“Booming demand for the latest iPhone model helped Apple beat all phones using Google’s Android platform in the U.S. smartphone market in the fourth quarter, data showed on Wednesday,” Tarmo Virki reports for Reuters.
“Research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said Apple’s share of the U.S. market doubled from a year ago to 44.9% in the October to December period… beating Google’s Android smartphones, which slipped to 44.8% from 50 percent,” Virki reports. “‘Apple has continued its strong sales run in the U.S., UK and Australia over the Christmas period,’ Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at the research firm said. ‘Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover.'”
Virki reports, “Kantar said Microsoft’s Windows Phone share in all of the nine key markets it measures remained at less than 2 percent despite the high-profile launch of the Lumia range from Nokia.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Seems like more and more people are hitting the end of their two year contracts and realizing that, gee, pretend iPhones simply cannot compare to the real thing.
Onward and upward! Fasten your seat belts and prepare the mothership for ludicrous speed!
leap frog anyone?
An iPhone sale represents the best value for consumers.
Also, with 85% satisfaction among its customers, Apple doesn’t lose many customers. There doesn’t seem to be any real Android/manufacturer brand loyalty.
Where are you getting the 85%? I thought iPhone was at ~95% or maybe I’m thinking of customer service ratings.
Good call – you get one or more guaranteed updates from Apple. With Android, you may be behind the day the phone comes-out with no hope of ever getting an update.
I hear more complaints from Android users about their “damn” phones that are clunky and rob people of their momentum when they’re conversing online.
Anytime I see an uploaded portrait photo that appears sideways in a post/comment, chances are it’s from an Android phone.
I was shocked when a friend kvetched about his Android phone’s battery only lasting about 2 hours. Annoyed him to no end.
And it looked pretty beat to hell, too. Not sure what OEM or model it was, but it sure didn’t have durability as a feature.
Apple shares might pass the 450-dollar mark today…
Just imagine if Apple had released a redesigned 4″ iPhone 5 in 2011. It would have left Android in the dust, not merely just being neck & neck with it.
I don’t know – what this says to me is that the screen size has little bearing on the market… bigger ain’t always better – it’s just bigger. And redesigning doesn’t mean anything either – the iPhone basic design has been the same since 2007 when you think about it. Same overall shape, same screen size, same button locations, and same fantastic user interface (with more and more apps, and better display, more speed, better camera)… The same old tried and true formula. Kinda like the Mac, and all the other products. Incremental improvements that matter, not superficial improvements that don’t…. but what do I know.
you are assuming that a great number of iPhone buyers did not buy the iPhone partly because of the way it fit in their hands… Like women, teenagers etc… Bigger is not always better… Sometimes bigger decreases the effectiveness and ease of use .
That’s NOT what she said! I had to say it…. I’m sorry. Carry on. Peace. 🙂 you gotta find humor amongst all the ANAList bs. Ponder the visual at RIMM’s main headquarters today?
I agree. I had a man sitting next to me on a plane show his 4.3″ android phone (didn’t see the manufacturer) and he had some difficulty holding it with one hand.
Apple doesn’t have to increase the size of the phone to have a larger screen. There is a lot of wasted space that could be filled on the face of the phone. Also Apple could do away with the Home Button and use a finger gester for its use. I personally get tired of having to put reading glasses on ever time I try to read a text! Truthfully, I don’t know if 4 inches will be enough for me either. Good thing I have my iPad 2.
Much as I’d have liked a larger screen myself, they clearly couldn’t have left Android in the dust, since Apple can’t make iPhones fast enough to fill demand.
you sound like you could have a job as an analyst for AAPL. Or blog under enderle.
This reminds me of an earlier post by
Ballmer’s left nut
Monday, October 3, 2011 – 8:53 am
“Stupidest article I’ve ever read in a long time. Completely dumb and without substance. If Apple releases an iPhone 4S no one will buy it.”
Yeah, I remember that BLN post. It clearly demonstrates that debating with that joker is a waste of time. Even when he says something halfway intelligent, I have to assume that it was a mistake.
I’ll say it again. Android phones went to bigger, lower res screens so they could put a bigger, longer lasting battery in their monster phones. They needed a bigger battery that came closer to the iPhone’s longer battery life.
…and would not drain in minutes when connected to a 4G LTE network, which would nullify their advertising claims of “fastest ever”
Kindda disappointed that this MDN post doesn’t have any related articles listed.
How could a Windows phone possibly surpass iPhone in the next couple years?!
It would have to be a truly amazing device and I don’t see it coming from Ballmer’s gang. Where’s the killer app that is going to compel a 100-million people to buy one? What feature could possibly induce iPhone users to abandon what they’re currently enjoying in iPhone?
iPhone 5 anyone?
Porn?
Right… MS Onan™. Everything you need for one-handed surfing! Only on MS Phone ’07.
smartbone
Microsoft’s only chance in that market is to make a bold stroke—by competing with Siri head-to-head! Microsoft should license the Addams Family characters Fester and Lurch, to be their AI voices in the U.S. and U.K. respectively.
Android could join the fray by appropriating Xena the Warrior Princess.
Maybe MS could develop a system that uses only your thoughts – no voice.
“a bold stroke” doesn’t that apply to the comments directly above?
You don’t get it. Seriously, Microsoft needs a strong marketing message. You can’t market that message; even if you did, half the population (women) would reject it, and the fraction of the other half it might appeal to (male geeks aged 12-34 living in Mom’s basement) is miniscule.
But Microsoft could market Addams Family phones! That’s doable, and Steve Ballmer as Uncle Fester is already a hit! It’s perfect!
I can only imagine what he would do if he had a real good product.
