It's true but kind of irrelevant because this is not what Apple was ever after (otherwise they would have pursued a very different strategy, with 3rd party licensing, etc.).
Does it really matter if Apple's market share is declining as long as they keep capturing >80% of all profits from said market?
As long as they keep their target demography on board (both on the consumer and developper side) they'll do just fine.
Steady decline would mean that might cease to be the case soon.
The overall mobile market is growing. And it's growing into emerging markets like India and China which are very price sensitive i.e. less margins for OEMs. So quite likely that Apple will see declining market share but growth in revenue and profits.
Betterer: device + platform (*e.g. App Store fees, Apple Music, iCloud) revenues. Even betterer: device + platform profits. This is what Cook is now focusing on, in light of the world’s most profitable consumers buying phones less often but still religiously spending on them.
My last attempt at an android was a Samsung Note3 on Verizon.
Pretty much every app had 3 versions - google/android version - samsung version - verizon version
Locked bootloader so couldnt' really remove the duplicates.
Critical Security update released by a google? Well first has to be approved by Samsung ... that takes a month at least , then approved by Verizon.
Realistically if you saw the security update w/in 3 months that was pretty fast.
So a zero day exploit ... 3 months waiting for patch.
Android really won.
But that aside from duplicate apps, my 2nd more important point was SECURITY. An iphone user w/ phone from 2013 can still feel confident that his phone is secure , an android user from 2013 is laughably insecure.
If you use your phone for any work related sensitive data , and android phone is a huge gamble.
https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/siri-101-use-hey-siri-han...
The only time thst I need to be able to activate Siri hands free is when I am driving. Even my cheap car has Bluetooth with a button on the steering wheel that activates it. It’s much more reliable than Hey Siri for me.
And yes, you use Siri hands free so rarely because it doesn't work (as you acknowledged). That's not the case with Google Assistant which works really great for most people - and I use it extensively (almost all day) - both with my phone and Google Home.
- the Galaxy S8 plus was $785 new in 2017 (https://www.cnet.com/news/heres-how-much-the-galaxy-s8-and-s...). The iPhone about the same price as the iPhone 7 Plus when it was introduced, it wasn’t “much cheaper”. If you bought the iPhone 7 Plus a year after launch, it would have also been cheaper. How long will your S8 be supported with updates by Samsung? The 5s from 2013 is still getting updates.
- Netflix’s profit hovers around $300 million (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/netflix-is-growing-even-fa...). Comparing Netflix to Apple is laughable. The Mac makes more Netflix’s entire business.
- Android “won” by what measure? Android phone makers are barely profitable besides Samsung and Samsung makes most of its money from selling parts for other phones. It came out in the Oracle lawsuit that even Google only made $31 billion from Android over the first 8 years total - half of what Apple is projected to make this quarter.
Androids market share is meaningless if it doesn’t lead to profits and is seen to be made up of poor people who don’t spend money.
2) I can put any of the hundreds of versions of Android on the S8, and it'll be supported for over a decade. Hell, I don't even have google's android version on my pixel2. How's that 5s running on the latest updates? Does the answer button draw itself in time to pick up the phone? My Galaxy S (original) still runs fine, with the latest security updates.
2) "Services Business" - he is not comparing the entire apple to the entire netflix. He is talking about apple's failed venture into streaming shows and movies. You are being purposely dense here, not sure why. By your logic Windows Phone is a success because MS makes a lot of money from Azure.
3) Android won by the measure of what wins. Almost all phones are Android. Things that don't lead to profits are meaningless in terms of who won? To us, consumers, who most all use Android, it has won. Who cares what money the producers make? Now I'll leave this to your for a though exercise. Take all the slim profits from all the Android phones, tablets, cash register terminals, cameras, light switches, conference booking pads on the walls, etc. Add all those, for every device running Android. It won by your fake measure too.
2. Yes most users are going to put one of a “hundreds” (exaggerate much?) of versions of Android on their phone and not be able to run apps that requires Google Play services.
3. Apple made two shows - Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke. No one expected those two shows to be a hit. Apple’s Services Business is still 5 times larger than Netflix.
4. Yes for profit seeking businesses, a success is by definition what makes money. As far as users winning they have a privacy invasive operating system on a phone that doesn’t see updates more than 18 months - if they are lucky.
I had the international Galaxy S for 2 years (2012-2014) and it was really great... Then again, I was into flashing ROMs every week or so, so perhaps the original TouchWiz performance was that bad?
I think I fixed the GPS by following an instruction in XDA.... I don't remember, its been 5 years already? God I feel old
As a counter-point I’ve completely quit Netflix because 1. The selection is trash and we never find the movie we’re looking for and 2. I can’t get any movies my kids would want to see dubbed to my (and my kids’) native language.
As a result I buy all the films for my kids on iTunes, because 1. It has better selection, and most importantly 2. it has an audio-track my kids will actually understand.
Of all the online video streaming-services/stores, I’ve only found iTunes which is good enough on these 2 points.
Apple is slowly declining (a percent per year) their market share (they are no longer number two - oppo/oneplus has that position now), next year they won't be number three (Huawei). What happens when they go below 10%? Will developer still deliver applications for OSX? Is there a possibility for the same scenario as it was in the Mac vs PC?
Reality is that modern Android mobile phones are good enough for most. Unless you're really into the status symbol part of the Apple, they really don't have something special. Plus there is no need to upgrade a phone anymore. I bought my Galaxy S8+ a year after lunch (much cheaper) and would replace it only because of consumerism - to get a new phone. Arguably there is nothing that really warrants an upgrade today.
Headphones, while a great move, won't help them in a long run - not enough margins and good competition. The silver lining with Apple is the that they have a growing services business. Too bad Netflix is kicking their ass in video content wars. Siri is also mostly mediocre. Homekit - who knows, what happens if your market share is falling.
Reality is that Android won 3 years back. We'll see if Apple can turn around thanks to their endless coffers of cash. It's not over yet, but they need to do something and not just upgrade what they have.