Forum Moderators: bakedjake
Now that Apple will be selling the iPhone on Verizon, is Google’s Android smart-phone operating system doomed? Verizon, after all, has been a big reason for Android’s success. The carrier has spent the past two years promoting the heck out of Android, mostly because Verizon needed something that could compete with iPhone, which was carried exclusively on AT&T.
Early on, Android phones were pitched as kind of ersatz iPhones, devices that could do most of what an iPhone did—but were available on carriers other than AT&T, a relatively horrible network that was the biggest source of complaints about Apple’s transformative device. Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, said at yesterday’s event that the question he’s heard more than any other over the past few years has been, “When will the iPhone be available on Verizon?”
There will be huge demand for the Verizon iPhone. And if this event had taken place a year ago, I would have said Android was in trouble. Who wants to buy an ersatz iPhone when you can get the real thing?
“Android is a global phenomenon,” he says. “The big deal is, Android is free software, and handsets that can run it are getting super-cheap. So we are going to see a massive shift from 'dumb phones' to 'smart phones' around the world this year, and iPhone will not be the big beneficiary of that trend.”
I'm sure you can find an article that will state this:
1. This is the death toll for Android.
2. All those using Android phones really wanted an iPhone and were just biding their time.
3. Android has no future because it is "fragmented" (yawn).
4. Verizon was only doing this Android phone thing because it didn't have an iPhone.
5. Verizon will now drop all Android phones now that their bluff worked.
etc.
But among the non-geek majority, the sentiment has always been that the iPhone was the preferred phone, and the majority of Verizon Droid sales were a direct result of Verizon not offering the iPhone
What is surprising, at least to me, is that even though iPhone owners show the most loyalty, they’re not the group that’s most likely to stick with their current platform. That distinction belongs to Google Android owners, 89 percent of which expect their new smartphone to run Android too. By comparison, 85 percent of iPhone owners surveyed expect to stick with Apple for their next phone.
I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple CFO said:
We sold more Macs, iPhones, and iPads than any quarter Apple’s history.
4.13 million Macs. 23% growth over the year-ago. 8 times PC growth in the market.
16.2 million iPhones. 86% year over year growth. (70% growth from global smartphones overall)
$10.47 billion from sales of iPhone and accessories.
iPad sold 7.3 million units.
In 46 countries now
Over 80% of Fortune 100 are deploying or testing iPad
Revenue: $4.61 billion. $4.4 billion for iPads alone.
In the most recent quarter Apple sold 7.33 million iPads, 19.45 million iPods and 4.13 million Macs. Sales of the iPhone jumped 86 percent to 16.24 million units.
