The Q4 2011 results are in, and it paints a potentially bleak picture for Android. Looking in depth at the numbers provided by AT&T and Verizon, Apple sold about 3 times as many iPhones as all Android handsets combined in the quarter. This could simply be a fluke, as Apple released the iPhone 4S in [...]]]>

The Q4 2011 results are in, and it paints a potentially bleak picture for Android. Looking in depth at the numbers provided by AT&T and Verizon, Apple sold about 3 times as many iPhones as all Android handsets combined in the quarter. This could simply be a fluke, as Apple released the iPhone 4S in the quarter, and Apple’s sales tend to spike in the few months after a device is released.

There are certainly some positive signs for Android in the Q4 data; the percentage of new smartphone buyers in the United States last quarter choosing Android over iPhone was 57% to Apple’s 34%, according to the NPD. Samsung sold over 300 million phones last year, with a good chunk of those being Android smartphones, and manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, and Motorola are betting the farm on Google’s operating system.

Still, the potential for danger is there, and unless things take a turn in 2012 and 2013, then iOS may once again overtake Android as the leading smartphone platform.

The Paradox of Choice: Why too much of a good thing is not a great thing

Though the fluke effect certainly could play a role, there is at least one other explanation that could be driving sales away from Android; a phenomenon explained by Dr. Barry Schwartz in The Paradox of Choice. If you’ve walked into any carrier store recently, you’ve certainly experienced the abundance of choices available in choosing Android smartphones.

Handset makers and carriers have gotten a bit carried away with the sheer number of devices being released, and there are simply too many Android options for consumers to make an educated decision as to which smartphone is going to end up in their pockets.

According to Dr. Schwartz, when individuals are presented with more and more choices, the negatives associated with choosing (increased time to make a decision, increased energy expended, self-doubt, anxiety, and dread) increase the stress we experience until we become overloaded.

Though some choice is good, more choice isn’t necessarily better. As a society, our satisfaction with things decreases as the number of choices available to us increases. We’ve all felt that frustration of buying a new Android smartphone, only to feel buyer’s remorse when a newer and better model was released merely months later.

We have an abundance of choices when it comes to smartphones. To demonstrate this idea, one needn’t look further than Motorola and Verizon, arguably the  worst offenders of the bunch. On Verizon’s network alone, Motorola currently offering the Droid 3, Droid X2, Droid Bionic, Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Maxx, Droid Pro, and the Droid 4, with 6 of these 7 devices all launching over the course of a 9 month period. Adding to these offerings, Verizon sells the LG Spectrum, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Illusion, HTC Rezound, Samsung Stratosphere, HTC Thunderbolt, LG Enlighten, LG Vortex, Pantech Breakout, Casio G’Zone Commander, HTC Rhyme, Samsung Droid Charge, Sony Xperia Play, and the HTC Droid Incredible 2.

Customers who walk into a Verizon store are presented with 21 different options for Android smartphones, and that doesn’t even count the number of customizations (16 vs 32GB options, multiple color choices, etc) offered by some of the devices. This compares to 2 models of iPhone (4 and 4s, each with a few layers of customizability), 4 different Blackberry devices, and 1 Windows Phone device.

The number of Android devices available outnumbers all other smartphone platforms by a factor of 3 to 1, though they were outsold by the iPhone by at least a few hundred thousand devices last quarter. This is despite Verizon heavily pushing their 4G LTE service, which currently only Android phones are able to take advantage of.

Adding to this problem, carrier stores are generally a big ball of disorganization, with high-end devices mixed in with entry-level phones, the iPhone generally off on its own display, and no clear signage telling people what’s what. I’ve walked into multiple carrier stores recently, and can see how easily people can get confused in these places. With confusion comes the feeling of being overwhelmed, as the choice of which smartphone to purchase is a long-term decision, with customers being locked in to that phone and cell service for multiple years.

Adding the abundance of choice problem to the disorganization in most carrier stores, one can see the potential of a problem spiraling out of control.

Who’s Buying Smartphones in the Next Few Years?

Android’s choice problem gets a bit more important when you consider the people most likely to buy a smartphone in the next several years. Though there will certainly be several folks upgrading to newer smartphones, these users are generally tied to their respective ecosystems. Several of them drop hundreds of dollars (or more) into applications that would need to be repurchased if they decided they no longer wanted an iPhone or an Android device.

