Soaring iPhone 5 sales in US knock Android into second place

[onehandle]

Source: ComTech

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that strong uptake of the iPhone 5 over the past 12 weeks* has boosted iOS back to the number one spot in the US. It now has a 48.1% share of US smartphone sales compared with Android which has 46.7%.

Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “The last time we saw iOS overtake Android in the US was when the iPhone 4S was released and Apple managed to retain its lead for three consecutive periods. This time we predict that Apple will beat its previous high of 49.3% and achieve its highest ever share of the US smartphone market within the next two periods.”

Apple’s rise in the US has not been replicated in quite the same way across Europe where Android still takes the lead, accounting for 73.9% of sales in Germany and 81.7% in Spain. However, it is now enjoying share gains in four of the five major European countries with a particularly strong performance in Britain where it holds a 32.7% share.


Read more: http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/Global/News/Soaring-iPhone-5-sales-in-US-knock-Android-into-second-place

[ForgoTheConsequence]

1. I think the Nexus 4 is a game changer.

299 for a phone with those specs and no contract. Shame you can't buy one right now.

[onehandle]

2. Every Google, Samsung, and Windows phone have been called 'iPhone killers.'

There are thousands of these phones that have been called 'game changing.'

And yet the two phones that Apple offers continue to crush these poor plastic copies.

[tkmorris]

7. You don't sound objective

[sir pball]

13. That's an understatement

In 20+ years of being a loyal Apple user, ranging from how I feel now (I own an MBP and a GS3, diversity is good), to my mid-90s raging fanboi EvangeLista (no, really, there was an Apple mailing list back then called the EvangeList) fighting the OS Wars on UseNet and relentlessly promoting Apple even during the Spindler-Amelio days..

..I've never found somebody less objective and more fanatically, religiously devoted to the Cult of Apple. From what I can gather, s/he would ideally see the DoJ dissolve Google and summarily ban every single Android product and quite possibly every product made by an Android producer. I'm not making any kind of personal judgement on the value of this kind of dedication, just observing.

[MessiahRp]

20. ^^THIS^^

Every post about Apple on here is sure to get that poster coming in "catapulting the propaganda" as Bush so aptly put it. I have never seen a bigger Apple Fanboy/Fangirl ever.

That being said, Apple's iPhone 5 offered seriously nothing new to buyers of Iphone 3 or 4. At least 4 had Siri. All 5 has is a lofty price tag and a totally failed attempt to take on Google Maps.

It's just a matter of time. Samsung's products are already superior and the word seems to be getting out about that. The Galaxy phones are selling like hotcakes. If Google gets Motorola really back off the ground the way they want, we could be seeing two Droid phones ranking over Apple in sales.

[dchill]

26. +1.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

71. +1000 nt

[Hosnon]

22. onehandle is anything but objective. If he's not on the Apple payroll,

he better at least own stock.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. copies?

ooooof I can see the type of person I'm dealing with here. You belong to the "cult" that's fine I have an iphone too, its cool.


But how can something be a copy when the specs are way better? That's like saying an M3 is a copy of a Honda Civic.

[frylock]

28. and i'll put my cheap, plastic s3 up against your cutesy toy any day

[tridim]

29. In sales, not power and features.

[Ter]

6. I prefer the Galaxy Note 2

Same price, massive screen.

[SunSeeker]

8. Me too. Bought one a few weeks ago. LOVE it.

And all the iPhone users I know are green with envy over the size of the screen and the cool stylus it comes with for drawing on the screen. Oh, and I didn't even have to camp out to buy it.

[qanda]

27. Waiting to get my Note 2 on Thursday

Verizon is the last to get everything! I've had a chance to use one and it is an awesome phone.

[DesMoinesDem]

74. The Note 2 is almost twice the price as the Nexus 4.

The 16 GB Nexus 4 is $350 unlocked. The 16 GB Note 2 is selling for $650 unlocked right now on amazon. Huge price difference.

[tinrobot]

43. I managed to get one. It's a very nice phone.

Well-built and responsive. There are other phones that are equally nice, but they're purposely overpriced by the carriers or come with a two year contract attached. I'm so done with contracts.

Google's pricing model definitely will be a game changer. Combined with T-Mobile's no-contract pricing, it makes a lot of sense. I wonder if Google would ever consider buying T-Mobile?

