martinschmidler asked: While I agree with a lot of your points you seem to ignore two things: 1. The iOS user base is definitely fragmented as well. There are lots and lots of people getting an iPhone for it's lifestyle factor alone and not buying a lot of apps. 2. You say more than half of Android users are former Nokia users and therefore are not eager to do more with their phones than just the basic stuff. You basically ignore that people can and *do* change with different technology at their disposal.
1. Well, yeah, there is some fragmentation on iOS and it looks like this: 60% of the iOS users, probably more now, use iOS 6, but only 10% use the latest Android version. Now, when they said 60%, Apple was talking about 300 million users. Apple sold about 500 million iOS devices since the first iPhone. Most probably, the only old iPhone models still in use are iPhones 3GS. They sold roughly 50 million iPhones in Q4 2012 alone, which accounts to 10% of ALL iOS devices ever produced. So, basically, the iOS 6 adopters’ percentage is probably way higher, considering lots of iPhones are no longer used. Compare that to 10%. Here’s some reference. Plus - and this is a non-geek example, it’s something I saw with my own eyes, - usually, the people who don’t update to the newer iOS versions are usually women, because they don’t care about technology, they care about how they can use it. They’re always the last to remember about the updates, and that usually happens when they get angry on the red dot showing up on the Settings icon, saying “Hello, I want you to update me!,” which is pretty annoying at a certain point.
You’re talking about the lifestyle factor: now, why in hell would I pay $600 - more in Europe - for a phone I can’t really afford? Don’t forget to consider that apps aren’t that expensive and there’s also a “cool factor” for having some kickass paid apps. Do not underestimate an iPhone user :) I used to say the same, that I don’t need to pay for apps. Until I started to.
2. Yeah, that’s pretty much true, people can and *do* change with different technology at their disposal. But are you really convinced that a former Nokia user actually buys apps? Does he actually care about what the phone can actually do? Is he really interested in updating the OS? Because I’m not. And that’s because I tend to believe you underestimate people’s power of habit. When you use the same phone for 4-5-6 years, you’re used to do only certain things. Yes, you have a browser now and you’ll use it. But you’re not actually thinking about buying an app, when the browser is all you need. On iOS, on the other hand, you’re basically invited to try apps. And considering developers head first to iOS, you have a lot more chances to install a better app on your iPhone, rather than on your Android device. Especially one running the latest Android version, which kinda makes you use the same UI as all the other apps in the store if the developer wants his app to get featured or promoted. No fun in that.
It’s just some food for thought. I used to love Android until I got used to iOS and realised I don’t need to hack my phone to make it easier to use. It’s that simple. Both the OS, and the reason to move to Apple’s ecosystem, simple, that is.
