Apple's smartest move may been iOS on tablets.
Even smarter than the release of either the iPhone or the iPad lineups was probably the decision to ship them with the same OS. A move which Google duplicated with its smartphone and tablet lineup and which got analysts grouping smartphones and tablets in the same category. With Windows running on tablets now, some analysts group all 3 together. And this certainly has played some role in dethroning Microsoft. Be it from lack of investment in PC's or increased investment in Apple and Android to the perception amongst consumers that Microsoft is failing.
Aside from commonality in OS on 2 major platforms there is absolutely no reason to group smartphones with talbets and even less reason to group them with PC's. This is ludicrous. No one I have ever met would contend a smartphone is a general computing device. No one. Beyond that though, the distribution and sales models are totally different. Most smartphones are sold subsidized on contract from carriers effectively reducing their price to zero or as close as matters. Even beyond the logical argument that the devices serve entirely different purposes, the sales model has to be the biggest reason I think this is a flawed methodology.
I can safely say that without carrier subsidies smartphone device sales would be drastically lower and the market shares would be incredibly different.
Thanks to subsidies smartphones are able to outsell virtually every category of device even amongst those who would never even be able to secure financing let alone buy the device outright. As a result, any electronics analysis that groups smartphones with something else stacks the deck in favour of whoever is winning in smartphones. At the moment that is Android.
If there is something surprising in there, it is that even with smartphones and tablets lumped in, Microsoft is STILL outselling Apple. Outside of myself and people I have given them too (all happy people by the way) I don't know another person who owns a Windows tablet or a Windows Phone. That may be highly subjective and circumstantial evidence, but I think it is representative of the wider reality based on articles I've read. So, I would wager that the lions share of Windows sales are PC's/laptops and that it means there are enough units sold in that category alone to outsell all of Apple's products.
And that actually paints the clearest picture I can think of. IF the devices are similar enough to group together the market share amongst the individual device types should be close to the overall. But they aren't. In fact, the leader overall is virtually non-existent in the PC race. And while Android and iOS, in that order, trounce Microsoft in smartphones and tablet sales, both are utterly destroyed in PC sales. That fact alone should tell you something is wrong there.
I would take the results seriously if the numbers were broken down more sensibly. Realistically, even though I don't consider tablets a mobile form factor Android and iOS own that market. Apple effectively defined the market. So I'm "ok" with lumping tablet sales in with smartphone sales. I still think it largely nonsensical to do so since smartphones are generally sold in an entirely different fashion. PC's, laptops and convertibles on the other hand are clearly NOT in the same category. Lumping an $4000 Alienware Desktop in the same category as a $0 on contract slider Android phone does make sense in ANY universe.
So, ideally, I guess I would say that while I can see the commonality at a device and OS level between the average tablet and average phone. I think all 3 categories should only ever be reported on separately. Tablets which can/do ship with keyboard bases should be lumped with PC's, anything else is just a tablet.
But, like I said, people started grouping them together because Apple puts the same OS on both tablets and phones causing Google to follow suit. Microsoft blurred the lines further with Windows on tablets, but it started with iOS. This puts us in a world where people are able to report that Apple has almost caught up to Microsoft in a category that includes PC's. It does little for Android. While it still has the biggest slice of pie, this actually weakens their overall numbers because they are still virtually non-existent in the laptop/PC market. Well played Mr. Jobs.
Aside from commonality in OS on 2 major platforms there is absolutely no reason to group smartphones with talbets and even less reason to group them with PC's. This is ludicrous. No one I have ever met would contend a smartphone is a general computing device. No one. Beyond that though, the distribution and sales models are totally different. Most smartphones are sold subsidized on contract from carriers effectively reducing their price to zero or as close as matters. Even beyond the logical argument that the devices serve entirely different purposes, the sales model has to be the biggest reason I think this is a flawed methodology.
I can safely say that without carrier subsidies smartphone device sales would be drastically lower and the market shares would be incredibly different.
Thanks to subsidies smartphones are able to outsell virtually every category of device even amongst those who would never even be able to secure financing let alone buy the device outright. As a result, any electronics analysis that groups smartphones with something else stacks the deck in favour of whoever is winning in smartphones. At the moment that is Android.
If there is something surprising in there, it is that even with smartphones and tablets lumped in, Microsoft is STILL outselling Apple. Outside of myself and people I have given them too (all happy people by the way) I don't know another person who owns a Windows tablet or a Windows Phone. That may be highly subjective and circumstantial evidence, but I think it is representative of the wider reality based on articles I've read. So, I would wager that the lions share of Windows sales are PC's/laptops and that it means there are enough units sold in that category alone to outsell all of Apple's products.
And that actually paints the clearest picture I can think of. IF the devices are similar enough to group together the market share amongst the individual device types should be close to the overall. But they aren't. In fact, the leader overall is virtually non-existent in the PC race. And while Android and iOS, in that order, trounce Microsoft in smartphones and tablet sales, both are utterly destroyed in PC sales. That fact alone should tell you something is wrong there.
I would take the results seriously if the numbers were broken down more sensibly. Realistically, even though I don't consider tablets a mobile form factor Android and iOS own that market. Apple effectively defined the market. So I'm "ok" with lumping tablet sales in with smartphone sales. I still think it largely nonsensical to do so since smartphones are generally sold in an entirely different fashion. PC's, laptops and convertibles on the other hand are clearly NOT in the same category. Lumping an $4000 Alienware Desktop in the same category as a $0 on contract slider Android phone does make sense in ANY universe.
So, ideally, I guess I would say that while I can see the commonality at a device and OS level between the average tablet and average phone. I think all 3 categories should only ever be reported on separately. Tablets which can/do ship with keyboard bases should be lumped with PC's, anything else is just a tablet.
But, like I said, people started grouping them together because Apple puts the same OS on both tablets and phones causing Google to follow suit. Microsoft blurred the lines further with Windows on tablets, but it started with iOS. This puts us in a world where people are able to report that Apple has almost caught up to Microsoft in a category that includes PC's. It does little for Android. While it still has the biggest slice of pie, this actually weakens their overall numbers because they are still virtually non-existent in the laptop/PC market. Well played Mr. Jobs.
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