We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us - Winston Churchill
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Brits shun Apple's Iphone 4 in favour of HTC Desire
IT APPEARS that the shine has been rubbed off Apple's Iphone 4, with Brits preferring HTC's Desire smartphone instead.
Price comparison website Uswitch has reported that Apple's Iphone 4 didn't even make it into the top 5 of UK's favourite mobile phones, with HTC devices taking the top 3 spots. HTC's slightly aging Desire is the UK's most, er, desirable handset with its bigger brother the Desire HD in second spot and the cut down Wildfire rounding off the top 3.
The remainder of the top five are made up by the Blackberry Curve 8520 and the Samsung Galaxy S in fourth and fifth places respectively. Apple's special Iphone 4 comes in at number six, just ahead of the Motorola Defy, hardly an impressive showing for such an iconic, magical device.
There are a number of reasons why Brits are not all that keen on the Iphone 4. While it could be technological reasons such as Apple's closed source IOS, its walled garden App Store, the fact the it doesn't run Adobe's Flash Player or that for a while, the Iphone 4 couldn't even be used as a phone, it is far more likely that cost is playing a huge part in people's decisions to go with more affordable and, in some cases, superior alternatives.
Uswitch's very own technology expert Ernest Doku claims it is the cost of the Iphone 4 that is letting it down, saying that at a time when consumers are penny pinching the fact that an HTC Desire can be had for free makes a significant difference in buying decisions. Doku added that when Apple launches the Iphone 5, it should shoot up the charts once again.
Apple's faithful will point to the calendar and say that June, the traditional Iphone launch time, is only four months away. While The INQUIRER doesn't have a team of crack economists, common sense allows us to confidently predict that in four months time the vast majority of the public will still be facing the same tough economic conditions as they have been and are now. What will be interesting is to see how long Apple can maintain that all but guaranteed number one spot with the Iphone 5 and whether its reign will be shorter than that of the Iphone 4.
So the question is, will Apple start to let operators lower the cost of Iphones in order to bolster sales? At present it doesn't seem like Apple needs to, but there's no doubt that Android devices are matching the Iphone on functionality and beating it hands down on price. While fanbois may swoon for anything that has an Apple logo slapped on it, more and more punters are making sensible buying decisions and opting for Android devices rather than expensive Iphones.
There's no guarantee that Apple will have its own way with the Iphone 5 in 2011, at least for a while. Samsung showed off the mighty impressive Galaxy S II at Mobile World Congress, while Motorola's Atrix featured highly at CES. As the established brands battle over the high end smartphone market, outfits such as China's ZTE have been extremely successful with their cut-price Android devices such as the Blade.
Devices like ZTE's Blade, which can be bought for less than £100, will fuel the 2011 surge in Android and steal more than a few customers away from high end phone manufacturers.
Apple might well have fared better than most through the recent economic crisis, but it seems consumers are starting to look at value for money in their smartphone, which is hardly a strong point for the Iphone, whatever model it is. µ
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Edirot = Editor, and im sure the rest you can figure out. Long day. :)
Rich.
I have to say that while The Inq has always suffered from poor writing, biased and inanely stupid articles like this really do get my goat. All it does is show the author to be painfully ignorant, I mean seriously, who would want articlews with such childish remarks and accusations to be headlining on a well-read tech site? It is truly, truly embarassing and cringeworthy imo.
I am an Android user and probably will be for a good while, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the iPhone for what it is, a supremely functional device that does more or less exactly what it says on the tin with minimum fuss for its users, in the slickest way possible. They are nice devices that keep a LOT of people ehappy, end of.
People seem to forget that Android phone often have to be rooted for full access... is this really that much different in principle to jailbreaking an iPhone? Sure, Android has more open features at stock, but this is certainly offset by a less smooth experience requiring more tweaking (and a little trial and error) than an iPhone to get it running how you want.
It's about time appalling journalism like this was kicked into touch, because if I was an Edirot of this site there is no way in hell I would want pathetic articles like this taking up valuable space in what should be an informative and as unbiased as possible source of news... not a near-incoherent set of childish rants that help no-one. Sort it out, please.