[Zen Democrat]

3. I've had iPhones and Androids -- Galaxy S III is my current favorite.

The T-Mobile version is lightning fast.

[Ron Obvious]

65. I didn't know t-mobile had a version..

I generally buy my phones contract free & unlocked and had been looking at the SIII here in Europe, but I was hesitant because the t-mobile 3G frequencies are non-standard and I assumed it wouldn't work with 3G when I'm back in the US. Do you happen to know if the international version would work with US t-mobile? Nobody here seems to know.

I might have to wait until I'm back in the US I suppose.

[janlyn]

4. Don't get it!!

I work for a well known cell company,I deal with phones everyday and i do NOT get what is so all fired special about the iphone!!

Let's see:
With Iphone the warranty is handled through apple.
With Android it is handled through us.

With Iphone the warranty on outside hardware is only 90 days.
With Android it is a full year.

With Apple, Tech support is free for 90 days,after that you pay to get support.
with Android tech is handled through us.

The I5 is just now 4G.
Android has been 4G for a year and a half.

They both do primarily the same thing!

So if you are an apple product user than the Iphone is your best choice in regards to compatibility,otherwise Android can do the same without all the terms and conditions.

Just my opinion..

[ForgoTheConsequence]

11. Whats not to get?

You pay a premium for that cute little Apple logo on the back.

[BuddhaGirl]

25. Love my Android phone

AND, I can change out the battery myself!

[rablrouzer]

5. Why does this matter?

Leo Laporte (twit.tv) says this is like religious war.

Or political.

Could the iPhone 5 have surged past ALL Android offerings in the last twelve weeks?

Possible. Every time Apple issues a new iPhone, iPhone fans line up to trade their perfectly good previous model in on the latest.

Possible. iPhone sales fell off a big cliff into a deep ocean while prospective buyers, knowing the "5" was soon to release, stopped buying the 4s. Can't blame 'em for that, but the sales drop was enough to whack Apple's stock.

So, I guess this matters if you're buying Apple stock.

But otherwise, yawn, ho hum, and go take your cell phone jihad somewhere else. Whichever dogma you follow.

Hey, wait, Windows Phone 8 Phone is surging! Just don't call it Metro ---

[sir pball]

17. Bingo

Sales are up much more than market share. I know quite a few people who paid full retail on 5s to get rid of their (perfectly good) 4Ss. For an extra row of icons. Silly.

[TM99]

54. Yup

This is correct.

This happened after the iPhone 3 & iPhone 4 were released. The consumers waited for the new model to come, sales slowed, Android over took Apple, new model released, uptick in iPhone sales, Android leveled off, and we wait for the next model to appear.

What is missing is the overall analysis which has shown quite clearly that over the last few releases of the iPhone, Android overall market position has continued to steadily climb (even if its sales numbers temporarily dip due to the new Apple iPhone model) and Apple's overall market share worldwide continues to decline steadily even if there are good initial sales of their latest model.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

56. "My phone is bigger than yours!!!!!" nt

[meegbear]

9. And this is Late Breaking News because ....

?????

[onehandle]

12. Because a similar headline a couple of weeks ago about a Korean company's phone...

...was considered LBN by another poster.

[heaven05]

14. who

gives a damn!

[sir pball]

15. And they're still miserably behind globally

Android is running 72.4% global market share while Apple is at 13.9%. Samsung alone shipped just about twice as many units as Apple (55m to 23m) - no wonder Apple wants them dead. When you can't compete on innovation (sorry kids, the last really innovative thing Apple has done was switch to x86 seamlessly, the rest is integration and improvement at best) you gotta play dirty..

[heaven05]

16. who

gives a damn. These devices provide NO jobs to, american workers. No one in america will benefit from this fact. Except I guess those who play and dabble in the stock market.

[onehandle]

18. Apple employs 60,000+ workers in the U.S. and add thousands every year.

Additionally 500,000+ other Americans are supported as either vendors to Apple or application developers thanks to Apple.

[heaven05]

19. okay

thanks for the numbers. I do stand corrected. It was a presumption since everything else is made out of country now.

[onehandle]

21. All phones, tablets, computers, TVs... Everything electronic is made overseas.

However Apple's brainpower is in America.

