Hi Bob, long time no see!
Hope all is well with you.
Let me suggest this and please feel free to correct my reasoning.
Oooooooookay, LoL
There are vast numbers of Android phones on the market. Hundreds arrive every year to replace the hundreds that depart the scene.
You're referring to models - it's quite a bit less than hundreds per year, or we'd be building device subforums around here at a much higher rate.
But I take your point - Android has many models and they tend to have a regular annual product roll-over, much like any other line of consumer products - HDTVs, cars, etc etc.
There is only one (OK, we have the 4 and 4S, so perhaps there are two) iPhone(s).
Wait, that's the first time I've seen you confuse facts.
Until the iP4s intro, the iPhone had its regular annual model roll-over, just like the others. Only AT&T was continuing to sell old inventory of the iP3gs along with refurbs - I checked, there was no place else in the world to buy them otherwise late into the iP4 life.
At the last iPhone keynote conference, Tim Cook shocked some analysts (not me, I'd predicted it for months on our forums) and announced that the iP4 wasn't rolling away, it was staying current and the iP3gs was also staying in regular supply.
So, if you go to the
Apple Store there are not perhaps two, there are definitely 3 models presented to the consumer (and we'll forgo the memory variations).
Apple turned at that point from a single model into a model line - commensurate with most all successful consumer products, Android included.
Apple might have a smaller market share, but when one company has 34% of the total market, I should think that says something.
And it does. It says that consumers have approved of the product, it reflects that two years ago when people were laughing at the idea that all Android could ever possibly overtake the iPhone that it at one point held full market dominance and it says that people will continue to find it a viable choice.
It says nothing about why I posted the article though. I posted the article to simply provide a rebuttal at face value to the title of this thread, namely,
ICS: This is why Apple iPhone trumps Android.
Because the days of the iPhone trumping Android are over in the marketplace.
When the iPhone 5 arrives, I am betting the numbers you posted will change and in Apple's favor. Then perhaps some Android phone will arrive that captures the public's attention and Apple will slip.
Can't argue with the normal trend in product sales during model turnovers for consumer goods.
Android holds the lead (in my opinion) not because it is better, but because you can get an Android phone for free or almost no cost from hundreds of places.
Dr. Demming, the prophet of
statistical process control and the guy who taught the Japanese how to build and compete in industry, would have a field day with that remark, and it's where I'll focus because he couldn't make it on account of being among the unliving.
As Dr. Demming would ask - what does it mean,
not because it is better?
Do statistics and process observations provide any insight?
Yes. Yes, they do.
Android seems to be better at market growth looking at the last two years. Android seems to be better at offering a wider selection of models than iPhone. Android seems to be better at offering a wider selection of prices within its model range than iPhone. Android seems to be better at offering features to fill market segments not address by iPhone (qwerty models, removable battery models, sd card models, screen size models, and design models).
So, that leaves us with appears to the obvious meaning by context that you had -
not because Android is technically better.
And technically better can either mean by features or by quality (a binary according to the Carnegie Mellon Institute's IBM Fellows) or by the statistics I've already covered or by consumer satisfaction.
And all of the components of technically better listed above (did I miss any?) can be measured, and I believe have been measured.
So, really, you've asked your own question - what does it mean, not because Android is better?
And there are (I am guessing) more than 75 Android Phones currently on the market. They are sold off contract by Boost, VM and Cricket in my grocery store and the 7-11.
Not hundreds each year then, we agree. But let's say a hundred as an order of magnitude.
Not so with the iPhone. Well, you can get one no contract which is why I am going to purchase one.
iPhone or some Android model? Either are available without contract.
I will watch the news about sales of the 4/4s sold through Cricket and VM. I am willing to bet theyt sell fast. You can likely attribute some sales to the public's perception that an iPhone is the best phone.
I will allow that any consumer purchase is made because the consumer felt that the model chosen was the best for them at the time. The four parameters of demand, in order, are price, product, promotion and the marketing avenue.
Each individual responds to varying weights of those parameters and chooses what meets their personal demand, thereby perceiving that they purchased the best product, yes.
If you meant best
technically I covered that.
Technical quality is a phrase often used because it's very seductive. It seems to have substance. It seems to mean something. It seems that everyone accepts that. Especially because at its root the phrase consists of two words that quantitative.
Put those two words together and the phrase describes something qualitative only. Yet many will never stop for the epiphany that what they assume is quantitative really isn't at all.
I also wonder what would happen if Apple licensed iOS. Would there be as many Android OS phones or would we see dozens of iOS phones offered by other manufacturers?
An interesting hypothetical.
Please specify parameters of the hypothetical licensing terms and the economical climate and industrial supply makeup leading to the cultural change within Apple resulting in that drastic change in that management decision.
Without constraints on the hypothetical situation, I couldn't begin to venture a guess.
I am convinced there would be fewer Android phones and more models running iOS. And if Android was not open source, would there be as many Android phones?
Perhaps you're right, I wouldn't say. And if Android were not open source, what would it be? Free? Licensed for pay?
Do other members of the Open Handset Alliance go with Android because of the legal protections of open source, or because it's free and Google has to do the majority of the heavy lifting? Honestly, I don't know.
Again, clarifications are welcome.
Hope I've clarified why I posted the link, it's always a pleasure, Bob!
