According to this report, Android based phones in the US now have 39% marketshare, with iOS based devices trailing at 28%.
Apple join in on Android sue-fest
Not to be left out with Oracle suing Google for megamillions for infringing on their Java patents with Android, Apple are getting in on the action and suing various Android handset manufacturers for infringing on iPhone and iOS related patents.
Apple in my mind has been getting away with murder when it comes to dominating the smartphone market. Although up until recently, iOS based phones are no longer the top selling smartphone, with Android based smartphones currently outselling iOS. Apple’s approach to control the iOS platform is exactly what Microsoft fell foul of with the multiple anti-competitive lawsuits in the 90s, and they are blatantly getting away with it unchallenged. Think about it, this is Apple’s aproach to controlling the iOS platform:
- any software for iOS has to be approved by Apple, and only then can it be offered for sale or for free once approved
- iOS software can only be downloaded and installed via Apple’s own AppStore delivery mechanism
- you can’t install anything that’s not approved by Apple, and only mechanism to download and install is via their AppStore
- the only tools to develop apps for iOS are supplied by Apple
- apps for iOS must not emulate or simulate any other hardware or software platform that would allow them to run other software not approved by Apple
- Apple takes a cut on every copy of every app sold by 3rd party vendors via Apple’s AppStore
Now think about this. Apple control the hardware. Apple control the software. The only vendor you can buy software from is Apple. This a completely, 100%, closed environment, completely controlled hardware and software platform, entirely controlled by one company, Apple.
Whereas Microsoft went about their mission to dominate the PC platform with a legally questionable approach, I can’t imagine Microsoft getting away with any of the approaches above, and yet Apple and iOS appear to be getting away with it.
The ironic thing is competition via Android is most likely Apple’s free pass to continue with their current strategy – as long as competition exists they most likely won’t be challenged. If their greed gets the better of them however and they continue with lawsuits against companies producing Android handsets, if they go too far and damage the longterm prospects of Android, I wonder if they’ll find themselves walking down the same path already taken by Microsoft.
Android market share and daily activations now far exceed iOS devices
Activations of Android devices now exceed 500,000 new devices every day. That’s incredible. What’s more, Android devices now have 34% of the smartphone marketshare compared with 26% for iOS devices.
Although Apple bashes Android for it’s fragmentation and lack of standardization across devices, I believe this is precisely the ingredient that makes the platform so successful. People like choice. People don’t like being told what they can and cannot do (or what they can and cannot install on their phone). Sure, iOS devices do have a more stable platform because it is more controlled, but I’d rather go with the quirks, differences and occasional badly behaving app to get what I want, not what you (Apple) tell me I can have or do, thank-you very much.
Location data tracked by iOS and Android devices
Security researchers discovered this week that iOS devices continuously track users physical location and store this data on the device. The data is also sync’d with your desktop if you use iTunes. What’s interesting is apparently this has been long known by Law Enforcement Agencies, who can use this data in investigations. This data is also transmitted back to Apple every 12 hours.
Android devices apparently also report location data back to Google – it sounds like WiFi MAC address location data is sent back to help triangulate a users location to provide location based services using this map of collected MAC addresses. This is similar to the MAC address collection that Google got into trouble for when they collected similar data from their StreetView cars (when they arguably collected far more than just MAC addresses and the location).