[FailureToCommunicate]

31. THANK you for mentioning those jobs numbers! People can like or not like Apple products, but jobs

are jobs, and Apple has contributed mightily to employment in the USA, with all the vendors and developers as you say, AND to improved efficiency of countless workers who use their phones and computers across this country every day with far less virus related downtime.
Oh, and zillions of Obama campaigners used Apple products to help GOTV and get that guy elected, BTW.

[onehandle]

35. Yep. There's a reason that Steve Jobs' widow was at the DNC.

There were a lot of iPads and iPhones at the Democratic headquarters here in Pennsylvania.

[OKNancy]

23. I admit I was one of their customers yesterday... arrives in the mail today

Bought it for my daughter for Christmas... Her two years was up on her iphone4, so fortunately I got a steep discount.
The bad part is you have to activate it within 14 days ( they say as an anti-theft policy) so the Christmas surprise is spoiled...

[FailureToCommunicate]

30. You were able to get your daughter something she'll use all day every day. She'll love it. I'll bet

she will be surprised whenever you tell her, and that you were ABLE to get one! I know our sons were! (And we will put the empty boxes under the tree to remind them!)

Also, no need to be sheepish about buying a quality product that works well and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs right here in the USA.

[OKNancy]

33. I know she will use it. She uses it on her job and they actually pay part of the bill.

[Bigredhunk]

24. I Wouldn't Think It Would Be News If Android Outsold The iPhone

Isn't Android comprised of a bunch of different brands and a bunch of different phones on a bunch of different carriers? Assuming the answer is "yes," why wouldnt 50 (or however many) phones on 15 (or however many) carriers be expected to outsell 2 phones (iPhone 4, iPhone 5) on 3 carriers (ATT, Sprint, Verizon)? I don't understand the comparison. Now if you want to compare the iPhone(s) with Android phones as far as features/performance, that's a different story.

I've always wanted the iPhone. I like Apple products. I'm not a fanboy. I have never/will never camp out for a product on release day. But I've loved every iPod I've had (save for the 1st gen Shuffle). I have a MacBook Air from 2011 that I love. My sister has an iPod Touch from a couple years ago that she loves. I think their products work well out of the box and are user-friendly. Not saying other products aren't. I just know Apple product are.

I'm with US Cellular here in the midwest, and their phones have always sucked balls. This year they've finally started to get current phones when other carriers had them (rather than a year later). For instance, they got the Samsung GS3 in July and the Note 2 in October. Thought about the GS3 in the summer, but a lot of people (at least on USCC) have had to return them (up to 5 times) due to signal issues for talk/data.

USCC has started to sell off to Sprint in larger markets (Chicago, St Louis). That freaks me out. Not sure if I'm going to stay with them and get something like the Note 2 or if I'll go to Verizon for the iPhone. I've been with USCC for 9 years. Was with Verizon before that. Hated Verizon then, but I'm guessing they have better coverage now.

[wilt the stilt]

32. I don't get all you guys knocking Apple

They are American and they radically changed the market. Why would you be loyal to a Korean company that absolutely shows no innovation and just copies someone else's idea.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

34. What?

Android itself is innovative and developed by Google an American company. I like what I like, ios is fine, but I prefer Android.

Anyone crying over people not liking Apple can get bent. Apple is no longer the little niche company that only creative people and liberals who drive Volvo's buy. Its huge, fucking gigantic.

[wilt the stilt]

37. google android

is nothing but a copy of apple.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

39. sure buddy.

whatever you say.

[wilt the stilt]

42. so explain this to me

iphone totally changed the mobile market. what did android change? how did it revolutionize a market?

[tinrobot]

45. Doesn't matter. You can't keep living 5 years ago in the technology world.

Yes, the iPhone revolutionized the phone industry -- 5 years ago. Apple was way ahead of the competition back then. They made metric tons of money as a result. Good for them.

Now everyone has caught up, the iPhone is one of many capable smart phones, and the market is saturated. That's the way technology works.

It's time for the next insanely great thing, and it probably won't be a phone. Innovate or die.

[wilt the stilt]

48. no kidding

I'm in high tech. things move rapidly. I'm just saying that Apple really did change things.

