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Android users just cheap? Sure...
I think you're right about the availability of Android giving it a leg up initially when iPhone was exclusive to AT&T. That is originally why I adopted Android with the Droid 1. I was waiting for Verizon to get something. It could have been the Storm, but wasn't. It could have been an iPhone, but it wasn't. The Moto Droid 1 was the first there - and that launch at that time was critical.
And the inexpensive device market probably plays a role too. I think you over-estimate that role. In the early days I saw the occasional person with a Droid Eris (the low end at the time) - but the majority of domestic users I meet have mid-range or high-end phones. Globally this might be more important. Places like India and Asia. But I've got a feeling that through most Western nations and economies it isn't value-phones that are driving numbers... so it should be a pretty Apples-to-Apples comparison if you remove the segments where income drives inexpensive purchases (where arguably, Apple wouldn't gain those customers regardless of if Android was or wasn't cheaply available - they would just go without).
I also think you underestimate the impact of being the "official mobile platform of the Jolly Rogers banner". Was it you, or another Android developer, who was complaining about how rampant piracy is on Android? I mean... let's put it that way - it is easier to count Android developers who aren't complaining about piracy's impact on their sales than it is to track those who are. We can just assume that Android developers think piracy is a problem and be pretty safe.
The way I see it, that is a cat that is out of the bag. This isn't an attempt to change the hearts of that segment of the Android market (or any pre-existing segment of the Android market). It is about growing a new segment that better reflects the consumer-bases that Apple and Amazon have cultured and nurtured.
I'm not disagreeing with what you've said above, really... I'm saying that Google realizes this and they're trying to introduce a paying segment of users into their ecosystem. The current crop of Android users, for ALL of the reasons here, don't monetize. So what kind of users DO monetize, and how do we get Android into their hands and get them to start paying for things that other people want for free? If they can do that, and they could get better parity with the other markets - that makes it a more difficult proposition for you and other developers to ignore the Android market, right?
Jason Hiner is a blogger who frequently has proposed that the original Fire wasn't really an Android tablet. The link was an example where he more or less makes that claim,
"Depending on who you believe and what exactly you count (tablets sold to retailers vs. tablets sold to customers, and whether you count Android offshoots like the Amazon Kindle Fire), " (emphasis mine).
I also thought it was interesting in that it was in a blog titled, "Why Android Tablets Failed: a Postmortem" from January - when it looks like Android tablets are coming off of life-support here in September. Heck, it looks like Android tablets may go skipping right out of the ICU soon, at this point. That seemed relevant to the point of this article, because I think the market approach of the Nexus 7 was the shot in the arm that gave Android tablets their much overdo second wind. Now we'll see how long that second wind lasts, and how far it carries Android tablets. Will the Kindle Fire HD knock Android tablets back down? What about Windows 8 tablets? They're not out of the woods yet... but it seems like they've at least found the right path. ?
And the inexpensive device market probably plays a role too. I think you over-estimate that role. In the early days I saw the occasional person with a Droid Eris (the low end at the time) - but the majority of domestic users I meet have mid-range or high-end phones. Globally this might be more important. Places like India and Asia. But I've got a feeling that through most Western nations and economies it isn't value-phones that are driving numbers... so it should be a pretty Apples-to-Apples comparison if you remove the segments where income drives inexpensive purchases (where arguably, Apple wouldn't gain those customers regardless of if Android was or wasn't cheaply available - they would just go without).
I also think you underestimate the impact of being the "official mobile platform of the Jolly Rogers banner". Was it you, or another Android developer, who was complaining about how rampant piracy is on Android? I mean... let's put it that way - it is easier to count Android developers who aren't complaining about piracy's impact on their sales than it is to track those who are. We can just assume that Android developers think piracy is a problem and be pretty safe.
The way I see it, that is a cat that is out of the bag. This isn't an attempt to change the hearts of that segment of the Android market (or any pre-existing segment of the Android market). It is about growing a new segment that better reflects the consumer-bases that Apple and Amazon have cultured and nurtured.
I'm not disagreeing with what you've said above, really... I'm saying that Google realizes this and they're trying to introduce a paying segment of users into their ecosystem. The current crop of Android users, for ALL of the reasons here, don't monetize. So what kind of users DO monetize, and how do we get Android into their hands and get them to start paying for things that other people want for free? If they can do that, and they could get better parity with the other markets - that makes it a more difficult proposition for you and other developers to ignore the Android market, right?
Jason Hiner is a blogger who frequently has proposed that the original Fire wasn't really an Android tablet. The link was an example where he more or less makes that claim,
"Depending on who you believe and what exactly you count (tablets sold to retailers vs. tablets sold to customers, and whether you count Android offshoots like the Amazon Kindle Fire), " (emphasis mine).
I also thought it was interesting in that it was in a blog titled, "Why Android Tablets Failed: a Postmortem" from January - when it looks like Android tablets are coming off of life-support here in September. Heck, it looks like Android tablets may go skipping right out of the ICU soon, at this point. That seemed relevant to the point of this article, because I think the market approach of the Nexus 7 was the shot in the arm that gave Android tablets their much overdo second wind. Now we'll see how long that second wind lasts, and how far it carries Android tablets. Will the Kindle Fire HD knock Android tablets back down? What about Windows 8 tablets? They're not out of the woods yet... but it seems like they've at least found the right path. ?
Contributr Posted by dcolbert@...
7th Sep
