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iOS and Android Combined For Record 99% of Smartphone Sales Last Quarter (macrumors.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The research firm Gartner has crunched some numbers and found that Android and iOS accounted for a record 99.1% worldwide market share in the second calendar quarter of 2016, which is compared to 96.8% in the year-ago period. What some may view as even more shocking is that Android accounted for 86.2% of the market share in the second quarter, up from 82.2% a year ago. Meanwhile, iOS lost some ground as it dropped to 12.9% market share from 14.6% in the year-ago period. It's no surprise that Windows and BlackBerry have been losing market share. They dropped to 0.6% and 0.1% market share worldwide respectively. Just six years ago, BlackBerry and Symbian operating systems were industry leaders. Now, they're industry losers. Which third-party operating system has what it takes to take on the establishment?
Want to buy a third party? hahaha, go ahead, throw your money away!
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
I could see this years ago when Android was still very flaky POS and iOS completely dominated the smart phone landscape. The parallels between the Android/iOS market and Mac/PC market were too many for it turn out any other way.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
Well since blackberry has started using android on its new devices its not even slightly surprising that BB OS is losing market share, i'd be more interested to see if blackberry's market share has gone up or down as a device maker since the switch
WP has what it takes, but it got it too late, had too many missteps along the way and lost the mindshare war. So the only way it can make a dent is if one of the others takes a dive.
12% market share approaches the danger zone. For some applications, perhaps just 5% of your potential public will use iOS. Then you don't develop the iOS version. Market dominance snowballs in this kind of situations, as we regrettably know from the Windows story.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
Tinder is not available as far as I can tell.
What would be the point? Who wants to hook up with a Windows Phone user?
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Well, not to say it ain't so, but in this case you're looking at a market where the two current top dogs were rather late to the party and benefited from everyone else dropping the ball big time.
Nokia was the de facto market leader but simply snoozed when the big change towards touch screens set in. ... too little, too late, and all the accomplish by it now is to piss off their desktop users.
Blackberry had the enterprise market firmly in their grasp, and not only did they have a lot of features enterprise users wanted, they also managed to make having a Blackberry as a manager an important status symbol. A decade ago you pretty much HAD to have a Blackberry to be taken serious in management circles. Look where they're now after a series of blunders and hubris.
And while MS never really had a big market share in the phone business, they had every advantage on their side, they have the de facto standard on desktops and could have worked out something huge with phone + computer tie-ins, in a depth nobody else could achieve. They finally try that but
So, I cannot really say that this is one of those scenarios where the early bird gets the worm, grows big and keeps everyone else in its shadow so they can't grow as well. There were some serious mistakes made by the former market leaders and other competitors. Google and Apple won because they were able to predict better where the market is going and what consumers and business customers alike would want.
That can change rapidly again. We're today at the point where cellphones get powerful enough to replace netbooks soon. My prediction would be that the manufacturer that manages to find the right gadget at the right time to capitalize on this and offer something that could make the cellphone replace current netbooks, you have the next market leader.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Apple has done fine on the OSX side with less than 10% share for more than a decade now. Yes, there are many more apps for Windows than OSX, yet their share has been remarkably consistent.
Apple devices are marketed towards a niche segment that is outside of the commodity (Windows/Android) markets. They enjoy *much* higher profit margins than any Android phone maker. Apple users, being more affluent group, are also more likely to pay for apps in the market, which keeps developers attracted to the platform.
To paraphrase Voltaire, If Apple did not exist, it would necessary for the market to create one.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
I bought a Windows phone (last year) because I don't like Android (bad experiences with Samsung and Moto), and iOS phones are too expensive. And I don't need all those apps. I just want to make a few calls, use internet from time to time, and perhaps look at a map, or send/read a few messages. That's it. Windows is perfectly fine for that, and the phones are competitively priced.
I guess there are not many like me.