[tinrobot]

44. Say it with me... Google Maps...

Apple's decision to delete Google Maps in favor of Apple Maps shows the direction the iPhone is headed - more insular and closed off to the rest of the computing world.

And yes, Android was playing second fiddle to iOS for quite a while, but these days, Android is even or ahead of Apple in most areas. I really like Apple, but if Apple doesn't revisit their business practices, they're going to be left behind, just like they were in the late 80's/early 90's.

[wilt the stilt]

49. apple maps guy was fired today

and they made a mistake but not to many recently. I have a friend at google and I think chrome runs very well and yes google is good but it is only for the internet. Inside corporations it is a total failure. However android is nothing more than a copy. It may be better but it simply isn't changing anything.

[tinrobot]

58. Google copies Apple's interface.

Apple copies Google's mapping software.

It works both ways. Apple steals good ideas along the rest of them.

[Xithras]

47. That's a silly thing to say. Android didn't copy anything.

Last edited Wed Nov 28, 2012, 02:58 AM - Edit history (1)

Apple launched their internal phone group in 2004. They didn't inform the world of this until Jobs publicly demonstrated some screens and videos of the iPhone in January 2007. They let people actually hold them the first time in June 2007.

Android Inc. was founded in 2003 by the co-founder of Danger Inc. Danger was building cool smartphones for geeks way back when Apple was still trying to figure out the MP3 player. Biz guys had Crackberries, and the geeks and tech guys had Danger Sidekicks. Anyway, the founder of Danger, along with the VP from T-Mobile, founded Android Inc in 2003. You know what they said to the news when they founded the company? They wanted to build a new OS that would result in "smarter and more aware mobile devices". That was FOUR YEARS before Apple showed the iPhone to ANYONE, and a YEAR before they started their phone project internally.

In 2005, Google bought Android. They didn't talk about it much at the time, but they did say that they wanted to bring their app ecosystem into mobile devices, and that the Android system offered a good platform to do that with. This was TWO YEARS before the iPhone was demonstrated to anybody.

In December 2006, the tech media was all abuzz when Google refused to deny reports that they were demonstrating prototypes of their new mobile platform to hardware manufacturers and network operators. They declined to comment, but several leaks suggested that Google had developed a "revolutionary" new type of phone.

One month later, in January 2007, Steve Jobs showed the world its first glimpses of the iPhone. It wasn't much. Just a few videos and screenshots, but it was a teaser of things to come.

In June 2007, 6 months later, the first iPhones became available. This was the first chance anyone would have had to reverse engineer the Apple device to copy or even simulate it.

On September 23, 2008, less than 5 months later, Google officially released the first version of Android. To claim that Google managed to copy four years worth of Apple development, including the hardware design, coordinating production facilities, software development and debugging, and EVERYTHING ELSE involved in building a smartphone, in a mere 4 months and 27 days, defies belief. Not only does the PUBLIC INFORMATION not support the claim, but ANYONE with any kind of background in software or hardware engineering understands that the claim is simply impossible. Google could not have duplicated the software, in that time period, even if they had wanted to do so. And if they did, it brings up an important question...what exactly were the Android guys supposed to have been working on during the 2.5 years PRIOR to getting their hands on an iPhone? We know they were there building SOMETHING, and that they were showing it off before the iPhone ever saw the light of day.

The reality here is simple: iOS and Android were written over a period of several years by two competing groups of some of the most highly skilled engineers the Silicon Valley had to offer. Nobody with any clue as to what they're talking about actually believes that either OS was copied from the other. It's like believing in Intelligent Design...you may BELIEVE that "X" came from "Y", but the actual history and facts make it quite clear that "X" and "Y" are both the result of years of work and evolution.

To claim otherwise is to promote faith over facts.

[TM99]

55. +100

Be careful, you are introducing real facts and history into a group that worships Jobs & all things Apple.

[sir pball]

64. Technology tends towards

Convergent evolution. If you put ten development groups to work on a large-scale task, odds are their solutions are going to be remarkably similar. Apple has often led the this curve, but a lot of "copying" isn't, really.

I wasn't really "revolutionized" when I saw the first iPhone. Apple wasn't the first to have that UI, or the first to have a touchscreen, or the first with any of it, really - they were the first to integrate it all and package it neatly, and being a large, monolithic entity they were able to build the first proper app store (less a function of innovation or creativity), but I honestly wasn't surprised or mindblown.

