Why Apple is the Top Smartphone Maker

Forbes ^ | 6/09/2012 @ 5:15PM | Larry Magid

[Swordmaker]

Nielson is out with some new statistics on the iPhone, pointing out that — as of March 2012 — about 1 in 3 smartphone owners globally are using iPhones. Earlier this year, Nielsen reported that smartphones account for half of all new mobile phone purchases in the U.S.

Nielson also said that Apple is also a top destination on the web, with 72 million unique US visitors to their site during April 2012 and “has been among the top 10 web brands overall.” Visitors to Apple’s website spent nearly 1 hour on average during the month.

The analytical firm also said that iPhone users download 50 apps on average and that Facebook is the most used app followed closely by Maps. A third of iPhone users downloaded a paid app in the past 30 days.

Over at Business Insider, Henry Blodget argues that Apple’s success is due to broader distribution (adding Sprint and other carriers), having lower priced models (including the 3GS), additional distribution partners such as Walmart, Amazon and Best Buy and the fact that iPhones cost about the same as competing products.

[papertyger]

because it just works...

[whitedog57]

Still like my Blackberry Bold 9900 better than my wife’s iPhone.

[Swordmaker]

Nielson Research says that 1 in 3 smartphones worldwide is an iPhone—PING!

From a well research comment on the article:

• 365 million iOS devices vs 300 million Android
• 84% of mobile gaming revenue captured by iOS (NewZoo)
• 90% of e-commerce revenue comes from iOS devices (Rich Relevance)
• 97.3% of business tablet activations are iPad (Good Technologies)
• 63% mobile web browser share iOS vs 19% Android (NetMarketshare)
• 69% of mobile web share is iOS vs 29% for Android (Chitika)
• 80% of cellular industry profits captured by iPhone (Morgan Keegan)
• iPhone developer revenue 400% of Android phone revenue (Distimo)
• IOS developer revenue 6x Android dev revenue (Distimo)
• New iOS app starts increased from 63% to 73% marketshare (Flurry)
• Developer mindshare: 89% iPhone, iPad at 88%, Android phones 78.6%, Android tablets 65.9% (Appcelerator)
• 78% of smartphones at AT&T, 76% at Sprint and 51% at Verizon are iPhones Q1 2012. These 3 carriers make up 80% of of smartphones sold in the USA
• vast majority of 3rd party hardware peripherals, accessories, media and content target iOS devices
  Etc etc.

  In contrast, like Symbian before it, all Android has to show is smartphone unit sales share and we all know what happened to Symbian.

  This is why Apple is on top.

Apple iPhone market penetration Ping!

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[Cringing Negativism Network]

So how about a market share index which matters:

What smartphones are made in China?

How come that is (never) mentioned, yet is most important of all?

[numberonepal]

How come that is (never) mentioned, yet is most important of all?

Because that's not what's most important. What's important is that Apple makes a superior product - plain and simple. I could give a whiz about where it's made.

[AlmaKing]

Are you talking about the Chinese slave labor used to make their products?

Chinese FoxConn Workers Riot at Apple Factory

http://www.newsy.com/videos/chinese-foxconn-workers-riot-at-apple-factory

Same shit is happening with my company here in the states which has factories in China also. Our local Chinese boss expects us to work and compete with slave labor.

[Okieshooter]

“Still like my Blackberry Bold 9900 better than my wife’s iPhone.”

I would suggest that others on both sides like what they are used to. Changeing to another platform requires a learning process that many don’t want to go through. Plus replacing all the apps they have aquired.

I will stick to my iPhone since it is the first smart phone I tried that was worth a damn.

[TomasUSMC]

Communist Chinese are making huge profits from your smart phone. It will come to bite you.....sooner than you think.

[TomasUSMC]

Communist Chinese are making huge profits from your smart phone. It will come to bite you.....sooner than you think.

[BipolarBob]

Does your company have the suicide nets also?

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Yup.

That’s the thing.

When the lowest wage in the world, is the largest country in the world, every other nation will go broke.

Every one. No limit...

[null and void]

That's not a fair comparison.

People like the iPhone...

[House Atreides]

It’s all individual choice and preference of course. I had used Blackberries for a number of years and made the switch to the Apple iPhone(4) last year. I’m VERY happy with the iPhone & the switch.

