Phillip ELmer-Dewitt reports for Fortune that Venture capitalist Roger McNamee recently participated in a 21-minute interview with Bloomberg News‘ Deirdre Bolton.
Some snippets of interest:
• “Android has been managed essentially to make it a profitless prosperity. Right now, if Google is not careful, Android will be Samsung or Samsung will be Android.”
• “There is nothing wrong with Android as a product except that it does not do much. It is the equivalent of having a motor scooter at the Indianapolis 500.”
• “The notion that the Android is an equivalent to the iPhone is silly. Apple’s ecosystem and the way everything works together makes it a radically better product.”
• “Right now, 90% of the people are buying Androids are buying it because it is cheap. That is all. There is no brand loyalty and negligible profits.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jax44” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Roger McNamee: Post-Steve Jobs, Apple’s already acting like a ‘dumb monopolist’ – September 19, 2012
Roger McNamee blasts Google and Microsoft; says ‘consumers abandoning Windows as fast as they can’ – May 14, 2011
McNamee is very bullish on Apple, says don’t trust Google’s Android (with video) – April 14, 2011
Palm-backer Roger McNamee: So, how would you like your crow? – July 30, 2009
Palm withdraws McNamee claims for Pre – March 10, 2009
Palm backer McNamee: Pre will take all iPhone users as AT&T contracts begin to expire in June – March 5, 2009
Yes, Android is cheap. And countless statistical analyses demonstrate that those who buy a cheap look-alike phone don’t pay for apps or buy much online. There is not much value for advertisers amongst a group of marginal customers, no matter how large their number. Sooner or later, if they have not already, advertisers will direct their marketing dollars to iOS where the real customers are.
I don’t know. If you read the posts from Fandroids on these websites where such things can be found, it sounds like there are people who genuinely believe that Android is a better OS than iOS. I don’t know what percentage those folks are of the people who buy Android devices, but I think 90% must be a number pulled out of a hat based, a bit of an emotional response.
A VERY vocal minority. Every platform will always have rabid fans. From what I’ve seen though. it seems like most of them are actually Anti-Apple fanatics and not so much Android fans. They’ll root for anything that is not Apple.
Personally, I’d rather love what I have, than hate what I don’t have.
It’s very simple, folks…from my experience, VERY few Android owners switched from an iPhone. They bought Android *instead* because its cheaper.
So, when they rave about how much better Android is, they’re speaking out of pure ignorance, never having used an iPhone.
It reminds me, years ago, of a co-worker who laughed at me for buying Apple stock, because “Macs suck.” Tuns out that he hasn’t used a Ma in nearly ten years, and despite knowing that OS X was completely new, still said Macs sucked, Windows ruled, and I was a fool for buying stock.
Looking at today’s stock price (vs the $10.83 I paid), I think he was the fool. 🙂
Never argue with someone who knows nothing about the other perspective, whether its smartphones, computers, religion, or politics. You’ll never win, because they’ll cling to their belief and insist that it’s right….because it’s all they know.
Good advice.
The main problem with that reasoning is that all of Wall Street is basically anti-Apple. They’re out to ruin Apple shareholders.
I’m an Apple user who prefers Android.
I use a MacBook pro as does my wife. She has an iPhone 4s and I have an HTC rezound running ICS.
I think ios and Android are great operating systems, both of them.
The only real difference I’ve seen is that with the iPhone you are assured that whatever you get is going to be good. With Android you have to do your homework before buying a device.
Like anything you get what you pay for so when it comes to Android you need to pick a top tier device. The 50 dollar POS phones may run android but do they run it well? Not usually.
I’m probably a minority in that I have used both and still went with Android.
I don’t know. It seems there are still people who genuinely believe that Windows is a better OS than OS X. It doesn’t matter, because Apple will continue to make and sell great products at reasonable prices and will continue to earn profits doing so, regardless of how many misguided sheep buy other stuff.
For a very long time people though MS-DOS was better than MacOS.
There are people yet today that believe the earth is flat.
Select data from a biased group can “prove” anything. But when you try to duplicate their results by querying the general public you get much different results.
So! It isn’t better, many also have felt Windows is better than Mac OS it isn’t.
Actually, it’s like bringing a fart to a shit fight!
sx
Android is like Afghanistan. There’s lots of Taliban Zealots and they’re all living in the Stone Age.
Roger was a principle investor in Palm. He also said that once the Palm (was it) Pre was released there would be no more iPhones sold. He’s rich, but a freakin’ idiot.
The dummies I know who bought into the Andriod advertising are now wishing they had iPhones. Phone contracts are a bitch!
Hi,
The time has come… Sell your Apple stocks!
Mister McNamee just told that Android is not as good as iPhone. This ain’t good sign. 😉
Even a little kid knows and understands this. If the kid is doing a fund raiser and trying to market something in the neighborhood, they start with the most upscale or best house on the block. Not the tiny modest shack.
You go to where the money is!
I definitely agree with the first point… Samsung will eventually move away from Google and fork Android much in the same way Amazon did. This would allow Samsung to begin building an ecosystem around their devices.
McNamee learned well from his Palm investment.
“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. Think about it — If you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market. Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they’re going to buy.”
Major Palm investor & co-founder of Elevation Partners, Roger McNamee, 5 Mar 2009
What an insult to motor scooters dammit!
From my experience, Android users fall into three groups:
* Tech-savvy users who like to tinker and/or are philosophically opposed to Apple’s “walled garden”.
* Apple bashers who are non-conformist for the sake of it (even though Android is now supposedly in the majority).
* Regular users who believe the Apple “lock-in” is too restrictive (even if, when pressed, they probably wouldn’t be able to articulate any true Android advantages).
You left out the largest group. Regular people just out to get a new cell phone, they pick up a cheap Android smart phone with no intention of ever using the “smart” features. They just want a phone to make phone calls and they pick up a free or cheap Android because it’s cheap or free. That’s why iPhones have far more web traffic than Android even though there are far more Android phones out there. Most people who buy iPhones really want a smart phone to get on the web, check their email etc. and use those features regularly.
Hmmmm, good point. I always figured people bought smartphones for the smart features but I guess the web usage statistics disprove that.
When all is said and done, the fact is that Android is good for Apple. And more than that, it’s great for consumers. Without competition we all lose.
Android is the OS equivalent of a feature phone. It can do phone calls and a few other things but most buyers don’t care for the extra features (apps or otherwise) as they really only want a phone when they buy an Android phone.
When comparing the smart phone market to the general cell phone category, we should only count iPhones as smart phones (i.e. based on purpose and actual usage rather than tech specs and OS pretensions).