[onehandle]

66. Keep fucking that chicken.

Android prototypes looked like every 'smartphone' out there, like the Korean company's examples in the first column.

The word 'android' originates from the 19th century. So clearly Apple was over a hundred years too late. Right?

[sir pball]

67. So you ARE claiming

"that Google managed to copy four years worth of Apple development, including the hardware design, coordinating production facilities, software development and debugging, and EVERYTHING ELSE involved in building a smartphone, in a mere 4 months and 27 days"?

[Xithras]

68. How much does Apple pay you anyway? Did someone from Samsung run over your dog?

Personally, when I hear an Apple fan ranting about Samsung, it simply confirms their cluelessness of the subject. Android and Samsung aren't the same thing. The recent Apple and media fixation on Samsung overlooks this one basic and incredibly important fact: Samsung had NOTHING to do with the development of Android. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

When Google was developing their internal prototypes, they did it with HTC. The first Android phone was the Google Nexus, which was manufactured by HTC. The first third party Android phone? The HTC Dream. Samsung was a bit of a latecomer to the Android world, and they're one of more than a dozen companies making Android devices today. If Samsung were to pull out of the phone market today, it might give Apple a little bit of breathing room, but it certainly wouldn't eliminate the competition (the fact that Samsung is doing so well indicates that Apple is missing some major market points with their product, a void that the other manufacturers would quickly rush to fill).

It's a fact of history that Samsung was one of the device manufacturers that Google was demonstrating the Android OS to in late 2006. And what did Google show them? The Nexus One:



Samsung was shown this phone long before the first iPhone photos were released. Take off that trackball and tell me what you see. Then, of course, there's the F700 thing. No, I'm not talking about the debunked claim that it preceded the iPhone, but the very factual reality that a fully functional F700, with that very design, was demonstrated at CeBit 2007 a mere 29 days after Jobs gave the world its first glimpses of the iPhone. Once again, absolutely NOBODY with a background in electronics engineering believes that Samsung could have designed a complete touchscreen phone with a fully customized touch OS in only 29 days. I've worked with some extremely talented engineers over the years, and none of them could have pulled off an engineering feat like that.



Anyone with a modicum of understanding of the subject understands what happened here. The facts are clear, they are well documented, and they are solidly on the side of Google. The touchscreen was not new. The form factor was not new. The technology was not new. Both Google and Apple were working on their platforms for MANY years before they were released to the public. This can be confirmed by anyone who knows how to use a search engine. Apple has always had a culture of secrecy and kept the iPhone under wraps, but Google does NOT and NEVER HAS. There are literally HUNDREDS of articles on tech news sites and blogs discussing Google's Android OS and phone development, starting YEARS before the first models were shown to the public. Google has a terrible track record when it comes to keeping secrets, and the fact that they were developing a smartphone OS has been public knowledge since 2004.

You can believe what you want, but there are simply no facts to back up that theft claim. The only thing Google stole was Apple's limelight.

[onehandle]

70. Google showed Samsung a 2010 device in 2006?

Cool story, bro.

To accomplish that, they must have shown them their time machine as well.

You think this is about touchscreens? You clearly have no idea what these suits are about. And this will be my last response to you on that subject.

On another subject...

People are wondering what Android users are using their devices for.

Blodget has the baseline numbers. Android devices (thus the Android operating system) vastly outnumber Apple (iOS) devices worldwide and they significantly outnumber them in the US market (53% to 34%, according to Blodget). And yet when it comes to actual web traffic, far more of it comes from iOS devices (60% for Apple to 20% for Android) and the same seems to be even more true for people buying things over mobile devices.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/where_are_you_android_users.php

Ooh! Ooh! I have the answer. Android phones are cheap (in more ways than price). Google is losing billions on Android to game the market.

Also, the profitability of apps in the two respective app stores are astronomically different. With once again, Apple coming out on top for developers.

Why?

See above.

Android users largely buy (or get them free) an Android because it's cheap and they want a flashy screen. They make phone calls with it and barely do anything else.

Enjoy your Toyota Tercel. I'm sticking with the Mercedes Benz 550 AMG.

