“While Apple does extremely well in the global and domestic smartphone markets, they aren’t doing as well among first-time smartphone buyers as one might think,” Ina Fried reports for AllThingsD.
“A new study paints an interesting picture of the first-time phone buyer and the devices they are choosing,” Fried reports. “Previous smartphone owners buy Apple iPhones much more than first-time owners,’ according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. ‘Almost 50 percent of previous owners buy an iPhone, while under one-third of first-time owners buy an iPhone.'”
Fried reports, “Samsung does roughly equally well among new and repeat smartphone buyers, while Korean rival LG tends to do far better among first-timers, likely due to its lower prices and strong representation in the prepaid arena. Those late to the smartphone game tend to be more price-conscious, and also tend to keep their devices longer than longer-term smartphone owners… Meanwhile, both BlackBerry and Microsoft’s Windows Phone continue to struggle.”
Read more in the full article here.
I don’t think so. If they price it right, buyers will come in droves. Apple has been late to a lot of things with everyone saying they can’t. Yet the opposite keeps happening. If you have a good product that people like they will come.
They clearly set up the case for Apple’s iPhone doing very well in the balance of the 67% of China’s cell phone users. China Mobile is selling the other non-iPhones that are hacked and infested open Android iOS want-to-be smart phones. Now, 67% of China will get to pick the real iPhone. China is ready for round 2. The government of China doesn’t like either South Korea or Google. So, game on! Apple got 9% of the first third of that market which is bigger that the USA market.
The question is, can Apple make enough iPhone to meet the new demand?
price conscious people just may not be able to afford much of anything, they probably are pretty young and just starting out so why would apple want them? they wont be buying much music, videos and alot of stuff. If you make a phone with little profit, I doubt youll make up for it in other areas. With that same logic, corevette and ferrari better come out with cheaper version of their cars so price conscious users can afford them.
Not really. Release the Kraken – $350 iPhone 5C. Done and dusted.
It is simple. Once you spend almost as much as you would if you bought an iPhone and you get stuck with an Android piece of shit, you know better next time.
First time buyers, who buy what they think is good enough, need to learn the life lesson before they buy real quality products.
Take me for example. My first car was a used Studebaker Hawk. Wish I still had it.
Yes, release the Kraken!
In other news, Apple has a hard time attracting first-time netbook purchasers and people wanting a desktop for $300.
Nah, they just turned them into iPad users.
Giving away your devices, which you’ve invested a lot of time, effort and money, does not profit make. Charge a fair price, make a reasonable profit, and leave the cheapskates for the low-margin/more desperate companies.
Does anyone know how accurate previous studies by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners have proven to be? We can’t look at their original report without paying for it. Therefore, we don’t know what the methodology was and Pundit Fried gives us no clue.
It seems that suddenly there is this new manufacturer of tablets and phones called “Other” mfg. They are shipping over 35% of android??? phones to……er……. well……….someone or somewhere. They must be great cause we have never seen them before so …… there.!! /s
DED has commented very well on this new Other company and anyone interested can read his article.
Is this the article you were thinking about?
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/07/31/strategy-analytics-finds-millions-of-android-tablets-rewrites-ipad-history
I wonder how accurate these studies, surveys, really are.. Analysts are routinely wrong, Why should this be any different.
87.385% of their statistics are made up on the spot. 😆
Analysts are fortune tellers, if they did have a crystal balls, they should know when they’d strike rich themselves, they don’t have to work.
Ok, so even if they do not get an iPhone the first time around, after experiencing a sub-par relationship with the rest of the crap (read Android) out there, they would probably switch to an iPhone the second time. And if they don’t, no big loss. They are not the kind of consumer that fits Apple’s market.
Ina Fried has been anti-Apple for years. Can’t take a word she(?) says seriously. And Frankly, why should Apple even try to compete at the bottom end of the market? There’s no profit there and those who buy those phones will suffer with that junk and later upgrade to an iPhone.
Fried accurately reports the conclusions determined by a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners study. The fact that you don’t like the conclusion does not grant you liberty to disparage the messenger.
MDN users would be wise to be more circumspect and less vindictive in their knee-jerk reactions.
Based only on personal observation is say over 12/3 of 1st time android owners buy an iPhone as a replacement instead is another android.
Not an in depth study just my 2 cents.
Great headline — NOT. Apple does better than Samsung with 1st-time AND 2nd-time smartphone buyers. But because Apple does better with 2nd-time buyers, they construe it as doing worse with 1st-timers. So, as “bad” as Apple does with 1st-time buyers, they still beat Samsung with them… and destroys them with 2nd-time buyers.
Exactly! With the smartphone market growing the way those charts depict, it spells amazing future goodness for Apple. And to think how easy Apple has at supporting *second time* buyers who are used to difficulties that led them to switch. They switch and discover it “just works” and then they don’t need as much support as a first-time buyer who’s trying to figure out all the smartphone paradigms that Android ripped off but never perfected.
Ina Fried is stuck in the mentality that the lowest price is the best. I’ve seen this in the PC market for the past 20 years – as if somehow you don’t get what you pay for when it comes to electronics. I guess it makes sense when all you look at is specs/price list and ignore the intangibles like ease of use and build quality. Fried does not understand Apple, not even after covering Apple products for the past 5 years.
This “analyst” does not understand market segmentation and owning the best customers. S(he) reminds me of all the schmucks that keep betting against Tesla because other car manufacturers may come out with a lower priced electric car with 1/3 the range of the Tesla Model S. The BMW electric car looks like an AZTEC and has an optional motorcycle motor, and will sell as well as an ATRIX. Meanwhile, the real headline is that Tesla is approaching 10% of luxury car sales in the US with the Model S – not only competing against conventional luxury cars like the Mercedes S Class, Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, but besting them in sales in sales in Q12013… and made in America.
I actually thought it was pretty good that iPhone, a high end phone, is commanding that % of ALL smartphones, including low end phones.
The polycarbonate body iPhone that should cost less will help Apple get into that market without sacrificing quality.
However, I think it is still a very relevant point that Apple does not want to chase the lowest end of that market. While some portion of that will be students or young people that cannot yet afford a high end phone, most of that market is not going to provide much revenue past the phone.
First-time smartphone buyers are like crows. Crows are very, very smart birds, smarter than a four-year old child.
Like a child, they’re attracted to bright, shiny things.
They’re also fast learners, and if the shiny thing fails to impress in any way, then the crow remembers it, and moves on to something better.
As do smartphone buyers; when they discover their new, shiny toy is full of fail, they move up to something better, more reliable.
An iPhone.
Oh, if only Apple was in the business of selling cheap knockoff crap, just like everyone else. Oh, how I pine and whimper. /s
I own every version till this day, not selling cause it makes a great wifi device, iPod , music……..
Ha! Slackers–forget about them…they’re the same ones who drag through their pockets or purse looking for exact change while holding up the express lane. Screw them. Let ’em use a land line, bunch o’ luddites.
Put another way, first time buyers have to see for themselves that Android sucks before they realize their mistake and buy the real thing the next time.