Comments on: Why 1 in 2 smartphones in the U.K. run Android

By: Ross Sleight

Ross Sleight — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 07:05:37 +0000

Sam – Kantar panels are consumer panels running I believe quarterly. OS information above I believe represents sales in last quarter, not installed base in UK. According to Comscore, Android does have the edge over Apple in UK installed and used base of smartphones, but Symbian is still strong but in decline (see http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2011/07/google%E2%80%99s-uk-smartphone-audience-grew-by-634-percent-since-may-2010/ for publicly available data for May 2011)

By: Andy Budhu

Andy Budhu — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:02:36 +0000

If apple never made a phone, you would have a android phone that looks like a blackberry. i have no clue what your talking about everything on my g2x is on my iphone 4.

By: AppleFUD

AppleFUD — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:14:42 +0000

Better is always subjective and that isn’t something apple fans and the late Steve Jobs can/could understand.

For many Android is better because is comes packed with some very useful apps, like Google Maps = free turn by turn directions.

My elderly mother is thinking of getting a smartphone because “it will have all those other things included.” What she doesn’t realize is, it will only have all those other things included if it is Android. . . otherwise she will pay for each one.

So, in the end it’s about how useful the device is for the user. UX and everything else marketed and hyped ultimately means nothing if it isn’t truly useful for the user.

And this is why we see Apple apeing Android so much over the past couple years–they have to offer more functionality because Android has it build in for free. iOS 6′s killer feature will be integrated maps with turn by turn directions and they will claim it as revolutionary and a “first” and Android fans will poke fun at apple and apple fans yet again for thinking they are getting/doing something “new” that is old.

By: David Pat

David Pat — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:24:44 +0000

How about the fact that Android phones are just better. iPhone is always behind on specs and you can rant about UX all you want but you wouldn’t buy my Core 2 Duo laptop for $700 would you?

By: sid

sid — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:58:33 +0000

Blackberry have a huge market for the Curve range with schoolkids, BBM is the only thing they are interested in. The new range are getting interest from other age groups now.
the iphone is starting to lose its charm, it sells mainly to people who want to look like they have more money than they do, or people who just blindly follow adverts and believe its the best phone out there, without even considering an alternative.

By: MBonetti

MBonetti — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:58:15 +0000

I think that beyond the rough numbers, there may be two fundamental reasons why Android phones swarm the market and sell more than iPhones. First, there are a multitude of models covering a large price range from cheap (like ZTE devices) to more expensive (like HTC devices), therefore the end user subsidised price makes them more attractive to a more price sensitive crowd. The low purchasing price for operators allows them as well to offer cheaper price plans, in the contrary to the ones linked to iPhone. And as a second reason, the mobile operators have a basic aversion to build a market leader (like they did for Apple) without finding alternatives to protect themselves against that potential oligopole they created. Those guys are willing to push Android phones to balance their market as well and broaden their offering. Hence the general (not just in UK) increase of Android and a decrease in market share (but not in units sold, this number increases constantly yoy!) of Apple iPhones.

By: Aleina Mohanty

Aleina Mohanty — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:04:48 +0000

Each time a new iPhone comes out, it’s a slight improvement over the last. Let’s go down the memory lane and figure out the people and technology.
http://goo.gl/L89ss

By: kip

kip — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:43:30 +0000

Another factor is the availability of PAYG sims with generous all-you-can-eat data allowances. Unlocked android phones are falling in price too.

By: Sam P

Sam P — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:39:07 +0000

It’s hard to tell from the press release, but is it
a) half the smartphones sold “recently” (past month, past quarter, past year) are Android, or
b) half the smartphones ever sold/currently in use are Android.

I suspect a) with “past month” or “past quarter”.

By: kkob

kkob — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:35:32 +0000

The UK is still a very mobile phone centric country. Everyone wants to have the latest and the best phone, especially younger people. I think we’ll see a trend away from BlackBerry after the recent outages.

I’m more interested in the number following the release of the Google Nexus and iPhone 4S.