[Xithras]

73. I did misspeak on that

Google showed off an HTC built prototype that eventually became the Nexus, but it wasn't that phone. I had heard it differently, and when I just looked it up, I learned that I was wrong. Unlike you, I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong on something. Of course, this one detail changes absolutely nothing in the rest of my discussion.

As for the rest, I don't know what to tell you. Apple is getting their butt kicked now for the same reason they got their butt kicked in the 1980's. Some people want bling, but most people just want something that is inexpensive and works. It doesn't have to be perfect, just good enough. Most people don't want a Mercedes. They WANT a Toyota. Do you know why? Because Toyota's are dependable, inexpensive, and just WORK. My wifes CL550, on the other hand, was a pain in the ass that we had to demand a refund on after it spent three months of its first year at the dealership because of constant electrical problems. There's a reason that there's an Audi A6 in my driveway and not a Mercedes (I personally love my Subaru though...so you can keep them both).

Was Windows better than MacOs or Linux? Not at all. But it was cheap and it worked. People didn't have to think about it. Android is the same thing. It's cheap and it works. It does the job that people want it to do, and it does it well. And that's why it's taking over the market.

By the way, I should mention that I write software for a living. If you want to talk about the comparative pitfalls of coding in Objective C for iOS vs. the Android Java SDK, I'm your guy. I've been writing apps for both for years. iOS is certainly more profitable for me, but profit and quality are not the same thing. If it were, we'd all be worshipping Windows.

iOS is a great system, but this fanboy argument that Android is an iPhone ripoff has to end. Even the most casual examination of the actual facts demonstrates that the two systems were developed independently over several years. To claim otherwise is to argue faith over facts...and I'm an atheist.

[brooklynite]

76. Aaple just paid me $1,600...

...in dividends, which is about what I paid for the stock in the fiirst place.

[onehandle]

36. Answered here --->

http://khurt.com/blog/2012/08/30/what-boils-my-blood

[rablrouzer]

38. Sorry, but Apple isn't doing much innovation

OS X came from NEXT (Jobs failed startup) and is a clone of BSD, a Unix variant.

The Mac "big deal?" Rodent, lifted by hook or crook from Xerox research.

PowerPC? IBM / Motorola

Current Macs, actually run on Intel, using Intel spec logic boards, possibly altered slightly by Apple engineers. Which is why you don't see Apple suing the "Ultrabook" out of existence. The Mac Air is an Ultrabook, Intel Spec, just released first (with Intel's help).

iOS? A subset of OS X which is a clone of BSD, a Unix variant.

iPhones & iPads? Mostly SAMSUNG parts assembled by Foxconn et al, using Chinese slave labor. Lately the cameras have been Sony modules.

Apple innovation? Getting people to sign up for $100 a month contracts to change iPhones every year or two.

*

Do I have a hate on for Apple? Nope. I use Macs and OS X and find it user friendly, in every way superior to Windows and Linux for regular folks and office workers (who don't need local high end databases).

But I had an original iPad. $900.68 for the 64 gb 3g model. I joyously replaced it with an Air when those came out because the iPad was a VERY expensive toy that Apple made nearly impossible to use for work. It may have improved, but Apple had it so locked down with no access to the file system it was a horrible kludge to move files around---and neither Pages nor Numbers, iOS or Mac versions, were compatible with Excel or even themselves.

Good thing I didn't come to rely on it, as before it was even two years old, Apple withdrew support on release of iOS 6.

*

iPhones are a fashion item, like Prada bags. Don't believe it? Look around. Most users have them in cumbersome cases since they're fragile (especially the 4 & 4s, glass both sides). Yet most of those cumbersome cases have cutouts that display the Apple logo. While the iPhone was unique in 2007, it isn't now.

Apple's main reason for having a hate-on about the Galaxy S2? It looked enough like an iPhone that it could "pass." Not at a store, or when in use, but across a room. Like a fake Prada bag.

*

Oh. And while as I mentioned in an earlier post Apple may have exceeded Android briefly at the iPhone 5 release, over time it is losing market share in the US and around the world.

