Four myths about the Android market: ***************************************************************
1) Galaxy S 4, apps , sales , hardware
How well do you know the Android platform ? If you use an Android based smartphone or tablet, you might think you know plenty – but some of the most commonly held perceptions about the platform are based in myth. Many Android users believe that their devices are cheaper than competitors like the iPhone . Most users point to “choice ” and “variety ” as the reasons they believe the Android platform has become so popular . Many believe that an Android product like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 provides a fundamentally different experience than , say, the Android based Motorola Nexus. And the one thing Android users all seem to be sure of is that one of the Android phones on the market must certainly be the world ’ s best selling smartphone . As it turns out, none of the above are quite correct . So here ’ s an Android 101 primer about the mobile platform that so many users have opted to call home , including the five most popular myths about it.
2) Android pricing
Common perception is that the iPhone is the expensive smartphone for high end Users, and Android is the more budget oriented value play . While it’s understandable that some consumers have assumed this based on the fact that Apple ’ s Mac computers are in fact more expensive than Windows PC, that kind of pricing doesn ’ t carry over to the mobile side – at all . The most popular Android vendors such as Samsung, Motorola , and HTC have pricing scales that are nearly identical to the pricing scale of the iPhone : $ 199 for the current flagship model, $ 99 for mid range model, and $ 0 ( with contract or upgrade eligibility) for a budget model. So pricing isn ’t a factor when choosing your smartphone platform . In an interesting twist, Samsung is introducing the new Galaxy S4 at $ 249 , which – for the moment at least – means that the most popular Android phone is more expensive than the most popular iPhone . Android hardware choice Android phones come from a large number of vendors, each designing their own hardware models , with some of them offering dozens of Android phone models each . In contrast , Apple offers a mere three iPhone models . That would seem to suggest that those who choose Android do so because of the much wider variety of hardware designs and spec combinations available and the resulting greater choice . But as it turns out Motorola ’s Android sales
are middling, and other Android vendors like HTC are selling so poorly that they ’ re nearly bankrupt . The vast majority of Android phone sales belong to one vendor, Samsung . In fact most of those sales are of one specific model, the Galaxy S3 . In other words , choice doesn ’ t really matter to most Android buyers, as they nearly all tend to buy the same specific hardware model while mostly ignoring the entire rest of the Android lineup.
3) Android popularity
Android is overwhelmingly popular , though overall sales and market share numbers worldwide are vastly different depending on where you get your data from . But the one we do know is that while all Android phones combined might be outselling the
iPhone , none of those individual Android phones are #1 , or for that matter #2 . According to Strategy Analytics, the iPhone 5 is currently the top selling smartphone worldwide. In a distance second place is the iPhone 4 S. Samsung ’ s Galaxy S3 is
in third place behind that, selling barely half as well as the iPhone 5 . Other Android phones do occupy the next several slots down the list , but Apple currently has the top two spots . Samsung expects to change that with the Galaxy S4 launching this quarter, and it may well get to the number one spot. But it’ll be starting in third place . Android apps Not all “Android apps” will work properly on your Android device . Some mobile apps, particularly graphically intense games, are developed for current or higher end hardware. Buying that super cheap Android phone might cost you when
you realize it lacks the horsepower to play your favorite game ( this is true of all mobile and computing platforms in general ) . So if you plan to put processor- intense Android apps to good use, it ’s wise to go with an Android device with higher end
hardware specs. That usually means going with a name brand you know, and skipping the free- with -contract models .
4) Who owns Android
The Android operating system, which is to say the basic background software which gives your phone its on - screen interface and controls and consistency, is owned and developed by Google. It’s licensed to hardware vendors like Samsung who can make
certain changes to it and add on extra features if they like, but the core of the operating system and user interface remains the same . That means that an Android phone from
Vendor A is essentially the same core experience you ’ll get with an Android phone from Vendor B. So when choosing a brand of Android phone, you ’re choosing based on trust in that brand, quality of hardware build and specs, and whatever feature additions or modifications the vendor may have made. The quality of the Android experience can vary from one model or brand name to the next , but it’ s still largely the same experience – making it somewhat analogous to the fact that a Windows PC from Dell is mostly the same device as a Windows PC from Hewlett Packard .