“StatCounter’s latest Internet Wars Report found that, in the month of June, Samsung devices accounted for 25.43 percent of smartphone Internet usage, compared to 25.09 for Apple’s iPhone devices. Samsung has moved into the leadership position in smartphone web use over the course of the last year, which has seen the South Korean tech giant’s share grow from 19.46 percent just 12 months ago.” Android sales outpacing everything else is starting to show up in usage statistics.
i see those numbers show a jump from may to june so they must be recovering. but seriously, i wonder how nokia’s usage breaks out based on which smartphone os?
Probably their massive install base from years gone, I wouldn’t read much into it as this point.
I never saw so vertiginous and dramatic changes on any industry sector before. In just a couple of years kings and kingdoms were erected and then eroded.
It makes the usual economic metrics they apply to evaluate a company on Wall Street and abroad anachronic. All the methods are just wild speculation on this sector but, I guess, it serves well the purpose of those that seek to make easy money at expense of others.
It takes looking back at the handset market before the iPhone to see that this market has had many leaders, and will continue to do so well into the future.
Things aren’t static and Samsung would be wise not to take their current position for granted.
Thanks for the pointer to this report, very comprehensive and very interesting.
Looks to me like a two horse race in mobile if one discounts Nokia whose non-WP base is in terminal decline and going nowhere.
I was very impressed by Chrome’s performance on the desktop which seems the stand out data in the report. It’s very clear now that Chrome is Google’s main strategic play to ensure the ubiquity of their services horizontally across all platforms which in turn will crowbar everyone into a Google+ account (and hence the tracking and ad serving that it facilitates). I am relatively impressed by Google’s strategic focus under Page. Android as an OS seems in maintenance mode and everything is about building universal Google services and inserting Chrome in as much of the web traffic stack as it can.
The other thing that struck me about the report was how dominant Windows 7 still is and how slow the Windows 8 ramp up is.
If you had been a Windows 7 user and tried Windows 8 it would have stricken you less.
Windows 8 isn’t all bad, but Windows 7 is a lot better. In fact I believe Windows 7 doesn’t always get the credit it deserves.
Actually I find it interesting that Nokia’s share actually grew over the last several months. I wonder what exactly is driving that growth.
Only problem is that Samsung sells a bunch of low end “Smart phones” for instance in the US they sell a ton of low end phones on pre paid services like AT&T Go phones.
If you take the cheap handsets out of the mix you will see that the useage will go way down.
But it gives people something to talks about, though Apple has just the 4 and 4s on the low end and those are contract phones. Apple is not in the low end market yet and most likely never will be.
They iPhone 4 and 4S are both obsolete low end phones sold at a very high price. Both models are outclassed by 2013 model Android and Windows Phone models selling for about 1/3 the price.
A low end phone would be the Galexy express or the Lumia 520. The 4 and the 4s though old are better then both of those.
Remember the 4 and the 4s were top of the line when they came out.
The Galexy express and Lumia 520 have never been the top of any line but sell well cause they are cheap. (Just bought a 520 for a friend)
Sure but that does not obviate the fact that Samsung/Android has strong mobile usage growth..
It’s no doubt fair to say that there is lots of people buying Android phones because their cheap (not caring about the OS) but that still means more users/customers for mobile apps at the expense of iOS.
And to those who say ‘but iPhone 4 is free’ remember that that’s only when you buy a 2 year plan which is only available in some countries. For the bulk of the worlds population the iPhone is simply way too expensive.
Useage growth only matters if you can monitize the growth. And we know that ads is where that is and people on cheap phones rarely click on ads and rarely spend much on apps, music etc.
For Apple they will never make cheap phones. They may make mid range phones, maybe a $200 and $300 dollar phone but never cheap phones. ($50 or $100)
Uhm, the average Android user now is worth almost as much as the average iOS user. $4800 vs. $5200 I believe (can’t find the link right now).
But its Apple problem
They fail to realise (or MUCH MORE LIKELY, to capitalize on) the FACT that people do not buy high end. When generalizing low end is what ordinary people buy.
