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.
Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2028417/brits-shun-apples-iphone-favour-htc-desire#ixzz1EoCusvPo
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.
Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2028417/brits-shun-apples-iphone-favour-htc-desire#ixzz1EoCusvPo
No comments:
Post a Comment