Nielsen: Android passes iPhone as most desired smartphone in U.S. | Hacker News Reader

Nielsen: Android passes iPhone as most desired smartphone in U.S.

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27 pointsEricssonLabs12 comments

Inaccurate headline and interpretation, if you ask me. One cannot simply equate "desired" and "targeted for next purchase." Simple reductio: The car I desire most is rarely the one I plan on purchasing, unfortunately.

There may be other factors at play (such as price and availability) that have little to do with Android being more attractive than iOS. Just to clarify, I'm not saying that iOS is in fact more desired, let alone more desirable. But the data as presented in the article doesn't support the conclusion as stated.

Depends on what you mean by desire. If you count a desire as being the thing you want after all variables (including price) are factored in, then you don't really desire it if you don't purchase it.

Yes, one has desires when considered in abstraction from certain variables - and often people report desire based upon these abstractions. But it goes back to the old adage - believe not in what they say, but what they do.

  > believe not in what they say, but what they do.

  > you don't really desire it if you don't purchase it.

Good point, yes. But I still think the headline gives it a slightly misguided spin -- i.e., "now people don't just buy more Android devices, they also desire them more."

The question, then, is how many mobile Operating Systems the market will support.

Apple aren't going anywhere, but they seem likely to maintain the same niche they have on the desktop - premium phones.

Android will be in the Windows slot - mass market.

Blackberry are unlikely to go anywhere soon, but once businesses make their email available on Android or iPhone, then I'm not sure if there's a unique selling point for them.

And Windows Mobile? I'm not sure that there's a space for them at all. Certainly, if MS weren't pushing it I don't think it would have survived even this long.

I don't think the difference will be quite as dramatic though. Apple has been outgrowing PC sales with their premium products for many quarters now I believe. They even managed this during a deep recession in most of the world. That suggests to me there's a pretty big market for premium devices. Bigger than the current 90/10 Windows/Mac market share would suggest on the surface. Historically Apple did as much, if not more, damage to themselves than Microsoft did to get themselves into a marketshare hole. With a fresh start in SmartPhones I would expect to see them maintain a much larger niche this time around.

Given the growth reported recently, it's not that surprising that Android is now more popular than iOS, but what a ridiculous headline: Android is an OS not _a smartphone_, let alone the "most desired smartphone in the U.S."

What is the most popular Android smartphone? How many units has it sold in comparison to the iPhone? Is it a mid-range or a high-end phone? Now those are interesting questions.

On the contrary, it is very interesting that the Android branding has been enough to be seen as a single platform in the eyes of consumers.

Stories like this must make handset manufactures very nervous. They need Android to compete with iOS, but at the same time it is eroding their brand.

Some manufactures are fine with that (eg, many are embracing "Droid" branding on Verizon), but many (Sony?) won't like it at all.

Exactly my thoughts! How is Android compared to iPhone as a single smartphone?

My first guess: because that's how every single person who gives a shit - ranging from pundits to corporations to fanboys of every conviction - has framed it ever since Android first came onto the scene.

It's been that way for Windows vs. Mac for years, hasn't it? the 90/10 split that is always quoted doesn't take into account all the different PC manufacturers.

This thread is titled slightly better: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2487421 - but really the news channels should be referring to this as: Android now the most desired operating system for smart phones.

Every other week an article pops up saying that one is somehow better than other and mostly they claim opposing ideas. Obviously the two platforms are competing head to head so can we just move on away from this issue until a real gap between the two is formed?

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