The biggest potential for growth then comes from customers who still own feature phones. These laggards have largely stayed away from the smartphone market, either not wanting to complicate their lives with being connected to the internet 24/7, or they are older or technologically-averse individuals who don’t want the complications associated with learning new technology. These individuals have largely stayed away from the smartphone market, but will likely adopt the technology soon as the cost of these devices drops to the point of mass affordability. People in this category outnumber the current number of smartphone users, making this market the key to determine the market leader in smartphone OSes.

If Android doesn’t solve some of the perceived issues with the platform now, it runs the risk of losing out in this important battle for the mainstream customers.

Over the next few years, the smartphone market share battle will be waged over those customers who still own feature phones, and unless Android manufacturers change the way they do business, Google runs the risk of its Android platform on the losing end of this fight.

The Solutions

Solution 1: Remodel Carrier Stores to Provide Clearer Choices
One of the bigger problems is the sheer lack of organization (or, perceived lack of organization) in most carrier stores today. Sure, there’s a display for the iPad and iPhone, as well as one for other tablets, but when it comes to handsets, all bets are off. Phones are generally spread out throughout the rest of the store or, worse, lumped together so that all smartphones (and perhaps smartphones and featurephones) are placed side by side with little other than a little placard to tell them apart.

In a recent TED Talk, Dr. Sheena Iyengar highlights the choice issue further, and shows how businesses can make choices easier on customers by limiting the number of similar items they put on their store shelves. Though Dr. Iyengar mostly focused on retail and the number of brands of olive oil certain stores sell to customers, one can easily make the parallel to the cell phone market.

Carriers could even the playing field and help differentiate their products in an important way if they choose to lay out their stores differently. In a nutshell, carriers should section their store off into 5 different categories:

1. High-End ($200+) Smartphones
2. Mid-Range ($100-200) Smartphones
3. Budget ($0-100) Smartphones
4. Tablets
5. Feature Phones

Placing phones into these categories would allow customers who want to purchase a smartphone to isolate their choices based on how much they’re willing to spend on a product. This will also keep the number of choices a consumer must make to below or around 10, which is approximately the number of choices we can actually rationally decide from.

Verizon is making progress here, as their new store layout somewhat splits devices off into categories. 4G/LTE smartphones have their own display sections, as do tablets. Still, though, as the number of 4G LTE smartphones explodes, we’ll likely have the same problem on our hands unless action is taken.

Solution 2: Commitment from Handset Makers to Reduce the Number of Devices Being Released
Though the carriers’ getting their organizational acts in order does much to reduce the problem, they represent only one side of issue. Handset manufacturers must also commit to reducing the number of devices they churn out in a given period of time. Ideally, instead of releasing multiple devices and hoping one is able to stick and penetrate the market, handset makers should focus their efforts on releasing no more than one entry into each of the above named categories in a 6 or 12 month period, with the possibility of releasing a 4^th in the alternative form factors (slide-out QWERTY, Blackberry-like device, dual-screens, etc.).

This solution would have a dual-impact; not only will there be a more reasonable set of choices for smartphone devices, the quality of the phones being released should increase as research and development teams will be able to focus the same amount of effort on fewer devices.

Some manufacturers have already indicated that they are headed in this direction; HTC has recently announced that it will focus on quality over quantity in 2012, but have not yet given details into what that declaration entails. We hope that HTC sees the writing on the wall as well, and wants their bet on Android to continue to be successful in the long-term. HTC has taken some significant steps with the One series it launched at Mobile World Congress, and we hope these devices (and a de-cluttering of HTC Sense UI) are what HTC chooses to focus on this year.

But HTC is just one of the major players out there. Motorola, Samsung, and LG all should focus on quantity over quality, and release fewer devices in 2012. This will (should) allow these companies to spend more time and energy on UI development, and less thinking about bigger and better devices to release 3 months after their last great device (looking at you, Moto).

Final Thoughts

2012 has started off on the right track. Verizon and T-Mobile are rolling out new stores that they hope will better enhance the customer experience. We obviously hope that they take some of our suggestions and section off their stores so that they are better organized, allowing their customers to better make their phone purchasing decisions.

While HTC is leading the way in reducing the sheer number of devices available to customers, Mobile World Congress brought news of multiple new devices from the likes of LG and Huawei, and about 15 tablets from Samsung (okay, a slight exaggeration). Instead of releasing three 10″ tablets, we hope that Samsung puts all of their favorite features into one flavor of 10″ tablet and support the heck out of it. Similar too with cell phones.

