Google’s Eric Schmidt: Android ‘clearly’ winning war against Apple
“Google Inc.’s Android is extending its lead over Apple Inc. in the mobile-software market at a rate that compares with Microsoft Corp.’s expansion in desktop software in the 1990s, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said,” Brian Womack reports for Bloomberg.
MacDailyNews Take: One not-so-minor difference, Microsoft retained control of and got paid for their software, Mole.
“Booming demand for Android-based smartphones is helping Google add share at the expense of other software providers, Schmidt said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. Android snared 72 percent of the market in the third quarter, while Apple had 14 percent, according to Gartner Inc. Customers are activating more than 1.3 million Android devices a day, Schmidt said,” Womack reports. “‘This is a huge platform change; this is of the scale of 20 years ago — Microsoft versus Apple,’ he said. ‘We’re winning that war pretty clearly now.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Mole likely gets it, but he’s playing stupid.
Let’s stop focusing on market share without context and let’s start focusing on what matters. Market share does not necessarily equal profits. Market share does not necessarily equal platform. And in the long run (and in the short run too), market share that doesn’t ultimately lead to profits is meaningless. Anyone can get market share. All you have to do is give away your product at cost or, better yet, for free. But you can’t beat Apple’s iOS just by losing money. Somewhere, somehow, sometime you’ve got to make a profit. Let’s stop pretending that market share is the bottom line or the only thing that matters. Profit and platform matter. Let’s focus on them, instead.
There’s one little problem with the theory that market share matters most in a platform war. By every imaginable measure and in every way that conceivably matters, it is iOS – not Android – that is winning the platform wars. And it isn’t even close. – John Kirk, TechPinions, November 29, 2012
And, BTW, Schmidt is counting everything with Android in it, including point-and-shoot cameras, watches, car computers, etc.
Womack reports, “The company avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenue into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show. Governments in France, the U.K., Italy and Australia are probing Google’s tax avoidance as they seek to boost revenue. Schmidt said the company’s efforts around taxes are legal. ‘We pay lots of taxes; we pay them in the legally prescribed ways,’ he said. ‘I am very proud of the structure that we set up. We did it based on the incentives that the governments offered us to operate.’ The company isn’t about to turn down big savings in taxes, he said. ‘It’s called capitalism,’ he said. ‘We are proudly capitalistic. I’m not confused about this.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Well, at least he got one thing right.
MacDailyNews Take: Schmidt’s love affair with market share (because that’s all he’s got) reminds us of a little story we usually use for Dell:
Data source: Citi ResearchLittle Mikey had a lemonade stand. Okay, it was a kiosk. He sold 100 (8 oz.) cups yesterday for 10-cents each. He spent 11-cents per cup for artificial lemon flavoring, corn syrup, and the paper cups. He used tap water because it was free. Threw it all together in a big plastic pail. He’s out a buck for all of his trouble. Boy, that was a lot of work for less than nothing!
Around the block, little Steve runs a lemonade stand, too. It’s all blond wood and very clean. He sold 50 (24 oz.) glasses yesterday for 50-cents each. He spent 20-cents per glass on fresh-squeezed lemons, pure cane sugar, spring water (mixed with the utmost care), and some very nice glassware (he buys in bulk and gets a good price). He took home $15 yesterday. He’s currently building his newest stand right where Mikey’s used to be. – MacDailyNews, April 23, 2009
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