Even though low-end should have lower net usage per smartphone (cheaper smartphone -> cheper net plan..), number overwhelm this lack.
Apple can not lead.
Can not lead in SALE numbers (cause high-end is minor portion of overall market).
Can not lead in USAGE numbers (cause high-end is minor portion of overall installed base).
That also may indicate that smartphone market is settling down. Apple is always niche (high-end, and high-margin, high-influence niche but still niche) player.
PC’s? Music players? Now smartphones. And tablets…
(And that is why Apple need to find new market to enter from time to time.)
Edited 2013-07-28 08:36 UTC
Well, you have to realize that Apple consciously decided to focus on high end products so as to maximize profit. Obviously, since they make more money from the iPhone then everybody else makes from handsets combines they’ve done well in that regard.
However, the issue here is that, even though it’s good for Apple shareholders short term it ultimately weakens Apple as developers are more motivated to build for the most popular platform because that’s where the money is. The saving grace for Apple is Android itself. It’s way more work to build for Android then for iOS because of the device/OS variations.
Personally I think Apple recognizes it needs to yield some profit in the name of market share and we will see a ‘cheaper’ iPhone version in the next revision. It’s still Apple though so I expect ‘cheaper’ will still be too expensive for most of the developing world.
They don’t need to lead in sales and market share. What matters to Apple is leading in profits. And since being in business is about making money that’s all that really matters.
And also if you look at the last quarter sales were up by almost 20 percent for the iPhone, where as sales were flat for Sammy on the high end.
All companies get into new segments I mean in reality Apple is a consumer electronics company that only sells 5 or so things where a company like Samsung sells 100 things and yet Apple is still huge.
Apple won’t go into the low end market because they don’t need to. As with the iPod before it Apple will snag the mid range market and keep the high end.
I exspect Apple to put out a phone between the $199 and $399 range with no contract. That will ramp up sales with out totally killing margins.
Also for Apple they are not looking to see phones just to see numbers. They want to sell phones that people will use to buy iTunes and click iAds and buy tons of apps etc. If you make a phone like the Nokia 520 for instance no one is going to use it to buy anything. The 520 has a 4 inch screen but the screen sucks and its barely useable.
We will see how things go. Apples earnings beat the street and they still sold a ton of iPhones and feel like they can sell more.
Sammy is the company feeling the pinch selling more and more cheap phones, losing profits on low margins and being worried about future growth. (If you listen to Samsung tell it)
Edited 2013-07-28 13:36 UTC
Apple shareholders have lost $300 billion in the last year. This money will never be recovered.
iPhone shipments were up but the average margin per unit fell because people bought more 4 and 4s models.
No. It will only cannibalize sales of higher margin phones. This is exactly what the Pad Mini did.
Unmitigated bullshit. The Nokia 20 has an excellent 800×480 IPS display.
Samsung is a massively diversified conglomerate. They could stop making phones tomorrow and still thrive.
Edited 2013-07-29 03:01 UTC
That would be true IF Apple gave dividends which they never did under Steve Jobs. So the only way to make money would of been to buy low and sell high, which is what happened and was part of the stock drop.
True but they still made more profits then all their competitors.
They are going to lose that anyway as phone companies cut subsidies.
I just bought one and though it sounds good on paper, in reality the screen sucks. The phone it’s self is the only bull shit here. And it’s the 520 not the “20”
I’m not talking about Samsung as a whole, I am talking about Samsung Electronics. For that division , phones are their biggest profit center!
Edited 2013-07-29 10:35 UTC
We had to use Windows 8 Phone devices for several months at work (classic corporate move). But thank goodness, even the executives were impacted and saw the light.
So no more Windows 8 on mobile where I work (a large-ish firm). For now it’s all iOS…but most of us have Android on our personal mobile phones, so I’m optimistic we’ll be an Android shop in 3 years.
The setup and licensing and cost for Windows 8 Phone development is just a huge PITA, and for little benefit. With Android you are up and coding in the course of a few hours.