Carriers have to subsidize the iPhone by about $500 each. As carriers begin competing with lower cost service (check out T-Mobile which may finally impact the horrible prices every other carrier charges), the $500 subsidy will become obsolete. Apple would have to compete on actual benefits---and greatly drop its prices.

Not the Apple way. But that is the reality that nearly bankrupted the company before. Once the "Prada bag" effect wears off, customers will choose value.

[wilt the stilt]

41. really

itunes redefined music- I don't much agree with what has happened in the music world and MP3's suck for sound but it sure changed music
Iphone totally changed the mobile market
ipad totally changed the tablet.

you may not agree with it but they changed everything.

anyone in tech and I am in high tech knows the xerox is why there is a mouse and a gui.

[rablrouzer]

52. Redefined Music? Whoa, cowboy, Apple didn't invent music, MP3 players, or even tablet computers

There's no question Steve Jobs helped re-direct the music industry which had gone onto a self-destructive path.

Seriously, what did they expect when they kept raising the prices on CDs to, gasp, $20 a decade ago? That they could keep selling customers a $20 CD when they wanted a single song?

What they got was piracy. Understandable, at the rip off prices they were demanding.

Jobs and Apple broke that misconceived marketing approach.

But that was marketing of music, not music. And MP3s suck for sound? If you're an audio purist, but I can't tell the difference between WAV from CD and MP3. Especially since I now carry around my music and listen through tiny (but expensive) earphones. Way better than lugging around a boombox! And even at the original Apple standard of 128kb, MP3s are better than cassette tapes or worn vinyl.

But you do know Apple wasn't first? Just most successful.

Just as Apple wasn't first with a good MP3 player. Just best marketed, and since included as part of an ecosystem, the best choice.

Then.

Now iTunes dominance is fading as more and more listeners get their music from Spotify, Pandora, etc.

And I won't argue the iPhone changed the mobile market, but, again, marketing, although when the iPhone was introduced it was the best exemplar of the touch screen phone first marketed by IBM years before.

And not a whole lot different than my Palm Treo smartphone, Apps and all.

Now why I loathe iOS is because it is locked down. I, being an Apple guy, wanted the original iPhone, but the idea of spending $600 to buy one that didn't even have a replaceable battery was not appealing. The Treo didn't, and my effort to crack the case and replace it myself, while successful, wasn't optimal.

Anyway, all this talk about Apple innovation. The innovations I've seen from Apple are mostly marketing innovations, taking hardware designed and built by others, and successfully repackaging it into appealing products.

Like my MacBook Air which has superb keyboard, battery life, trackpad, and good screen. All made from other suppliers off the shelf parts . . .

[wilt the stilt]

59. do I like what apple did to music

absolutely not and if you can't tell the difference in sound that is really to bad. I am old school and started to go to concerts in 1966 and i have been to about 200 concerts including every big act from the sixties with the exception of Hendrix which I had tix for but didn't go.

. I guess you are one who only wants one song so what do we have now. Really bad artist making really bad music called "hits". It used to be people tried to put out a body of work and people tried to buy albums in support of the music business. now we have crap. "hits" have by and large no soul to the music and this is best exemplified by country music which makes me puke.

Finally audio purists aren't the only ones who can tell. I can spend around $300- $400 on used equipment on ebay and have a darn good system. I recently bought a Harman Kardon 330b receiver for $50. A Harman Kardon FL 8400 CD player at goodwill for $30. and I already own a pair of Dynaco speakers for $100.for the pair and this sound would blow you away. you can get tons of excellent audio equipment on ebay for a pittance. Like many you have never been exposed to good sound. It takes a little work.I bought this system for my son. I own a first level of a hifi system worth about $3,000.

My son downloaded Who's next and I have a newly released copy of Who's next. He played it on my car stereo and he could not believe the difference in sound quality. my car stereo.

You may call it marketing but they changed things. Let me tell you a story. I once knew a guy who invented the "thomas flair" in gymnastics. My friend Lloyd Larsen invented it. Kurt Thomas was the first to use it in international competition. What do we call it today. it is the "thomas flair"

[TM99]

57. Seriously?

You do realize that Apple did not create iTunes?

Casady & Greene had a fabulous skinable mp3 & other media player called Soundjam. Jobs & Apple, in typical fashion, did not actually create the product. They acquired it, reworked it slightly, removed some of the best features in order to make it simple (walled garden style), and popularized it.

