More US Consumers Choosing Smartphones as Apple Closes the Gap on Android

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According to the latest research from Nielsen, the high-profile launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S in the Fall had an enormous impact on the proportion of smartphone owners who chose an Apple iPhone. Among recent acquirers, meaning those who said they got a new device within the past three months, 44.5 percent of those surveyed in December said they chose an iPhone, compared to just 25.1 percent in October. Furthermore, 57 percent of new iPhone owners surveyed in December said they got an iPhone 4S.

Android continues to hold the lead among all smartphone users, with 46.3 percent of all smartphone owners surveyed in Q42011 reporting they have an Android-based mobile phone.

As of Q42011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly. In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone.
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http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire...artphones-as-apple-closes-the-gap-on-android/

Will be interesting to see how this year turns out. I'll be looking for a new phone in May.
 
I don't really understand all this talk about closing gaps. Apple released their first phone in a year so obviously numbers were up with them. Last month numbers were down so somehow they were also losing but the 4S wasn't released so of course nobody was buying iPhone 4. It's natural market cycles.
 
Not so long ago iPhone was only on one network, then became available on verizon, now its also available on Sprint. Thats the main reason why Apple is climbing up the charts.
 
news24 said:
Not so long ago iPhone was only on one network, then became available on verizon, now its also available on Sprint. Thats the main reason why Apple is climbing up the charts.
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I also think their decision to maintain the 3GS as an entry model, 4 in the mid tier and 4S on the top is also helping...

Prior to this Apple had no device options in the lower monthly contract (with no initial cost /free device) range. Anyone know why neither Vodacom or MTN appear to be taking advantage of this?

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/12/09/iphone-3gs-production-top-2m/
 
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[)roi(];7589723 said:
I also think their decision to maintain the 3GS as an entry model, 4 in the mid tier and 4S on the top is also helping...

Prior to this Apple had no device options in the lower monthly contract (with no initial cost /free device) range. Anyone know why neither Vodacom or MTN appear to be taking advantage of this?

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/12/09/iphone-3gs-production-top-2m/
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That is one reason. Another is having the best-in-class smartphone currently.
 
cerebus said:
That is one reason. Another is having the best-in-class smartphone currently.
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All reports on ICS indicate that Android might finally have the upper hand on functionality; pain points like lag and lack of interface consistency have been removed.

Although I have always liked Apple products and currently own the 4S -- I'm less than impressed by Apple's slow progress on UI advances -- ask how many of the iOS users are eagerly awaiting the next JB to apply custom UI enhancement mods. Apple for me has been too asleep in the area that it can truly differentiate itself from Android; the UI -- its starting to feel a little old.

From the developer side with Xcode 4, they took some significant backward steps which they still have not made up -- many developers are still running on Xcode 3 for this very reason. Even worse the newest beta version of Xcode (4.3) doesn't even support most of the current Apple supplied instrumentation that is vital for testing...
 
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[)roi(];7590307 said:
All reports on ICS indicate that Android might finally have the upper hand on functionality; pain points like lag and lack of interface consistency have been removed.
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Great news. The better Android becomes the more pressure is put on Apple to keep up or stay ahead and innovate. Win win all around.
 
SiriS said:
Great news. The better Android becomes the more pressure is put on Apple to keep up or stay ahead and innovate. Win win all around.
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True but you got to agree Apple has been less than impressive in that area -- Siri on my 4S is disappointing -- yes they called it beta, but for me here in lies the problem, where have Apple ever released a retail product in beta state (to the developer sure), but to the general consumer market never.

If you have a 4S you must have noticed by now how unreliable it is; the previous voice commands in many cases was more reliable. The lack of anything but basic commands outside of the US is completely unacceptable for a new highly marketed service, couple that with a really buggy version of iOS 5.01 and you have a clear indication that some magic appears to be missing within Apple.
 
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[)roi(];7590483 said:
True but you got to agree Apple has been less than impressive in that area -- Siri on my 4S is disappointing -- yes they called it beta, but for me here in lies the problem, where have Apple ever release a retail product in beta state (to the developer sure), but to the general consumer market never.

If you have a 4S you must have noticed by now how unreliable it is; the previous voice commands in many cases was more reliable. The lack of anything but basic commands outside of the US is completely unacceptable for a service, couple that with a really buggy version of iOS 5.01 and you have a clear indication that some magic appears to be missing within Apple.
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I'm still on iphone 4, so wouldn't know. Very happy with ios atm. Disappointing to hear about 4S though. Siri I can understand, it's going to be a major push for the future so there was probably a bit of "release and fix" strategy involved.

I will upgrade to the iphone 5 and evaluate then, I don't feel immune to switching to Android. (although I'm so invested in ios it becomes a challenge :))

Interested to see Siri in action. I downloaded Dragon Dictation recently and it was a complete balls-up. Must be my Afrikaans accent... :D
 
iOS is definitely stagnant on the UI front; then again ICS is only really achieving parity with where they should be - Android was always an ugly mess. But both companies need to evolve their UI's... currently in that sphere Microsoft seems to be taking the lead, which is shocking.
 
