
IPhone share hit 36% in U.S., fell to 20% in France - FluidDjango
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/22/report-iphone-share-hit-36-in-u-s-fell-to-20-in-france/
======
codesuela
I know a few people who switched from iPhone to Android (Galaxy II) and it is
definitely not because of "price sensitivity" but rather lack of innovation
and loss of marketing traction on Apple's side. An iPhone is just not that hip
and not that much of a lifestyle object anymore. Also some waited for the
iPhone five to come out but when that did not happen the went Android. I am
from Germany by the way, where Apple lost 5% market share.

~~~
saturdaysaint
It's hard not to take these "hipness reports" with a gigantic rock of salt.
Anyone that's lurked a tech forum for the last few years has heard stories of
Blackberry surging in popularity among London teens and Nokia pride prevailing
over iPhone hype among Europeans. Needless to say, Europe hasn't exactly
proven to be a style bellwether. The vastly simpler and more likely
explanation for the difference is that Apple products are far more expensive
in Europe (and, to a degree that varies by country, that people in many
European countries have less disposable income than the average American).

~~~
AndrewDucker
What's interesting is that Blackberry _has_ surged recently:
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/31/android-
uk-...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/31/android-uk-
smartphone-growth)

------
bilbo0s
Question for anyone caring to posit an opinion.

I have interest in a few apps out there. All are available on iOS and Android.
I have found the iOS apps to be MUCH more profitable. Apps made for iPad are
incredibly profitable. Now realize, I am only talking about apps I had a hand
in.

My question is, why is this? Is this just the way the market is? And if others
are getting more profit from Android than iPhone, what do you think is driving
that?

I guess the question is, how do you get Android users to pay you? It is an
important question if such a growing number of people are using Android.

~~~
talmand
I've always felt that the two are different markets and you have to treat them
accordingly.

Owners of the iPhone can be much different than Android owners, think of them
as your premium buyer. They are more apt to pay for an app but their
expectations are much higher.

Owners of Android devices can belong within a huge range of factors involving
buying habits. Think of them as your mainstream audience. Since there are so
many variations of devices and their price points, it is only natural that
there would be differences within that audience as to who pays and who
doesn't.

For instance, I own an LG Optimus V. I went with that because the phone was
cheap and the monthly rate was much more reasonable than from the big
carriers. It serves my needs quite nicely and I am quite happy with the
choice. I have yet to purchase an app for it. Not that I never would, if the
app is useful enough I would pay for it. It's just I've never found an app I
really needed badly enough to buy. Then again, I only have a minimum of apps
installed (mostly ad driven) because I'm probably not your typical example.

By the way, the phone is rooted with CM7 installed to give an idea of where I
stand technical-wise.

I would wonder if there's some sort of correlation between the Mac and PC
software development and marketing efforts. For some reason I feel a Mac user
is more apt to buy a software package while a PC user would explore cheaper,
or even free, options since so much of that is available in that market.

------
colinm
Useless without the marketshare stats for other phones. It's like saying I
sold 4 more sandwiches on Tuesday.

------
markokocic
In France Apple doesn't have home advantage and as strong patent portfolio as
in US, so it has to compete with the others only on the merits of quality and
price of their phone.

~~~
mattmanser
_"The French market is showing increasing signs of price sensitivity,"
Kantar's Dominic Sunnebo told Reuters._

So just price then.

Also have any phones actually been banned from sale in the US yet? I thought
HTC had time to change their product.

~~~
babebridou
"just price" indeed. In France there are incredible offers for Android phones
(I got my Motorola Atrix for "free" back in september), whereas the prices of
iPhones have _doubled_ since the device opened itself to multiple operators,
from 99€ for 16GB to 199€ for the same iPhone4 (with network plan) between
december 2010 and december 2011.

We suffer from a strange case of illegal trust between our three main network
providers (four if we include the big reseller Virgin) in France, and sadly we
have a hard time to convince the authorities to act, since we don't have the
concept of a class-action lawsuit in our system.

edit: typos

~~~
r00fus
So are you implying that the operators (and perhaps Apple) are simply soaking
their iPhone customers or just trying to promote Android phones because
they're more lucrative (ie, lower cost, but same subscription cost)?

~~~
babebridou
I'm just implying that when the entry price of your product doubles and
competition undercuts you to death, it's no surprise your market share goes
down - at least in France.

I'm also implying that maybe under Apple's pressure, maybe with their
cooperation, maybe against their will, the various french mobile operators
settled on a common price for the iPhone that is way higher than when Orange
had a monopoly, which is illegal as far as I know.

 _"The French market is showing increasing signs of price sensitivity"_ really
is an euphemism for "The French see what you did there, Orange, Bouygues
Telecom & SFR". Android has nothing to do with it, really.

------
mtgred
Siri sucks in french. Many of the queries available in english are not there.
Query responses are also slower in french especially on a slow connection. The
local support is poor in Europe: if you asked for a nice restaurant, it says
"sorry this service is not available in Belgium"

Siri is not even available for many european languages. It's not surprising
the 4S sells better in english speaking countries.

------
brohee
Siri still only understand English right? If so that would go a long way
explaining the fall in non English speaking markets.

~~~
ugh
Not really. Siri understands German and French.

~~~
mgkimsal
And Australian.

------
tehayj
Seems like the U.S. and UK need to wake up and realize that crApple ain't the
way to go...

