News - Android overtakes Apple in Western Europe

[HEXUS]

Google is hovering up the freefalling Symbian market.

Read more.

[abaxas]

No,

The phones are cheap, so people are buying them

Who would have thought it.

[Roobubba]

Former Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic user here, just bought a Samsung Galaxy S2 (which isn't cheap). I'm conforming to the stereotype, oh noes!
Off home to pick up my phone from the Royal Mail office if I have time before band

[kasavien]

shouldn't that be "hoovering up"?

[TheAnimus]

Wow Microsoft are taking a real pounding..... I personally find the WP7 OS the best interface by a long shot. Thing is thou you never see them in the shops in the UK.

[kingpotnoodle]

Wow Microsoft are taking a real pounding..... I personally find the WP7 OS the best interface by a long shot. Thing is thou you never see them in the shops in the UK.

Windows just isn't "sexy" and all the shops are run by the networks, who desperately want to be sexier/funkier/cooler than the others. Sadly good UI design is lost on most people... unless it's shiny and flashy with bleepy noises and a big button marked "make me annoying on the bus/take me to the riot" (or that effect).

I've got an HTC Sensation, good to see I'm now the UK stereotype, running Android on an HTC . I love it though, it's a great device, I really have no serious complaints with it at all, the only minor one was built in storage being a bit skimpy, I upgraded the SDHC card from the supplied 8GB to 32GB, you might argue having to spend £50 on that is a serious complaint I suppose, but I wasn't bothered given that the phone was free on a contract I actually use the free mins/data from. Although I've spent a few quid on the market you really don't need to with this phone, it does a hell of a lot out of the box.

Can't see me buying another Nokia for a long time, and I had been Nokia solidly for about 11-12 years before this.

[crossy]

No, The phones are cheap, so people are buying them
Who would have thought it.

Erm, no - my phone was almost the same price (on contract) as an iPhone would have been.

And I'm one of the Nokia defectors, in my case from N95 to Sony X10. Since my contract'll be up next year, I'll be watching with interest what NokiaSoft can produce.

Google can't be happy about how poorly Moto have done. And as to the Windows drop, apart from the local Orange store, I've not seen much promotion of the devices - heck, even Carphone Warehouse was pushing the little green fella instead.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In June 2011,Android had 45% of the UK market,57% of the US market and around 65% of the Japanese market:

http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/...s-to-18-3.html

[Spud1]

No,

The phones are cheap, so people are buying them

Who would have thought it.

QFT - there are simply leads of cheap (sub £200) android phones out there, and many for under £100 on pay as you go..this is the primary reason why android is selling so well. It's open nature allows OEMs to take cheap hardware and put android on it, which sells well when you have a £50 smartphone up against a £500 Apple Smartphone..people who were previously buying the latest nokia or SE "normal" phone are much more likely to pick up a smartphone these days - as they are the same cost or cheaper.

Has anyone seen numbers comparing "like for like" as close as we can - so the high end android device sales Vs iPhone 4 sales for example?

Everytime I see these sales figures touted as "android wins in europe again" or similar, it does make me smile..Statistics are wonderful things that can be manipulated to tell you anything you want.

[crossy]

people who were previously buying the latest nokia or SE "normal" phone are much more likely to pick up a smartphone these days - as they are the same cost or cheaper.

Excluding the pick-one-up-with-the-dinner models you get in the supermarkets, I'd agree with that wholeheartedly. The chain stores (Phones4U, CarphoneWarehouse, etc) just aren't interested in the dumbphones, so smartphone's are what Joe Public is being pushed into.

Has anyone seen numbers comparing "like for like" as close as we can - so the high end android device sales Vs iPhone 4 sales for example?Everytime I see these sales figures touted as "android wins in europe again" or similar, it does make me smile..Statistics are wonderful things that can be manipulated to tell you anything you want.

Again, I'd pretty much agree with all that's said here - if you're spending £300-400ish on a phone, (sorry, anyone who spends £500+ on a phone handset has way too much disposable income in my book), then you're obviously not that bothered on price - and it'll be features that you're after. What the mags etc term an "informed consumer" and what the shop owners call "an argumentative pain in the *ss". So sure, that'd be an interesting survey to see.

As to statistics, yes, we're all aware of "lies, damned lies, ... etc". Heck, I saw a set recently that claimed that Android was a flop because Apple made $X billion profit on it, whereas the Android makers only made $Y billion - together - where X was a larger value than Y. I would assume that you too get tired of the totally slanted presentations out there, whether it's to support the tag line of "Apple sales rout Android mob" or "Android success forces Apple to eat humble pie" - they're about as helpful as the "all Android users are freeloaders" or "all iphone users are sheep" comments banded about.

One last thought - Apple have consistently said that their success is down to app sales, which have been driven by the success of their devices. Now if Android is selling a lot of 'sets (irrespective of whether it's at £50, £250 or £500) it's obvious that developers will follow the market, and that in turn will cause further Nokia defection to Android and maybe even a few Apple ones, if the swing is large enough.

Got to say that this is the concern to me over Windows7Phone - can Nokia and Microsoft encourage enough developers to make that smartphone platform worth following? As seen from webOS, having a good OS is not the be-all and end-all - users want a wide range of good quality apps too.