How long will Apple and Google's Android last in E-Reader/Tablets, Phones?

[Sharon]

Well this is a f rank question that I want to ask from you all, I just want to know how long will this 2 companies last in these 2 departments as we can see today phones and tablets are largely dominated by apple and android. I need to know when companies like Microsoft and other small companies come in their department? That’s what I want to know from you all, so what do you all have to say about the same, can you please tell me something about it. if you can see the statistics almost 70% of the market share has been occupied by the apple and the android with almost 50%occupied by android, 27% by android and rest others like nokia, dell and many more. If you could have seen the earlier graph then nokia’s symbian was occupying almost 47% of the market share and now it has jumped down to 16% and all these transition happened in a span of 3 years. With android occupying almost all its share and now android have replaced nokia’s symbian with its own android system. A large credit has been given to the open source nature of the android’s operating system such that people can willingly open and experiment in it. also many applications are available in the android phones and that too in a very smart price which people think is affordable to buy. Well the same is the case with the RIM as well which upon one time was a market dominator with 17% market share now it is only 12%, the story of Microsoft’s own windows phone is nothing different. It had a market share of 20% few years back and now it has considerable reduced to 1%. Thankfully nokia and Microsoft have collaborated and are bringing some good lumia smartphone’s. hopefully they would be able to catch up with these new phones. People did not liked the interface of the windows phone and now with the windows phone 7 it has been simplified considerably, so that people can get used to it very easily.

Still I haven’t come to the main subject, I just want to know till how long will these companies dominate the tablets and the mobile departments that’s what I want to know from you all. Apple has always been a king in tablets and mobile phones but what about Google’s own android will it be able to stay a longer time in the market with stiff competition coming from the HCL, Dell, Nokia-Microsoft, Sony and many more? I just want to know what do you all have to say about the same. I have spoken about my opinion. I want to know what do you all think about the same. Waiting for the response from your side. Make sure if you are expressing out your opinions out over here then be precise on what you say that would be better for me to understand.

[Sasuke Uchiha]

Until and unless Microsoft decides to do some major changes because they are the only strong competitors in the present scenario which can give stuff completion to the both android as well as Apple. First of all they have made a good decision by joining hands with the nokia. Nokia has a dealer can help them bring up some good Smartphone’s and with the operating system provided by the Microsoft it would be an interesting deal for both of them to work on. The best example of that is Nokia Lumia 800. Look at the phone the design is certainly impressive along with a smart os Windows phone 7.5 in it but the only thing that people complained about is the price of the phone. The introductory price of the phone here in India was around Rs.30k which I thought was too expensive, plus the windows market place does not have so many applications compared to the apple and Google. So how come they can charge the phone in such a high price range. So that’s why just months after the release of the phone they have charged down the price of the phone they have kept it only to Rs.24K which is a interesting price tag but still android has lots of phones to offer in that price range with specifications much better than the one, nokia and Microsoft are providing. So price and applications are both the things that Nokia and Microsoft have to think about if they are thinking to compete with the apple and Google’s android. I recently heard that windows have recently crossed the 1lakh mark of the number of applications in their market place. So they are progressing slowly but steadily that’s what counts. I hope that’s pretty clear for you of what I have said here. that’s it from my side for you all.

[Bhadran]

See that can be true about the Smartphone market but that is definitely true in terms of the tablet or the Ebook market. I don’t think so Microsoft is anywhere near to apple in competition. In the smartphone market nokia and Microsoft are doing a good job but still they are much far away from its competitors. It would be very difficult to topple out both google as well as android from the top two positions that’s what my opinion is over here. as far as tablets are concerned then it is a mixed thing as there are lots of manufacturers thinking to get in the top spot but still android and apple do top the list over here as well. With the failure of RIM’s playbook and Sony also not dominating much with the newly launched Sony tablets S and P, its but obvious that Android and apple are also dominating this section as well. the sad thing to see here is that Microsoft are yet to come with the windows 8 OS. A Os which is developed specifically for the tablet users. It would be interesting to see with which companies it is collaborating to bring in the OS. That’s when we will get to see some tough completion because like the above user even I feel that if anyone dares to give some tough completion to the android as well as apple then it has to be Microsoft. I am sure the beginning for the Windows 8 tablet would be a descent one and then it will continue to dominate that’s what I think. However the market demands are changing day by day only time will tell who will survive and who will make way for others. That’s the best part to end my post.

[Gaganvihari]

Even I would like to say something over here. see what I feel is Apple is losing its shine it’s not the same apple device that we used to get before. Apple no doubt it has a good hardware but not the same case with the software’s I must say. Their OS is pretty average I feel. While people today are enjoying google’s android because it is a open source and they love doing some experiments in it. but after some years security would be a prime concern for majority of the people that’s when the market’s attention will shift towards the manufactures who believed in giving a much more convenient products in terms of security. RIM is one best example for that. I feel markets do change continuously like in the mid 2000 Nokia was the highest selling Smartphone in the Asia as well as the outside world people used to got with the interface of symbian, they did not even think that any other Smartphone existed apart from Nokia, so at that time Motorola, Samsung and htc were very small players. Google decided to pitch in the right time and identified the people’s demand properly and brought out some interesting apps to the general public that they weren’t aware of and also it collaborated with manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, LG and many more to bring in their products to the general public. They got a good response from the public and hence till date people are looking for android phones and not the nokia phones because they want something new and google’s android provides them. They don’t care much about the security and also what data do they provide to the google through these phones. So when the general public gets media savvy or tech savvy then they will get to know about all these and then their taste for the Smartphone’s will also change considerably. So that’s the phase that would be interesting to see. I don’t see apple dominating the market 10-15 years from the line, same is the case with the android as well. so if Microsoft and some other manufactures make a interesting move from now only then they can very well topple out apple as well as android from the dominance. This is what I feel here. however I must congratulate the guy who has come up with such an interesting discussion about the subject, this is a real debatable question and I can go on and on for this particular subject.

[Memphis M]

As far as Apple and Google’s android think about the changes that needs to be imp0lemented and also make some plans for the changes to be brought in then I don’t think so nobody would dare to come in their way. If you talk about the Ebook readers then kindle brought it, the same pattern was followed by the rest of its competitors. When apple got in iPhone it brought a new dimension in the Smartphone market, nobody would have thought it would succeed so much but now even the iPhone 4S has got in such a good response and also is one of the highest selling Smartphone’s till now. It is very important to recognize the next disruptive technology and jump on it before some companies would start producing some new one. For an example if you take the example of apple then it was the first company to bring on the iPod hadn’t they thought of bringing in Smartphone’s which would eat up their iPod market as well then they would have never been able to succeed in todays market. Now their Smartphone’s as well as iPod is working well. So with such innovative changes they tell us that why they have dominated the tech market since long. What Google did was copied what apple had and brought them to the general public at a lower price. Since not many people can afford a product like apple at such a high price so they thought of introducing the similar product at a very affordable price. That’s why they grew such a way and that too in a very short time. right now if there is any competitor available for the apple then it has to be Google and nobody else.

[Fawiza]

I don’t have any belief on the Apple anymore simply because their main innovator Steve jobs is no more. He was the only change that apple had and I think after him there is nothing much left in the apple. That’s what I feel here. so I have stopped buying the apple products anymore. Don’t take it as some kind of hate speech or something but this is what I personally feel. I don’t want anyone to come over here and lodge a protest on this. something which I don’t want at all.