Sure, choice is a good thing, and helps Android stand out from the few devices competitors offer, but when it comes to the significant (and sometimes stressful) choice about which device ends up in our pockets for too years, too much of a good thing does not amount to a great thing.

Samsung marketing executive Younghee Lee recently said she wants consumers to be “obsessed with the company and its products.” The ironic thing is that her company Samsung is obsessed with Apple and its iPhone. In a new series of web videos called Street Challenge, Samsung once again goes after iPhone users and asks them if their [...]]]>

Samsung marketing executive Younghee Lee recently said she wants consumers to be “obsessed with the company and its products.” The ironic thing is that her company Samsung is obsessed with Apple and its iPhone. In a new series of web videos called Street Challenge, Samsung once again goes after iPhone users and asks them if their phone can do things the Galaxy Note can.

Compared to Samsung’s Super Bowl ad, this clip actually does a good job of highlighting the unique features of the Note’s S-Pen and showcases some real examples of what it can do. Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

Speaking of the Super Bowl ad, Samsung has actually been uploading a bunch of awesome videos for the Galaxy Note. The first 60-second clip below would have probably cost about $10 million less to produce than their 90-second ad, and it does a much better job of showing off the product.

So, anyone pick up the AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note yet?

Today’s survey statistics involve quite a deal of comic ‘relief.’ Not only are we dominating the smartphone market, but we’re also beating everyone in other fields. According to a couple of surveys, it seems Android users are most likely to use their phone while in the toilet and to have one night stands.

We have all seen those long lines at Apple stores during product launches. People camp out there for long hours and days to get what many (especially Android fans) believe to be a trivial update of the iPhone 4. Whether it is due to brand loyalty, the ethos, or actual preference, Apple fans simply tend [...]]]>

We have all seen those long lines at Apple stores during product launches. People camp out there for long hours and days to get what many (especially Android fans) believe to be a trivial update of the iPhone 4. Whether it is due to brand loyalty, the ethos, or actual preference, Apple fans simply tend to prefer sticking with “iDevices.”

This is something that we Android enthusiasts always wonder about, right? Why go through such a struggle to get a device that (specs-wise) is about a year old on Android standards? Apple users usually mention that the specs do not matter, though. Which is quite true, the iPhone 4S provides a great user experience, and it definitely gets the job done. There are so many factors to consider, though. Apple’s locked down nature and lack of 4G connectivity are only a couple of the extensive list of reasons why we prefer Android over iOS.

We have stumbled upon this video, and while it looks like it is a legit Samsung commercial, no Samsung official source has released it. Whether it is official or not, though, it is definitely something to have fun with for a minute (and 1 second).

The commercial pretty much touches on the stereotypes that characterize the typical iPhone fanboy. Check it out for some giggles, and sound off in the comments section. Would you wait in line for a Galaxy Nexus? If you are an iPhone user, let us know why you would prefer an iPhone 4S over a Samsung device (or any Android device, for that matter).

In the midst of a smartphone explosion, Android has quickly grown to be the largest mobile OS on the planet. Its open nature allows for the multitude of devices that now exist, with an option for every person out there. When looking at Verizon’s third quarter sales, we can almost assume that most smartphone sales [...]]]>

In the midst of a smartphone explosion, Android has quickly grown to be the largest mobile OS on the planet. Its open nature allows for the multitude of devices that now exist, with an option for every person out there. When looking at Verizon’s third quarter sales, we can almost assume that most smartphone sales will continue to be mostly Android devices.

Verizon has reported that it sold 5.6 million smartphones during the third quarter of 2011. Around half (almost 3 million) of those ran on the Android OS. The percentage of Android sales will definitely continue to grow with more devices on the horizon, but how will the new player in the house, the iPhone 4S, affect those numbers? TWo million of those third quarter sales were iPhones; the competition is still heated. With the fourth quarter now upon us, and news that Verizon sold out the iPhone 4S on the first day of sales, we have to wonder how much more Apple could be gaining on Android at the end of 2011.

Since the iPhone 4 was considered an outdated device by the third quarter, it can be assumed that most Apple fans would probably prefer waiting for the iPhone 4S. Many of them got the device on day 1, but a lot more people are probably still waiting for Apple to ship more iPhone 4S devices to Verizon.

