Androids vs. iPhones the Battle Goes On

by Meiera Stern Jul 09, 2010

Apple vs. Android and HTC

The iPhone 4 is taking a beating, and where will it end? Last week, Apple admitted that its iPhones had been overstating network signal strength since 2007, and that the original wraparound antenna design responsible for this has been wreaking havoc with reception in its latest iPhone 4. Under fire from critics and customers, Apple apologized. Apple almost never appologizes!

Back in March when Apple filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against HTC, one of the major manufacturers of smartphones that run Google Android, it was hard to predict that Apple would be on the defensive just three months later, as HTC's sales soared 33% over its previous quarter.

With 1.7 million in sales by the end of June, Apple claims that sales of iPhone 4 have not been influenced by the media frenzy over antenna issues, and that this has been its most successful phone launch ever. However, amid antenna quality issues that forced Apple to apologize to the public, not once but an unheard of 3 times in the past month, and other announcements like 1-NTP is suing Apple, Google, HTC, Microsoft, Motorola and LG for patent infringement, it's not easy to be a blythe Apple fan. And it's not easy to dismiss the idea that if Apple had fixed the reception problems earlier on, sales of iPhone 4 would have been higher still.

Sales of HTC handsets are on a trajectory to grow from 12 million in 2009 to approximately 20 million in 2010. And that's just one company that produces phones that run Google Android. 1.7 million vs. 20 million is not a good ratio for Apple. However, it's a great one for Android.

If Apple wins the lawsuit against HTC, it could change things dramatically for HTC and the public's consumption of its phones. However, while this would be a major win for Apple, it would be lousy for consumer choice.

Apple, Dude! Give us the white iPhone 4, fix the antenna problems, and the stocking fees, and get it together. The war is on!

Comments

  • How can sales be higher when they have run out of stock?
    Silly story, in fact it’s not even a story, it’s a non story.

    Parky had this to say on Jul 11, 2010 Posts: 51
  • Hardware: Advantage Apple. With the iPhone, everything works well. Not so with the Android phones. Even with a front facing camera, the Droid can’t do video conferencing well at all. It is practically useless.

    pariuri had this to say on Jul 12, 2010 Posts: 3
  • The ‘author’ of this article is an imbecile.

    1. Apple never apologised for it’s wrap-around antenna design - it vehemently denies there is anything wrong with it.  They apologised for mis-representing the signal strength in software, and have promised a patch for it.  Not only is that offensive to the consumers plagued with this problem, it is irrelevant to the real issue which they are refusing to address - physical signal attenuation, which has nothing to do with software.

    2. The ‘author’ states a sales ratio of 1.7 million iPhones VS 20 million Androids being bad for Apple and great for Google.  I’m assuming the ‘author’ is not an economics major.  You’ve taken the 1.7 million sales from June 2010 only, and compared it to the projected 20 million sales of Android from 2011, by which time Apple would have sold millions upon millions more units.

    This article does not deserve to exist anywhere except within the confused, simplistic mind of it’s ‘author’.

    devilbond had this to say on Jul 13, 2010 Posts: 3
  • Devilbond,

    I never said that Apple apologized for the antenna. However, Apple did not ‘vehemently’ deny that the antenna was the problem. The company said, “Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”

    Consumer Reports also picked up on the Antenna problem despite Apple’s attempt to sidestep the issue.

    You make one valid point— I effectively compared apples to oranges by suggesting Apple’s profits for one month related to the projected yearly income of HTC. As you deduced, I ain’t no economics major. And I appreciate the correction. Still, if you project both numbers over a year, HTC still comes out ahead. And in light of all the bad press over the iPhone 4, it will surprise this ‘author’ tremendously if HTC doesn’t leave Apple in the dust. Not that that’s an outcome I’d welcome.

    I can understand your ire over the math in this article, and over the trouncing that Apple has been getting in the press. However, since you began and ended your comments with a dig at my intelligence, I’d like to point out that you may know your numbers but you could use a spelling and grammar lesson! Not to mention a crash course in manners.

    Meiera Stern had this to say on Jul 13, 2010 Posts: 12
  • “Last week, Apple admitted that its iPhones had been overstating network signal strength since 2007, and that the original wraparound antenna design responsible for this has been wreaking havoc with reception in its latest iPhone 4.”

    That is clearly stating that Apple admitted the antenna design as being responsible, which they did not.  If you meant it as two different statements, try putting them in separate sentences, rather than joining them with an ‘and’.

    ...and they ARE denying it’s a problem.

    Steve Jobs himself has - http://url.ie/6rz4

    And the PR & support guidelines, from Apple, state how to handle complaints about the antenna - http://url.ie/6rz5

    You may think it’s perfectly fine to spread misinformation, making erroneous conclusions about one issue from a story about another issue, but it isn’t.  Even if it’s an honest mistake.  It’s the bane of the internet, where websites like this report conjecture and/or assumption as fact, propagating untruths throughout the web.  Obviously, it riles me up.

    Excellent grammar-checking, by the way.  Thank you.  You picked me up on a misplaced apostrophe.  Well done.  If however, you’re talking about my use of ‘s’ instead of ‘z’, that’s English.  From England.

    You’re one argument, that I need a crash course in manners, is however, justified.

    Thank you.

    devilbond had this to say on Jul 14, 2010 Posts: 3
  • I almost forgot…

    “Still, if you project both numbers over a year, HTC still comes out ahead.”

    Take what numbers!?
    The 1.7 million iPhones reported sold in June?  Or the 20 million Androids HTC are hoping to sell in 2010?

    Ok, lets:  The iPhone 4 was released on June 24th.  The 1.7 million figure was one released after sales were calculated up until June 26th.  Now, as you’re not a numbers geek, I’ll let you know that’s 1.7 million in two days… in the United States alone.  That figure will slow down over time of course, but at that reported rate it would trump HTC’s predictions for 2010 in less than a month.

    Time will tell of course, and this antenna issue will surely damage sales, but I don’t see HTC outselling Apple this year.

    devilbond had this to say on Jul 14, 2010 Posts: 3
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    Meg had this to say on Jul 22, 2011 Posts: 1
  • I have both and formats and Apple is more user friendly
    the droid is faster

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    michaeldavid had this to say on Jul 26, 2011 Posts: 1
  • No joke. My HTC Desire is the envy of my coworkers who have iphones.  They’re always amazed at how good it works and the functionality. I run three websites, http://www.superledgrowlights.com and http://www.thegardencloche.com and http://www.slumbermaax.com and manage them all on my phone. Couldn’t do it with an iphone.

    sjan88 had this to say on Aug 01, 2011 Posts: 3
  • the idea this article came from is pretty original and I guess many of us who read it find it rather interesting.
    android

    cadee had this to say on Aug 03, 2011 Posts: 6
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    john had this to say on Aug 10, 2011 Posts: 22
  • awesome battle…i guess android will be outstanding due to it has more phone variety.airasia chart

    tss160 had this to say on Aug 16, 2011 Posts: 3
  • It’s interesting what they will do when Jobs will leave the company. I imagine how he will read maybe “girl by jamaica kincaid analysis” and apple would be crazy without ideas.

    jillsig had this to say on Aug 17, 2011 Posts: 2
  • useful post and I think it is rather easy to see from the other comments as well
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    cadee had this to say on Aug 18, 2011 Posts: 6
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