Extrapolate this over the calendar year and you will find the conclusion incorrect.
Sales of the iPhone are cyclic with the holiday season and launch season being the top sell points. Android on the other hand has a much flatter period.
For a yearly period, Android has continued to outperform the iPhone and will continue to do so. If not for SIRI and the missperceived functionality of the 4S, Apple would have had a dismal season when compared to expectations.
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That's an awful lot of analysis to come up with the wrong conclusion. Clearly Android is outperforming Apple. Your own poll suggests it.
Like the author, I have a number of Android and a number of iOS devices.
I think that is part of the problem, too. We can skew these numbers by what we include or do not include as an Android or iOS device.
I think some of the responses here point out a pretty obvious observation - that a lot of iPhone 4S sales were a seasonal spike given as gifts - and that Android is going to see less of a bump due to seasonal gifting than iOS.
But to say that this alone is responsible for Apple's statistical climb might be wishful thinking as well. Having an iPhone under the tree is far more exciting than having a RAZR, Bionic or Galaxy Nexus under the tree, for sure, especially for teens and young adults. But I think there has also been growing discontent with some of the difficulties with the Android platform among the user-base, and that can't hurt Apple's sales.
The Transformer Prime was eagerly anticipated, and ASUS botched the deployment of this tablet far worse than their flubs releasing the original Transformer. The original was plagued by supply shortages and a significant battery drain problem. The latest added a serious GPS and WiFi problem and a locked bootloader - and still was in significantly short supply on release. Recently I had a reason to use my old iPad, which I gave to my wife. The 1st generation iPad still feels smoother and more responsive in most tasks than my Transformer - and I'm not convinced that a Transformer Prime would address those issues. I'm hesitant to upgrade to ICS when it becomes released until other people play the canary in the coal-mine and I'm certain that the experience is improved, not made worse - by the new OS. The feedback I'm seeing online does not indicate that ICS is a step forward.
Likewise, my Droid 2 is growing long in the tooth, but a number of reviews of current top-of-the-line Android handsets has me holding off even though I am currently eligible for my New-Every-Two upgrade period. The Razr has no user replaceable battery and a simply horrible camera. The Galaxy Nexus doesn't have an SD slot. I'm waiting to see what the Droid 4 feels like - although I'm watching a couple other makers offerings, too.
For many users - doing away with these kind of issues and picking up an iPhone is the logical answer. It makes these questions easy. Apple manages their releases so that even if the next iteration is marginally better - it is always a step forward. Now - they may achieve this by always releasing a device that holds back a little - but the perception is what matters (much like how their screen ALWAYS responds to input, even if it can't actually render the display fast enough). Battery drain, Force Closes, rebooting devices, and widely varying equipment quality are all things that hold Android back.
Just today, on my drive in, I needed to make a call so I grabbed my Droid 2. It was at a text-message screen, and I hit the back arrow. The screen went black and it hung there for an extended period of time. After waiting until I was frustrated, I simply hit the call button on my in-car OnStar. I had already placed the call and it was ringing by the time the Droid 2 became responsive. I've missed picture opportunities and had other needs that had passed by the time the device or app became responsive on my Droid 2 on numerous occasions. These are things a user like myself is willing to tolerate. But a lot of users will just dump Android and go to Apple when they encounter these things on a regular basis.
And Verizon offering the iPhone weighs in heavily too. As a Verizon shop, the majority of our smart-phone users were on Android devices until VZW offered the iPhone. Now there is rough parity, with the advantage going to Apple. So anecdotal evidence suggests to me that this may be a more widespread trend than just at our shop.
All of these things combined lead me to believe that we'll see a lot more back and forth and the kind of parity the author describes in 2012 between the two platforms. Android is also besieged with patent lawsuits and other challenges that do not affect iOS and make the Android future uncertain.
I'm not iOS pundit - ask Vulpine or any number of readers who have ever implied that I am an Android shill. Android and Android device manufacturers have a lot of things to get in order in 2012. There is no doubt in my mind that Android has more potential and is a better long-term deal for the consumer - but that won't matter if they can't overcome some of their perceptual and actual challenges in the short term.
I think that is part of the problem, too. We can skew these numbers by what we include or do not include as an Android or iOS device.
I think some of the responses here point out a pretty obvious observation - that a lot of iPhone 4S sales were a seasonal spike given as gifts - and that Android is going to see less of a bump due to seasonal gifting than iOS.
But to say that this alone is responsible for Apple's statistical climb might be wishful thinking as well. Having an iPhone under the tree is far more exciting than having a RAZR, Bionic or Galaxy Nexus under the tree, for sure, especially for teens and young adults. But I think there has also been growing discontent with some of the difficulties with the Android platform among the user-base, and that can't hurt Apple's sales.
