, the smartphone.
So please stop this nonsense about Google beating out Apple on the mobile platform. There’s more to it than just sheer unit numbers. How about revenue?