Regards,
Rich
An Android user.
The Orange San Francisco with a custom Android 2.2 ROM is almost as good as the HTC Desire / iPhone 4. Shocking considering it's a 1/5 of the price.
If you want to install Android 2.2 from scratch, you should check out this site:
http://orangesanfrancisco.co.uk/
Some decline in sales in sweden, norway and finland lately. The iPhone can be stored in minus degress, but actually it does apparently break if used in subzero temps, and the warranty expressly denies liability for use against the terms.
The konsumentombudsman agencies in norway and finland have already launched major actions against apple (actually for the consumer not against apple per se), because the item must be usable in the country sold in.
As finland is looking back upon months of really cold (-25 in the morning celsius today in the south), with more to come, obviously not much point in buying kit that doesn't work. I mean my nokia 5230 is beyond sluggish if exposed, but still works. Not mentioning my phone as a comparison to the specs on clever phones, just happens to be my phone.
This article, like many others on this subject, is based on a uSwitch poll asking people what their favourite phone is. It isn't based on their intentions to buy it, nor their current handset. So to then inaccurately and unscientifically project this to actual sales is nonsense. The sales figures will show if the phone is in decline or being shunned, and recent results from Apple suggest otherwise.
There is already another take on this story.
http://www.itproportal.com/2011/02/23/iphone-4-bigger-combined-htc-smartphone-trio-says-google/
in anutshell the iphon is still more popular than the desire, Desire HD and samsung galaxy put together.
Personally and sitting next to people using desire HD, desire, samsung galaxy and or iphone 4, and using the later myself. I can say, the desire HD is the only one matching the iphone4 for features. The screen is bigger but not as bright. The battery life sucks on it though.I go almost 2 days on the iPhone4 my friend goes 8 hours on the desire HD.
Android phones are updated all the time, iPhone once a year. Let us see what summer brings us. I for one would welcome a duopoly. i am sick of MS and RIM
You compare the iPhone to a 911!?
I would compare it to Mustang; It's looks good and everyone knows the branding, and when you see an ad on tv it makes you feel special; just don't try and race a real sports car, especially around corners!
My 10 year old PDA(made by htc for Compaq/iMate) phones still beats out the iPhone for features and specks, in almost every area, it's almost the same size too.
Expect more, not less!
The iPhone not designed for plebs?; what is a pleb, anyway. ;)
OK, I can give you the Wildfire, but at what point are the Desire, Desire HD and Samsung Galaxy S not premium phones?
I'd say comparing like for like...
I know most people with Desire's in the office (me included) looked at the iPhone 4 and went 'meh'. Not for price, but for quality of phone.
@Dinglemeister
The iPhone is a chav status symbol, it is aimed squarely at the plebs.
Smart money might go on Apples shares but never on their products.
Whilst I think that Apple are complete bellends (30% of content revenue anyone), an article with the effective tone of 'premium handset isn't best seller' is a bit along the lines of 'Porsche 911 not in the best selling top 10 cars.', a statement of the bleedin' obvious.
It's meant to be bit of a premium product and not for the plebs. Also aren't Apple rumoured to produce a 'baby iPhone' soon, if they do it's likely the poorer fanbois will knock that to the top of that charts and then the daddy iPhone can maintain it's exclusive cachet (or tw*t factor as others might call it)...
Desire HD free on £35 contract no praying at the temple of Apple - Apple costs on a £35 contract no contest and pray to the god of apple
It has a nicer display than the Desire HD or Z, a solid, classy feel and features nice proper buttons instead of nasty touch sensitive things.
How can I compete with a £100 ZTE blade (Orange San Fransico in the UK)?
When it can be unlocked free and custom software installed, all in about 20 minutes? FYI just Google "Modaco ZTE blade"
Must be time to sell the mugs, oh sorry apple faithful, a new over priced fancy gadget that will make then feel warm and make me rich!
another take is here: http://www.mobot.net/iphone-4s-uswitch-decline-matter-16885