Posts Tagged ‘1 percent’
Android May Now Be Largest Smartphone Platform In Us
I think the biggest reason for this is there is only ONE Apple, and MANY Android OEMs. Sure, you can compare the PC market to the Mobile market, but Apple is selling (literally) every phone it makes while Android-based phones cannot make the same boast.
From the Apple-minded perspective, Android is far too fragmented and splintered–one phone will do ‘this’ while another won’t. Plus, I’m surprised that no-one mentions how tied-in to Google Apps the whole thing is–this is a real benefit for some but seen as a lock-in for others (yes, even Apple people). The iPhone works out of the box with Gmail, Yahoo, POP3, IMAP, and Exchange. Android does not share this ubiquity. Yahoo Mail is probably the most popular of all e-mail suffixes I know on my college campus (followed by Hotmail). Plus, Google Calendar is the only game in town for Calendar syncing on Android (at the moment).
I’m not slamming Android–in fact, I think many iPhone users should applaud Android since it drives competition for Apple. The iPhone 2G and 3G were the only phones of their kind for over a year, there was no choice and competition for that particular type of Smartphone, unless you are looking at RIM who didn’t have a touch-screen at the time. Apple really re-invented the whole concept of Smartphone, what it is and what it should be.
As an anecdote, everyone I know who has an iPhone would not own anything else. When asked, I was told they’d all just go back to a standard candy bar or flip phone, and carry an iPod touch instead.
Until Android makers come up with something that can do everything my iPhone can do, better and for less money, I’ll stick with the iPhone. Plus, Android phones don’t have a Genius Bar to take the phone and get it exchanged if there’s a problem–I would have to call yucky Motorola (past experience here) or Samsung to mail it in, wait a week or two, and find a phone to use in the meantime.
Lastly, I hate comparisons but if I were to pick a car make to compare….Android is the GM of mobile phones, using one engine in many types of cars (Chevy, Pontiac (RIP), GMC, Saturn (RIP), Cadillac, etc.) while iPhone is the BMW–designed from the ground up as what it is sold as, a BMW.
Itunes Takes Over A Quarter Of 2009 Music Gross Sales
The iTunes Store was the source of more than a quarter of US music sales during 2009, even when squared off against combined digital and retail competition, figures from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry show. Apple contributed to a modest 1.1 percent growth in domestic digital sales, and a 9.2 percent increase for digital internationally, pushing the sector to $4.3 billion. The music industry as whole has continued to decline however, falling 7.2 percent to be worth $17 billion.
Sales have been slipping every year since 1999. The IFPI cites piracy as one of music’s “biggest obstacles,” and suggests that local government clampdowns could help restore the industry to profit. 2009 sales dropped the most, proportionately, in the United States and Japan, which together accounted for 80 percent of the $1.3 billion in global losses.
Apple has few challengers in the digital arena; even Amazon and Microsoft are believed to have just fractions of Apple’s share. Microsoft has not published much data from the Zune Marketplace, making it difficult to do an accurate comparison. At the same time though, iTunes is estimated to account for 69 percent of online music sales.