Maybe it’s your network…. :-)
(Note added May 11, 2010: Or maybe this entry should take its title from the old message from broadcast TV: “Experiencing Network Difficulties….”) 
The big news from CNET today…?
The research firm NPD Group reported today that Google’s Android operating system passed up Apple’s iPhone OS to be number 2 in the U.S. consumer smartphone market in the first quarter!
Both of the OSs still trail RIM Blackberry’s OS, President Obama’s favorite, but then, he says that an iPad does not empower and that he doesn’t know how to use an iPad or iPod, so go figure (1). I read somewhere that Blackberries are favored by Republicans and iPhones by Democrats, in California. I found the reference!
Devices that run Android accounted for 28% of the units sold to U.S. customers in the first quarter of 2010. Blackberry’s OS accounted for 36% of the units, and Apple’s, for 21% of the market.
There is a “telling” line graph in the CNET article. (Note added May 18, 2010: … with ESPECIALLY bad news for Windows Mobile!)
An analyst with NPD, Ross Rubin, attributed the growth in Android to the fact that the OS is on devices on all major U.S. carrier networks, particularly Verizon Wireless. Verizon launched a big marketing campaign for devices, such as the Motorola Droid, last year. Verizon leads the carriers in customer satisfaction and has the fewest dropped calls. Even AT&T has begun to sell Android phones.
On a personal level, we recently dropped our two remaining AT&T connections, my personal cell and my business land line, for Verizon wireless. My wife got a Motorola Droid, and I got two cheap “dumbphones,” since I am still waiting for iPhone on a network other than AT&T’s. I made one of the dumbphones smarter with Google Voice.
Apple, I’m…
“So tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for you….” – The Kinks, 1965, “Tired of Waiting for You”
American customers who are less patient than I am (I recognized Apple’s quality many years ago. Eventually, many other customers saw it, too.) may have decided that Android is “good enough,” especially on a reliable network with good customer service. I am willing to wait a bit longer, which gives Google a chance to “catch up” and Apple management a chance to “trade up” (depending upon the nature of existing, undisclosed contracts).
According to the CNET article, AT&T reported activation of around 900,000 iPhones for new customers in the first quarter, and AT&T sold another 1.8 million iPhones to existing AT&T customers.
“Without the iPhone, AT&T’s subscriber growth for contract customers would have been negative.”
(Note added May 11, 2010: Now, the bad news…. Engadget reported that court documents filed by Apple in a class-action suit confirmed that the exclusivity deal with AT&T has a FIVE YEAR duration. I guess that is why a lot of us were given good brains – so we can “work around” such problems. The GOOD news…? This is business and an ONGOING legal proceeding, so ANYTHING can happen.)
-Bill at
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