The iPhone's success has nothing to do with the release dates. The iPhone's success comes more from marketing, brand loyalty and its design.
Nothing to do with release dates? Sorry but if the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note and RAZR Droid were all announced on the same day as the iPhone 4S and they all released on the same date, Apple would have a hard time dominating the way they did.
In other markets, rival companies will try to release their products near each other to compete. Look at EA's Battlefield 3 vs. Infinity Ward's Call of Duty releasing a week or two of each other. The entire year, they've been battling for the top pre-order spot.
Again... imagine if iPhone 4S and Galaxy Nexus pre-order sales were competing against each other at the same time. Apple would definitely start losing customers to Android market. Not all but enough to affect them.
Look at how RAZR Droid got drowned out due to Samsung/Google announcing their Galaxy Nexus on the SAME day.
Recently, Apple was given a clear road to sell their phones without ANY competition. Due to Jobs' death, Galaxy Nexus announcement was delayed by couple weeks ...meanwhile, iPhone 4S was already released and sold few million in its first three days. No competition against Apple... that's why they succeeded big time this time around.
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While the iPhone is released soon in the US, other countries have to wait longer to get the latest Apple products. It is probably because they can't produce enough phones to meet the initial demand, so they stagger the release dates. If Samsung had the production capacity, it would have released its phone sooner in the US.
Apple is an American company so it releases in the US first. Samsung is Korean so Korea is first to get its latest devices. Motorola is American so the RAZR will be first released in US. Nokia is Finnish and releases in the European markets first. Google is American and it looks like the Galaxy Nexus will likely hit the US first.[/QUOTE]
Samsung doesn't have the production capacity? Sorry, but Apple uses Samsung's processor, right? Do the math here... if Samsung couldn't produce, then Apple wouldn't be able to produce either. No parts from Samsung = No iPhone 4S.
Again, more and more I think about it... it's probably strategy deployed by Verizon to sell RAZR first while delaying the more popular Galaxy Nexus several days. (Again, the importance of release dates)
Also... if you look at recent history, it seems like Samsung has given a lot of phones to European carriers before the U.S. carriers get it. (Again, probably due to the carrier-Samsung relationship)
You saying "Google = American"... Google = Android = all Samsung phones. Your logic doesn't really add up here. According to the stuff I've been reading, NTT Docomo and European carriers were the first to announce Galaxy Nexus. Verizon was pretty much last.
Sorry for the long post.