That is what Apple has been good at now since Jobs came back in the late 1990's. They don't invent or create things. They acquire, buy, borrow, and steal and then rebrand them. They then market the hell out of them so that most Apple users have become almost religious in their love of a companies products.

And before you go off and accuse me of being an "Apple hater" or Android fanboy, I have been an inventor and entrepreneur in the tech world for several decades. I have worked and coded for various systems ranging from classic Mac OS to Windows to Unix/Linux to embedded systems like QNX Neutrino.

My first computer was an Apple I. I still use several PPC Macs in my home office for various tasks and functions including pro audio under OS 9. What Apple has now become as a company is a sad reflection on the personality disorder of Jobs and not the better expression of Woz, the healthy, creative engineer who actually invented and made shit cool!

[wilt the stilt]

60. I know they didn't invent it

but they made the impact. I am not one bit happy what has become of the music industry but I do recognize who impacts society.

[TM99]

61. They impacted it alright

I just can't agree that it is ultimately for the betterment of society.

[wilt the stilt]

62. read my post further up

and see what I said it has done to the music industry.

[tinrobot]

46. Not just in phones - Apple threw away the pro video editing market.

Final Cut had over 70% penetration before they released a dumbed-down upgrade and refused to fix it. They also don't seem to be interested in upgrading the Mac Pro workstations.

Because of that, video production houses are leaving Apple in droves. They've lost 40% of their video editing business to Adobe in the past year alone, with many of those productions switching to Windows.

It's kind of sad, because Apple owned that market. Yes, it was a small niche, but it had a lot of cachet.

[Xithras]

40. Globally, approximately 70% of smartphones are Android.

And that number is expanding fast. Apple got a head start in the U.S., but they lag behind almost everywhere else in the world. The American bourgeois consumerism that drives the iPhones popularity doesn't resonate globally. Most people just want an inexpensive smartphone that runs their apps reliably, and aren't really interested in overpaying for brands. Apple has no interest in competing for the budget market, and has effectively ceded it to the Android device makers.

iPhones are the Nikes of the telecom world. There are lots of people who swear by them, they are inarguably high quality, and they certainly dominate public perception, but by the numbers they actually make up a small portion of overall market sales. Much of Apple's current percentage, globally, is due to their early lead in the market. Many market analysts expect that Apple will end up with no more than 10%-20% of the overall global market in the long term, after the technology stabilizes and the first few generations of the handsets are phased out of use. Apples current sales volume accounts for only about 17% of the global market. Their numbers are simply not high enough to expect anything more than 20% (and don't get me wrong, Apple will still be an insanely rich company with that kind of marketshare.) Samsung, by contrast, accounts for more than 30% of global smartphone sales, and it is only one of many companies making Android devices.

[BlueMan Votes]

50. i have absolutely no interest in a 'smartphone'...am i the only one?

my 'specialneedsphone' still serves my purposes nicely.

[IDemo]

69. If my phone were any dumber it would have a crank on the side

[Angleae]

75. You are most definately not the only one.

My current phone is "whatever is free." I have no need for anything more than making an occasional phone call (I don't even text).

[BigD_95]

51. U haters r crazy

The iPod touch is the best MP3 player. The iPad is the best tablet.

The iPhone is basically the samething but has phone with it. No other product is even on the same level. Anyone who says different is just lying to themselves.

It's like someone having a porsche and me saying my impreza is just as good and doesn't cost nearly as much & they r paying for the Porsche logo on the car.

U can say that the price isn't worth it but don't say that those phones are better or just as good. They are not.

By the way I just typed that up on my iPhone 4 & want the 5

[sendero]

53. Europeans....

.... were always smarter than Americans, just more confirmation.

[dipsydoodle]

63. lol

[Fearless]

72. It'd be nice to be able to afford such useless pieces of crap

To stand out in lines the day before and miss work to be one of the first to get something artificially cost-inflated to hundreds of dollars that'll be antiquated in a short few years by the next model and the one after that. (To imagine buying a car that five years from now interstates no longer support or a computer that the internet no longer supports!) To sit around all day playing Angry Birds and Words and whatever comes up next without want of food, shelter, or good health for you and yours.

Damn that would be nice...