One thing to consider longer term—RIM (the producer of Blackberries) is tottering on the edge of bankruptcy while Apple’s profits continue to increase. Apple is in the financial position needed to invest hugely in the research needed to constantly improve its products while RIM needs to instead worry about how to meet day-to-day bills.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

I view a iPhone like drudge report and google. Both excel at being very easy and user friendly. As compared to yahoo and Android, that think people want a million options and choices and make it frustrating to use. Just my opinion though.

[AlmaKing]

The company laid off 4 people last week. More cuts are coming due exactly to Chinese labor competition.

Are you being cute? Send your message to those 4 people, who are Americans by the way.

We’ve been told those positions won’t be refilled here. They will be filled in China.

[ctdonath2]

For most, abstract political issues are trumped by out-of-pocket price and daily usability. “Made in USA” matters little if the product is expensive and crappy.

[MrEdd]

I have never seen a superior smarphone made by iPple.
If you did not just make that up, or pull it out of your @$$, post a link to a site selling them on this thread.

Minimum tech stats for a phone that is even barely acceptable include screen size no less than five inches, user replacable battery, and removable storage.

All I have ever seen from iPple is hype. Unlike HTC and Samsung. Hell, even Dell put out a good phone and its not even one of their focus product categories.

Put up or shut up.

[Swordmaker]

Are you talking about the Chinese slave labor used to make their products?

Uh, no. Apple requires their workers to be paid three times what other workers are paid and did you read the articles? In more accurate reports about the riots the truth came out:

"The clash broke out at a male dormitory for Foxconn workers in Kaoxinxi district in northwest Chengdu. When two security guards called out to stop a thief, some employees with grudges against the security officers took the chance to hinder them and forced them away.—The China Times

The riot occurred because of a police action, not because of working conditions. It was further reported in other news sources that this plant was not even one that made parts for Apple products.

Gee. Alma, facts can be uncomfortable things.

In the report that "affirmed the long hours," the workers complained when the "long hours" were cut to please the international investigators! The workers found that they no longer were able to make as much money in overtime pay, which was one of the reasons they had gone to work at the factories in the first place!

It may be true for your company, which does not require the same thing that Apple does. Apple has Apple paid staff members at the factories to assure that their requirements ARE being complied with. None of the other contractees have that practice from what is being reported. Apple is the only one that monitors what its contract manufacturers do to assure compliance with their requirements.

When open hiring is announced at the FoxConn plants that make Apple products, hundreds of applicants apply for each opening. Slaves do not volunteer to work at slave labor. The reports of "slave labor" conditions were retracted when it turned out they came from a "reporter," Mike Daisey, who has admitted he made up much of his monologue "The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs" as entertainment. His "report," which was excerpted on NPR, gave rise to the flurry of bad press about slave labor in the FoxConn factories was retracted by NPR:

"RETRACTING "MR. DAISEY AND THE APPLE FACTORY" 03.16.2012

I have difficult news. We've learned that Mike Daisey's story about Apple in China - which we broadcast in January - contained significant fabrications. We're retracting the story because we can’t vouch for its truth. This is not a story we commissioned. It was an excerpt of Mike Daisey's acclaimed one-man show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in which he talks about visiting a factory in China that makes iPhones and other Apple products.

The China correspondent for the public radio show Marketplace tracked down the interpreter that Daisey hired when he visited Shenzhen China. The interpreter disputed much of what Daisey has been saying on stage and on our show. On this week's episode of This American Life, we will devote the entire hour to detailing the errors in "Mr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory."

Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast. That doesn't excuse the fact that we never should've put this on the air. In the end, this was our mistake.

We're horrified to have let something like this onto public radio. Many dedicated reporters and editors - our friends and colleagues - have worked for years to build the reputation for accuracy and integrity that the journalism on public radio enjoys. It's trusted by so many people for good reason. Our program adheres to the same journalistic standards as the other national shows, and in this case, we did not live up to those standards.

Even the reports of horrific suicides at the FoxConn factories do not hold up... except as FUD and hype when it is compared to the national figures for the same age group demographic for all of China... and it turns out that it is one quarter of the percentage of the national rate! 75% fewer people in the employ of FoxConn commit suicide than do the general population. It only made headlines because FoxConn makes products for Apple... and it suited Apple's competition to publicize those suicides, despite the fact those SAME plants made their own products!

[Gator113]

Do you think that Apple will ever make Siri available for Mac OS X ? I am in love with Siri and I think she loves me too.