It’s always a difficult task when comparing iOS and Android devices, but this year it may be more important than ever. Samsung has finally stepped up its game with the Galaxy S6, and now we have something that is truly comparable to Apple’s iPhone lineup. Today we’re getting into the ultimate comparison between Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Apple’s iPhone 6…
Android might have the sheer weight of numbers, but when it comes to ecommerce, it’s iPhone and iPad owners retailers want to attract. Online shopping data compiled from Thanksgiving shopping yesterday showed that despite iOS devices in the US being outnumbered almost two-to-one by Android, it’s iOS devices that dominate online purchasing.
iOS accounted for a quarter of online purchases, compared to less than 7% for Android devices. Average order value was also higher, at $118.57 compared to Android’s $95.25 …
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Photo: Reuters
Pieces in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal suggest that the real target of Apple’s second courtroom patent battle with Samsung may be Android.
Some features in Samsung devices that Apple objects to are part of Google’s Android operating system, by far the most popular mobile operating system worldwide, running on more than a billion devices made by many manufacturers. That means that if Apple wins, Google could have to make changes to critical Android features, and Samsung and other Android phone makers might have to modify the software on their phones …
Jury selection begins today for the second patent case between the two companies after mediation attempts failed. Apple is seeking around $2B in damages for five patents it alleges Samsung has violated, while Samsung is counter-claiming that Apple is in violation of two of its own patents.
Image: pcmweb.nl
Responding to a question about malware on the Android platform, FrAndroid reports that Google’s Android head Sundar Pichai gave a surprisingly frank answer to an audience at Mobile World Congress.
We cannot guarantee that Android is designed to be safe, the format was designed to give more freedom. When people talk about 90% of malware for Android, they must of course take into account the fact that it is the most popular operating system in the world. If I had a company dedicated to malware, I would also be addressing my attacks on Android.
While there is certainly truth in the idea of attackers targeting the operating system with the largest market share, iOS market share of 17.6 percent is not a small target, especially given all the evidence that iPhone users represent a wealthier target for criminal malware.
Update: Google provided a direct transcript in which Pinchai isn’t self critical.
While Android reaching almost 70 percent of smartphone sales across 12 key markets is the headline, with iOS falling to just under 24 percent, it is Samsung feeling the pressure, says Kantar, reporting sales figures for the final quarter of 2013.
After years of accelerated growth, Samsung is now coming under real pressure in most regions, with European share down by 2.2 percentage points to 40.3% and in China its share ended the year flat at 23.7% […]
Apple has lost share in most countries compared with this time last year, but importantly it has held strong shares in key markets including 43.9% in USA, 29.9% in Great Britain and 19.0% in China …
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As the Guardian‘s Charles Arthur points out, market share is a very different thing to installed user-base. The highly-detailed piece is worth reading in full, but the take-out is the bottom graph. That’s what the real world of U.S. smartphone users looks like. Or, to put it in two sentences …
Here’s the reality: at the time this was written, more than 40% of the smartphones in use in the US […] were iPhones. Only about 51% of the smartphones in peoples’ hands in the US are Android phones.
Smartphone adoption as a whole has grown at a rapid rate, and within that iOS and Android have, in the U.S. (and many other developed markets, I’m sure) grown at pretty much the same rate, with a rather modest gap between them.
Business Insider created the above chart to show exactly how the revenue gap between iOS and Android apps shows up for developers.
While there’s no doubt the gap between the two platforms is narrowing, it’s also clear that in the metrics that count, iOS is still where you want to be. Ad revenue – read free apps – is where Android is making money for developers …
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iOS 7 has taken top billing in Pfeiffer Consulting’s annual Mobile OS User Experience Benchmarks, scoring just over 73 percent against 57 percent for Android and 47 percent for Windows Phone.
The study attempts to calculate an objective rating for the usability of a mobile OS by a typical, non-technical user by measuring four elements:
After showing this pie-chart in the WWDC keynote, Apple has now added the graphic to its iOS developer website. Though it doesn’t include the Android version, which Google updates fortnightly, the intended audience for the website will be well aware of the contrast:
While Android has more devices, iOS has more of the revenue, Tim Cook pointing out in his keynote that Apple had paid $10 billion to developers.
