“There is an interesting dichotomy in the smartphone world right now, as far as Google is concerned,” Anton Wahlman writes for Seeking Alpha. “On the one hand, Google maintains approximately 80% world-wide market share with its Android operating system.”
MacDailyNews Take: Google’s “Android” does not have 80% unit share worldwide.
“On the other, there are some signs that Google has given up on trying to sell attractive mainstream smartphones directly to the U.S. consumer,” Wahlman writes. “Last month, Google launched the Nexus 6 smartphone in conjunction with Motorola. It is basically a blown-up Motorola X with a screen size of six inches instead of five.”
“As a smartphone maker, you lead with the five-inch (or smaller) phone, and you offer the six-inch phone in addition… Apple typically nails the physical form factor. Hence, the basic iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen. Apple studied people’s preferences and found that this is the sweet spot for a smartphone today,” Wahlman writes. “With smartphones being the world’s largest computing business now, as a Google shareholder, this is a worrisome situation. Is anyone minding the store at Google?”
Read more in the full article here.
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The better question is, did Google ever really try?
It was an experiment for Google, it’s not their fault that all these hardware manufacturers will start drowning because they depend on their beta garbage software.
The $30 billion experiment that proved well beyond doubt that google is mostly clueless when it comes to devices and almost any other subject except for web search.
To me, Google seems like a corporation with ADD. They throw their attention hither, thither, and yon: Google Glass! Self-driving cars! Then after a few years, if the thing isn’t already a huge success, they lose interest and move onto the next thing.
I mean, whatever happened to Glass? It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it in the news, and those mentions were all negative.
——RM
Last I heard, all the 3rd party developers have already abandoned it. Something to do with minuscule market share, poor public perception and overall lack of practical utility.
Only if they are smart, they’ll know what’s good for them!
“The reason is simple: It is hard to handle a six-inch phone with one hand. It can easily slip out of your hand and it is hard to navigate when you’re laying in bed and trying to hold it with one hand.”
This guy either has freakishly small hands or has never used an iPhone 6 Plus. I don’t have the biggest hands in the world and can easily hold the 6 Plus in one hand.
Six Plus is too large for most folks ….. The iPhone 5 / 5s fit nicely into my hand ….. My wife’s iPhone Six can be worked with one hand, just not as easy as the 5s ……
It’s all about personal oerference …. With the 5s, 6 and 6+ Apple effectively has all the bases covered size wise ….
And yes I suspect the iPhone Six will be the sweet spot ….
By the way, recent visit to Apple Store during least busy time they had a crowd in there ….. Lots of people playing with the Six and Six Plus but not so much with the 5c and 5s and I saw a few iPhone Sixes get sold!
I don’t know if they’ve given up on the phones but they’ve certainly not given up on the advertisements.
The latest android adverts “and you” are brilliant. They may android look modern, exciting and dynamic. The current adverts for the iPhone “it’s huge… it’s huge… huge…” are frankly an embarrassment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRmgMe2STL0 (android and you)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3uAoeQBpcQ (lame apple huge”
Thing about those Sammie Ads is they brought attention to Apple …. But yea those were some good ads and funny …..
Hopefully Apple gets back into some clever ads!
I think Apple should stop tv advertising entirely and just sponsor shorter ad breaks instead. Have a short message show onscreen at the end of the interval saying ‘this shortened ad break brought to you by Apple’
You advertise when you can’t sell your latest phones.
Samsung is working on advertising.
Apple is selling their products BigTime.
They will get around to advertising if and when they need to.
I wonder how many articles will I see this same idiotic comment copypasta’d to today?
Google offers pretty much the exact same sizes as Samsung and Apple on their high end phones, one 5″ and one 6″. Has Samsung and Apple also given up on smart phones?
The article should probably give a little more cred to Samsung for researching and popularizing those sizes, Apple just tagged along
rather than look at Android marketshare, I point you to the high quality suite of Google Apps for iOS, which should bring in the very same data, but cater to a, ahem, more endowed userbase. The vast majority of Android users are pretty worthless to Google (in fact the users in China can’t even access Google services, even if they wanted to), but if you look at the industry as a whole, Google is collecting date from pretty much 100% of users, because their services and apps are that damn good. Bravo.
PS. The Nexus6 is a monster, but put Android L on a 5″ device, something like an HTC one M8 and you’ve got a beautiful setup.
In order to use your beautiful setup you must first agree to send everything personal about yourself to a web advertising company.
Indicate your consent here: (choose one)
Dracula-Azzhule! Where are you? I’m drunk and I want you to be my pet tonight!