Intrebarea adresata de John Gruber a fost: cate dintre telefoanele cu Android sunt cu adevarat “smartphones”? Raspunsul pe scurt este: nu prea multe. Raspunsul pe larg, este foarte bine exprimat. Citeste-l de doua ori si vei intelege adevarul despre asa-zisele vanzari record al device-urilor cu Android OS.
550.000 de device-uri cu Android activate in fiecare zi? Cite dintre aceste device-uri sunt tablete si telefoane care merita bagate in seama si cite sunt chinezarii care imita iPad sau iPhone si au pe ele Android doar pentru ca Google il ofera gratis?
Daca Honeycomb era asa de bun si tabletele gen Xoom sau Galaxy Tab erau “iPad Killers” atunci de ce nu s-au vandut?
Pe de alta parte, un smartphone no-name abia aparut pe piata care e vandut cu 1 dolar la abonament de 1 an merita bagat in seama. Este el cu adevarat “smart”?
Google’s strategy in deploying Androids is very simple: the more Androids in the market, the better. Therefore they’ve filled up the sales channels till there was no room left for anything else, and no alternative for the customers. […]
[…] What’s changing here is the concept of smartphone itself. Why should Google bother selling smartphones or tablets, when it can sell only the Android brand? For Google, it doesn’t matter whether an Android powered device is used for smartphone-like tasks or simply for cracking nuts or playing music in a car.
There are huge and statistically significant quantities of Android devices made by Huawei, ZTE or Alcatel that are pushed into carriers sales channels for 70-100 bucks cost, each. Is anybody writing a review on them or make a fuss about these companies’ financials? Never.
Will you ever be able to count those low-end-smartphones’ online visits, connections, internet usage, social network presence? Never.
Because they’re never used as smartphones! They’re only pushed by carriers with a minimum subsidy, with prices ranging between 0 and 20$, for 1 or 2 year contracts or in prepay, for 99$… Millions of them, all around the world!
Who’s really counting these duds? Only Google; not even the carriers are looking at these phones as “smartphones”. The real reason: 99% of the customers buying these devices will never install an app, never go online on purpose, never do anything but calls and texting. These users are zombies.
The cheap, fake smartphones aren’t anything but Androids, and their number is several times bigger than Samsung or Motorola reported sales.
The problem is not Google lying about its Android sales, but Google telling the truth; there are hoards of “Android smartphones” in the market, none of their users knowing or giving a shit their phone’s supposed to be “smart”.
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