Apple Says Many Users 'Bought an Android Phone By Mistake' 711
mrspoonsi (2955715) writes "Apple CEO Tim Cook during his keynote said that around 130 million customers have purchased their first Apple device in the last twelve months. He states, 'Many of these customers were switchers from Android,' he said. 'They had bought an Android phone by mistake, and then had sought a better experience and a better life.' He added that almost half of those who have purchased an iPhone in China since December have switched from Android. However, it is worth noting that iPhones were not actually available in China until December, when pre-orders began, so it is unclear how much of the device's popularity there is simply down to the novelty factor, rather than a burning desire to flee from Android."
Re:Other way around (Score:4, Informative)
which apps you can buy vary from country to country... so yes it is very geographical.
Some may switch back again.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Other way around (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Other way around (Score:5, Informative)
I specifically asked Jeff Vogel about this, and he said, no, it was only Apple. Apple did not respond to my query, so I must presume their guilt in the matter.
Re:It true !!!! (Score:4, Informative)
An android phone is quite flexible and allows quite a bit of freedom to the user. An Apple phone may look cool, but as soon as you think of stuff that you like (other favorite web browser etc.) you are toast.
My daughter pestered and pestered for an iphone, as all her friends had one. Once she got one and found that there were much fewer free apps, and those that were free were mostly demos the novelty wore off.
Re:Some may switch back again.... (Score:5, Informative)
Managing accounts on Android is just as easy as on an iPhone; It's exactly the same. It's done this way so permissions to account details can be strictly enforced, meaning there aren't account details lying randomly around the user-accessible storage, ripe for any app with "Read storage" permission to steal.
Re:Android phones are also more secure. (Score:5, Informative)
You haven't heard of Cyanogenmod, have you? It's an alternative operating system you can install on Android devices (I know I'm not the only person who twitches when people say "androids" to refer to any Android device, as if all of them are equivalent and running the exact same software).
Re:White Moto X (Score:3, Informative)
Not being able to install whatever I want on an iOS device is the reason I'll never get one, no matter what.
I like my Android phone because it's a personal computer in my pocket. It really is! It has its own filesystem that I can navigate and move files around, I can download an apk from a trusted website and install it; I can do anything I want. Not so with an iPhone. It doesn't let you install anything you want, so it can never truly be personal computer for your pocket. It's just a smart dumbphone. The exact same thing as my old verizon flipphone that sold overpriced apps from the Verizon V-cast store. The only difference is that the iphone it's prettier and gives a far better UX, but fundamentally they are the same thing.
Re:It true !!!! (Score:4, Informative)
I can carry my music collection around on my phone (It doesn't fit on internal storage especially after I install a few large games e.g. plants vs zombies is 374MB). I use Osmand+ which allows me to have offline maps, the data file for Florida is 120MB, california is near 400M and will only increase as the Open street maps data gets more detailed (I had no data connections while I was visiting the US, prepaid data is very expensive).
One of my co-workers has 2 kids and having elmo or some movie available on his phone is probably the only reason he still has hair. Streaming for him is not an option as we are not in the US where 4g (or decent data connection) is available when you are not at home or by a friend (The last time his wife went to the DMV with them was not a fun experience, she is ecstatic that one is now in kindergarden).
Re:It true !!!! (Score:5, Informative)
which apps weren't available
The two that annoy me:
Firefox with adblock
HumbleBundle support
I had an iphone; I still think it was the best device on the market at the time. (3GS era); but I wouldn't go back now.
Re:It true !!!! (Score:5, Informative)
alternate browser: chrome and opera are available for iPhone, and probably ffx too ( i never checked). you can put the browser on your dock and take the safari browser off your dock. the only limitation is you can't change the default browser for which program is used when opening links in an email, etc. but otherwise do what you want.
Nope. All third-party browsers in iOS must use the iOS webkit framework [howtogeek.com]. So yes, you can get "chrome" for iOS, but really it's just a Safari skin. Case in point, you can't use chrome extensions on it.
Re:Android phones are also more secure. (Score:4, Informative)
It looks like Apple would disagree. This is literally the first line of the iOS 7 agreement:
[quote]IMPORTANT: BY USING YOUR iPHONE, iPAD or iPOD TOUCH (“iOS DEVICE”), YOU ARE
AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE FOLLOWING TERMS:
A. APPLE iOS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
B. NOTICES FROM APPLE[/quote]
Followed by this:
[quote]PLEASE READ THIS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT ("LICENSE") CAREFULLY BEFORE USING
YOUR iOS DEVICE OR DOWNLOADING THE SOFTWARE UPDATE ACCOMPANYING THIS
LICENSE. BY USING YOUR iOS DEVICE OR DOWNLOADING A SOFTWARE UPDATE, AS
APPLICABLE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. IF YOU DO
NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE, DO NOT USE THE iOS DEVICE OR DOWNLOAD
THE SOFTWARE UPDATE.[/quote]
Just out of curiosity though, which OS are you replacing iOS with? The OpeniBoot project hasn't been touched in 2 years and doesn't have any drivers. There isn't exactly a huge community of people actively replacing iOS with another OS.
Re:It true !!!! (Score:5, Informative)
In my experience (2008-2010, on an iPod Touch), you could do a fair amount for free, but most (not all) free apps were feature-cut demo versions. On Android, free apps often have all their features, but are ad-supported.
I can see someone being disappointed by the difference, but I agree that the post you replied to sounds like an exaggeration.