It’s hard to tell at this point, but it seems the near future could bring fierce competition between the two biggest smartphone platforms (at least on the Verizon network). How do you think numbers would look if every carrier in the world offered both iOS and Android smartphones? Would Android really be as popular?

Android fans will stand by the green robot for reasons already known. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is also coming, which could likely get very high numbers as well — especially since it’s the first Ice Cream Sandwich device out there.

Another thing to note is that one of Verizon’s strongest assets is its 4G LTE network. As you may know, no iPhone currently takes advantage of those blazing Verizon 4G LTE speeds. Those looking to move into 4G LTE would probably go with Android.

It’ll be interesting to see the turn out of next quarter’s results. Do you guys see the tables turning with the iPhone 4S on Verizon’s network? Do you think Android will stay on top? What is your prediction of the sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus compared to the iPhone 4S?

HTC is going on the offensive again, suing Apple for infringement of three separate patents. Details about the lawsuit and the patents in question are still unknown, but the complaint is directed at Apple’s Macintosh Computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices. HTC filed the complaint against Apple in the U.S. District Court in Delaware and [...]]]>

HTC is going on the offensive again, suing Apple for infringement of three separate patents. Details about the lawsuit and the patents in question are still unknown, but the complaint is directed at Apple’s Macintosh Computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices. HTC filed the complaint against Apple in the U.S. District Court in Delaware and is asking the court to block Apple’s importation and sale of infringing products in the United States. The court documents reveal that HTC gained possession of the patents in 2008 and 2010.

HTC and Apple have been trading blows for quite some time. While it’s nice to see HTC standing up for itself, we hope the patents in question are strong enough to cause some serious damage. With nearly a half dozen patent infringement cases between the two companies, it’s getting hard to keep track of all moving pieces. We know all these legal disputes need their day in court, but we wish HTC and other manufacturers could one day scratch all their legal fees off the books and divert all that extra cash over to R&D.

Do you think that the legal battles between HTC and other manufacturers will die down once Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility and its patent portfolio is complete?

Would you like to know what mobile operating system dominates in your state? Planning to move anytime soon? Here’s a map that can guide you in the right direction! Stats and info graphics are always fun, but today we have something extra special for you.

This map shows which US states are dominated by Android, [...]]]>

Would you like to know what mobile operating system dominates in your state? Planning to move anytime soon? Here’s a map that can guide you in the right direction! Stats and info graphics are always fun, but today we have something extra special for you.

This map shows which US states are dominated by Android, Blackberry or iOS. Android and iOS are obviously the most dominant platforms in the country, but some states are still Blackberry territory and some others that are neutral.

There’s somewhat of a pattern in this map, as you can see. It seems there’s a sort of an invisible diagonal line separating the distribution of platforms. The map illustrates that iOS dominates in the northern/eastern half of the country, while Android seems to dominate in the southern/western section.

These statistics are very interesting, but we have decided to take things a little further. Aside from just knowing which platform is on top (and where), we decided to see how the numbers relate to other maps with state-by-state information.

Income

Android as the “iPhone for the poor” is an argument iOS fans often tend to use. Android does offer some great, cheaper options for those who want to save some bucks. While this may mean people with less income could be lured to Android’s affordable options, the case is that most high-end devices cost almost the same as the latest iOS devices. The map clearly shows that many of the richest states in the country are dominated by Android, which could prove that Android’s success is not solely based on price.

Gasoline Tax Rates

When it comes to gasoline taxes, things seem to be spread out equally. Of the states with the highest gas taxes, 5 are dominated by iPhone users, while only 3 of are dominated by Android users. It seems iPhone users are still paying more for their gas, though! Look around next time you see gas prices going up!

Foods

Your first instinct might be to look for apples on the map. So much for Washington apples; the state is actually Android dominated. It really doesn’t prove anything, but we thought it was a funny random fact.

Obesity

In general, states on the bottom right corner of the map have more issues with obesity. This may not tell much, but that area is also where the more “neutral” mobile platform states seem to be. Android is dominant in both the leanest and the most obese states, though, which may prove its diverse nature. “Bi-winning!”

Wrap Up

These stats are mostly just fun to mess around with, but there might be some factors that do contribute to a state being more prone to a certain type of device. What do you guys think such factors might be? Wealth? Fashion? Religion? Politics? Let us know what you think. And if you find any good connections that we missed, let us know! Also, do you live in an Android or iPhone state?