The only way a Windows phone could surpass the iPhone over the next couple of years is to quantum leap forward past the iPhone, something like a virtual heads-up display connected to a Bluetooth headset which is operated by eye movement and voice command.
And there’s no way something that forward-thinking is coming out of Redmond.
I can’t imagine anyone leaving the iPhone for a Windows phone. That being said, the Lumina 900 appears to be a very good phone (in prototype stage). I think the vast majority of whatever market Windows phones ends up with will come from Nokia feature phone users and Android users.
Since this story is ultimately about iOS, I’m taking the opportunity to talk about what I think is the latest “stealth” bomb released by Apple – the iBooks Author.
Once again, Apple have quietly released a “product” – a piece of software – that I think is going to just explode once creative minds realize how powerful the tool is.
The official Apple line is that this software is focused on making inroads into the textbook market – and there is no doubt that will be one of the growth areas.
But iBooks Author is so much more that potential uses for it will only be limited by the borders of imagination.
When you are seamlessly able to incorporate the written word, video, audio, interactive elements, 3D elements and even HTML into a document, you have the ability to create much more than a mere textbook.
I downloaded iBooks Author and, as a test project, created a single page “book” about my favorite little nephew’s regular Saturday morning visit.
I shot photos and video with my iPhone 4S, and was able to incorporate those into my document in an elegant manner after doing some work in iPhoto and iMovie. Using one of the provided templates in iBook Author, I created something that is truly wonderful.
I’m able to run through a series of images by swiping through them, I’m able to play my two-minute video clip by touching the screen, and all the while I don’t have to leave the page. In fact, I’m able to view the images and video in full screen mode on my iPad without leaving the page they’re on.
The possibilities are endless:
1) A band could create a “book” where each “page” could feature a self-shot music video for every song on their latest album, as well as the MP3 or AAC file for the song itself.
2) You could create a “movie” by adding a new scene with its own page at regular intervals.
3) A professional could create a constantly growing video portfolio of satisfied clients offering their praise and recommendations.
And in each of the potential scenarios above, you could incorporate all the other elements – the written word (which includes the ability to incorporate all kinds of shapes, charts and tables in glorious color), audio, images, interactivity, 3D elements and HTML.
Quite simply, with iBooks Author, you can write your old-fashioned novel, containing nothing more than prose, or you could create a completely visual document that has just video, audio, images and interactive elements with no written word at all – and everything in between these two extremes.
This one is going to take off in a big way, just like iTunes and the App Store did, once talented and creative minds get to work.
Who do you think will try to get a similar product out there to address the platforms (that is, the “market”) that Apple doesn’t address?
Apple’s model is “We give you the tools for free, but the created works will be sold via iBooks and we’ll get the 30% cut.” (some quarters are screaming murder over this) You know someone will take the approach of “We’ll sell you the tools and you can distribute what you create anywhere.”
Adobe would be the most likely. Quark might. Amazon may take Apple’s approach and do something for the Kindle platform.
iPad is the biggest tablet out there by far (and will almost surely remain so for the foreseeable future); a 70% cut is far, far better than nothing (presently) for your creative efforts; the Apple ecosystem – both hardware and software – that allows you to create all the supplementary content and support you need for creating your “books” in a seamless manner – I don’t see much wrong with that.
And iBooks Author has just begun. As is usually the case with Apple, you can expect all sorts of improvements in the product as time goes on.
I’m sure the old complaints about Apple being a “closed” shop will keep coming up, and others will try to emulate and try to go one-up on Apple. But recent experience has shown that it is difficult for anyone else to create the kind of integrated, multi-product and extremely user-friendly experience that Apple has got down pat.
they do. Both adobe indesign and quark xpress have output to ePub with export to the AppStore. The cost varies and it depends on the number of copies sold but it can cost thousands of dollars a year to publish to the AppStore. Look up the adobe and quark websites. A major publisher like vogue, sports illustrated etc can afford them but it’s out of reach for individuals. Its laughable to hear people whining about a 30% cut from iBooks author when compared to the thousands you have to fork out for the Adobe and Quark solutions.
Look it up, iBooks author is WAY ahead in affordability compared to quark and adobe. Let alone the quantum leap in interactivity and ease of use.
I agree Abdullah. I think iBooks Author and the ecosystem that it will create will become the biggest thing Apple has done yet. It will change the world.
Great post. I had not given much thought to other applications of iBooks Author. Can you save the single page book that you made and send it to another Mac user to open using iBooks Author or iBooks? Or would you have to post it through Apple?
you can use ibooks Author to create a ‘work’ to give away for free any way you you want, e.g. email, sideload via itunes, send a floppy (just kidding…), mail a usb stick, burn a CD etc.. if you want to sell it – submit it to apple bookstore, let them take 30%. I’ve written several textbooks for traditional publishers. I write a 200 dollar textbook, I get 10 cents. Apple’s a much better deal.
I know at least one person who bought an iPhone after she had to deal with some nasty Android virus a few months ago.
Leaving all personal information open to malware attack seems like a bad strategy if you want to keep customers long term.
People with time to burn on their hands buy Android phones. Productive people that don’t have time to do settings, seek software that will make their music play on their Android phone, etc. buy iPhones.
Android Phones aren’t even pretend iPhones. What is it that is built cheaply, not meant to last long, has no upgrade path, except through replacement, is usually a mock-up of a real product, and is marketed to children and adolescents? Answer: toy. Does this seem to describe Android phones? Two markets-iPhones, and Toy phones!
iPrognosticate: by Q4 2015 Apple’s quarterly profit will be large enough to buy-up all the iPhone competition; and the yearly profit enough to buy-up all the other competition. Lastly, these prediction are within +/- the accuracy of any current pundit. 🙂