SiriS said:
I'm still on iphone 4, so wouldn't know. Very happy with ios atm. Disappointing to hear about 4S though. Siri I can understand, it's going to be a major push for the future so there was probably a bit of "release and fix" strategy involved.

I will upgrade to the iphone 5 and evaluate then, I don't feel immune to switching to Android. (although I'm so invested in ios it becomes a challenge :))

Interested to see Siri in action. I downloaded Dragon Dictation recently and it was a complete balls-up. Must be my Afrikaans accent... :D
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I'm in the same boat -- very invested in Apple (2 x Mac minis, iMac, Mbp, ATV2, 3xAirports, iPhone 3GS, 4 & 4S, IPad 1&2) -- basically I have no plans to change soon, but to be frank I would have thrown the 4S away if I was forced to stay on iOS5.01 -- fortunately I have a developer account so I could move onto beta version of 5.1 where many of the issues have been addressed.
Where I'm pissed is that SJ would never have allowed Siri to be released in beta, neither would he have accepted such a buggy version of iOS5.01 for their new flagship device (4S) -- clearly something is missing inside Apple -- I really hope they fix this crap and that Tim grows a QA backbone.
 
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cerebus said:
iOS is definitely stagnant on the UI front; then again ICS is only really achieving parity with where they should be - Android was always an ugly mess. But both companies need to evolve their UI's... currently in that sphere Microsoft seems to be taking the lead, which is shocking.
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I still have high hopes for iOS; for example many of widget gripes will disappear once Apple allows developers access to the notification centre APIs -- maybe around the time of iPad3? I'm however hoping for a UI refinement something akin to the refinement that occurred within OSX -- of course without sacrificing stability and performance.

WP7 looks good but really doesn't have the footprint -- difficult to win over any existing smartphone consumers when many have so much already invested in platforms that are really good (and many were burnt by the previous windows mobile) -- if iOS and Android were crap it would of course be a different matter entirely.
Microsoft and Nokia IMO are going to have to focus on the existing non smartphone market if they want to gain some share -- the Lumia is however too expensive for that.
 
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I don't know hey, I think microsoft could have a chance if they just strongly developed their core offerings in the platform. They have Xbox live, office, 365, the best social integration, the best keyboard, truly standout hardware with Nokia...they can make inroads. Particularly if they fill in the gap left by rim's collapse in enterprise dominance...Microsoft is a natural fit to me.
 
cerebus said:
I don't know hey, I think microsoft could have a chance if they just strongly developed their core offerings in the platform. They have Xbox live, office, 365, the best social integration, the best keyboard, truly standout hardware with Nokia...they can make inroads. Particularly if they fill in the gap left by rim's collapse in enterprise dominance...Microsoft is a natural fit to me.
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Timing I believe is their major problem -- good product but too slow to market; otherwise I have no arguments re completeness of their solutions, except maybe for the technology incompatibility between their phone and tablet apps.
I.e. all the apps developed for their phone will not be able to run on the tablets -- developers are required to start from nothing using a different coding framework.

How many users will want to buy a windows tablet with no tablet ready apps, Apple killed this problem by making sure the majority of iPhone apps would work on the iPad.
 
[)roi(];7596157 said:
Timing I believe is their major problem -- good product but too slow to market; otherwise I have no arguments re completeness of their solutions, except maybe for the technology incompatibility between their phone and tablet apps.
I.e. all the apps developed for their phone will not be able to run on the tablets -- developers are required to start from nothing using a different coding framework.

How many users will want to buy a windows tablet with no tablet ready apps, Apple killed this problem by making sure the majority of iPhone apps would work on the iPad.
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They will need big developer support and it's going to be a struggle for them. Where Apple integrated phone and tablet ecosystems and left desktop alone, Microsoft is doing the opposite. I guess they just see the tablet as belonging to the computing space. We'll have to see which approach is better.
 
cerebus said:
They will need big developer support and it's going to be a struggle for them. Where Apple integrated phone and tablet ecosystems and left desktop alone, Microsoft is doing the opposite. I guess they just see the tablet as belonging to the computing space. We'll have to see which approach is better.
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For now they are losing the race, unfortunately you have to be in it to make an impact...

Win 8 build sounds complicated as they are having to
rewrite most of the base code to make it smaller, boot faster and be lighter on resource usage (things that were not a concern in traditional computing space)

Apple chose to keep the phone and tablet together, and separate the traditional PC... Microsoft is separating the phone and trying to merge the tablet with the PC -- what will be the end result? A better tablet, but a worse PC experience... ? or visa versa

I have my doubts that PC and tablets form factors will merge seamlessly, so to for isolating the phone.
 
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