The Transformer Prime was eagerly anticipated, and ASUS botched the deployment of this tablet far worse than their flubs releasing the original Transformer. The original was plagued by supply shortages and a significant battery drain problem. The latest added a serious GPS and WiFi problem and a locked bootloader - and still was in significantly short supply on release. Recently I had a reason to use my old iPad, which I gave to my wife. The 1st generation iPad still feels smoother and more responsive in most tasks than my Transformer - and I'm not convinced that a Transformer Prime would address those issues. I'm hesitant to upgrade to ICS when it becomes released until other people play the canary in the coal-mine and I'm certain that the experience is improved, not made worse - by the new OS. The feedback I'm seeing online does not indicate that ICS is a step forward.
Likewise, my Droid 2 is growing long in the tooth, but a number of reviews of current top-of-the-line Android handsets has me holding off even though I am currently eligible for my New-Every-Two upgrade period. The Razr has no user replaceable battery and a simply horrible camera. The Galaxy Nexus doesn't have an SD slot. I'm waiting to see what the Droid 4 feels like - although I'm watching a couple other makers offerings, too.
For many users - doing away with these kind of issues and picking up an iPhone is the logical answer. It makes these questions easy. Apple manages their releases so that even if the next iteration is marginally better - it is always a step forward. Now - they may achieve this by always releasing a device that holds back a little - but the perception is what matters (much like how their screen ALWAYS responds to input, even if it can't actually render the display fast enough). Battery drain, Force Closes, rebooting devices, and widely varying equipment quality are all things that hold Android back.
Just today, on my drive in, I needed to make a call so I grabbed my Droid 2. It was at a text-message screen, and I hit the back arrow. The screen went black and it hung there for an extended period of time. After waiting until I was frustrated, I simply hit the call button on my in-car OnStar. I had already placed the call and it was ringing by the time the Droid 2 became responsive. I've missed picture opportunities and had other needs that had passed by the time the device or app became responsive on my Droid 2 on numerous occasions. These are things a user like myself is willing to tolerate. But a lot of users will just dump Android and go to Apple when they encounter these things on a regular basis.
And Verizon offering the iPhone weighs in heavily too. As a Verizon shop, the majority of our smart-phone users were on Android devices until VZW offered the iPhone. Now there is rough parity, with the advantage going to Apple. So anecdotal evidence suggests to me that this may be a more widespread trend than just at our shop.
All of these things combined lead me to believe that we'll see a lot more back and forth and the kind of parity the author describes in 2012 between the two platforms. Android is also besieged with patent lawsuits and other challenges that do not affect iOS and make the Android future uncertain.
I'm not iOS pundit - ask Vulpine or any number of readers who have ever implied that I am an Android shill. Android and Android device manufacturers have a lot of things to get in order in 2012. There is no doubt in my mind that Android has more potential and is a better long-term deal for the consumer - but that won't matter if they can't overcome some of their perceptual and actual challenges in the short term.
When talking about the issues that plague Android handsets and tablets - it is easy to forget that the original iPad had an issue with WiFi, DHCP and certain home routers. It is easy to forget Antenna-gate or the recent issues with Siri. But in general, Apple has their bases well covered when they do a release to market of their iOS devices. It seems like they've got better testing and QA programs in place. Motorola should know darned-well before they release the Razr that the camera is taking worse photographs at 8MP than a Droid 2 at 5MP. I think they *do* know - and they go ahead and release anyhow. I think in the case of the Razr, they made the darn thing so small that they couldn't get the same quality of optics in the camera-bulge as they could in an older, thicker device. Rather than delay and figure out how to address this problem they reasoned, "people will buy it because it is thin, and then realize the camera is worse than what they had, but by then, it'll be too late and they'll just live with it". This is a short-term strategy with long term consequences and one Apple seems to avoid better. If Apple couldn't make the iPhone thinner without depreciating the quality of the camera compared to the previous generation, I have no doubt they would delay the thinner device until they figured out how to overcome that challenge. Too many Android vendors seem intent on cashing in quickly. Apple plays a long term game. If top-tier Android handset manufacturers don't get on the ball and realize this - they're going to inevitably give up market share to Apple. I don't think it will ever be to the point where Apple gains an insurmountable lead... at least, not anytime soon. But they'll loose customers, and many of those customers are going to go to iOS.
It???s not only about how many number of devices out there, it???s also about the number of features that are being utilized on each of those devices. E.g. devices like Galaxy SII has that usability thus the impact but compare that with Galaxy y. Choice with Android is true but majority of it is driven by cost, either you accept it or not, that???s the fact. iOS just works, yes it???s a closed world but in that case how many are switching to Linux Desktops just because Windows 7 is closed? If not only about cost, it???s always about cost to usability ratio, if not how come Android isn???t able to make inroads in tablet market? Answer: they aren???t able to compete with iPad usability and of course the price point, and for the same significant usability to price factor, devices like Amazon Fire able to grab market attention.
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