Ouch. Here is a tough article for G1 fans that may answer some of the questions in this thread.
http://gpsobsessed.com/t-mobiles-g1-activations-get-crunched-by-19-million-iphones-will-things-pick-up-in-2009-warning-blabbering-editorial/ --Ed On Mar 5, 11:11 am, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: > The functional differences go right the way up the supply chain. One > 'phone shop or carrier issues broken down sales by device and you can > bet within a month many of it's competitors will be doing deals on the > popular devices (or the closest equivalent they have). > > There is also little value in pre-device break downs for investors > because they are primarily a one-off event. A vast majority of customers > will never buy the same 'phone twice, so it doesn't matter if this month > T-Mobile sold 30,000 G1s' on Feb 2009 because those 30,000 customers now > have a G1 and so aren't going to come back and buy the same 'phone again > (except for a few cases where they break the 'phone). > > Investors tend get their information from subscriber numbers, because > these represent opportunities for selling upgrades, services, and > providing a regular monthly income, or from feature groups (i.e. smart > 'phones, camera 'phones, etc.), because people tend to go for similar > feature sets for future purchases even if their next 'phone isn't the > same manufacturer (after all a good investment is about the future > potential of the company, not about buying slice of it's already done). > > Even developers shouldn't hold too much stock in per sales device > counts. It's next to impossible to get demographics for the ownership of > a specific device, so even if someone said a million G1s had been sold > it doesn't mean there's a million potential customers for your app. Some > owners may not like the 'phone and have it in a drawer, others will be > developers, and others may just not like what your app does. > > The best thing to do is market research. Look at your competitors > download counts. Try to get some sales figures. See what users are > saying. That way you can get a feel for where you should place your app > in terms of price and functionality. > > Al. > > > > Ed wrote: > > Thanks for the clarification, Al. I am still puzzled about the > > reporting side of things from non-manufacturer point of view. In other > > words, wouldn't you have to tell me about your company's product sales > > trends in order to get me to invest in your stock? A smart investor > > wouldn't be satisfied with just raw numbers showing an increase over > > last year, for example (or even increases over a longer period of > > time). Also, given how popular these devices are, I am surprised that > > there aren't a great deal of publications with reporters paid to track > > down and/or deduce sales figures from the information that is > > available. > > > --Ed > > > On Mar 5, 3:55 am, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> Ed, > > >> Mobile 'phones suffer far more from feature differentiation than other > >> devices and with many manufacturers using the same OSes revealing exact > >> sales stats could put them at a competitive disadvantage. > > >> Take, for example, HTC, if they said that the Windows Mobile handset was > >> outselling their Android one by 3 to 1 other mobile manufacturers would > >> most likely back off Android handset development and increase work on > >> Windows Mobile because that's what's selling. > > >> The other products you mention have either little in the way of major > >> value add features (such as TVs and PCs) or are only be produced by one > >> manufacturer (e.g. iPhone, games consoles, video games), so there is > >> little point in, say Sony hiding it's sales figures for 32" LCD TVs > >> because their competitors already have sales stats covering most of the > >> range of sizes Sony offers showing which sizes are selling well, or > >> little point in Apple hiding iPhone sales because no-one else can sell a > >> phone with Mac OS iPhone on it. > > >> The closest thing to it is the video games industry which has ended up > >> with a mass of First person shooters, Racing games, and Sports tie-ins > >> because that's what sells, and original games like WiiFit and Little big > >> planet are few and far between. > > >> Al. > > >> Ed wrote: > > >>> Mark, > > >>> I'm not sure that I understand this question in the context of global > >>> product markets. You can find the sales figures of TVs, computers, > >>> video games, gaming platforms, and nearly every other popular > >>> electronic device you can name (not to mention non-electronic goods > >>> like cars, airplanes, and lots of other stuff). My confusion is why > >>> the cell phone market is blanketed in secrecy when pretty much every > >>> other market has wide disclosure for sales figures as a basis for > >>> stock value. Of course, I notice that Apple is pretty open about > >>> iPhone sales, so maybe that is a clue. > > >>> I'm not interested in arguing, I'm just sincerely baffled by this. > > >>> --Ed > > >>> On Mar 4, 10:46 am, Mark Murphy <[email protected]> wrote: > > >>>> Ed wrote: > > >>>>> I'm baffled that sales figures are so hard to find in general. I would > >>>>> love to see the sales trends of G1 phones overall, in addition to per > >>>>> country breakdowns. > > >>>> Why would HTC want to give out this information? > > >>>> -- > >>>> Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)http://commonsware.com > >>>> _The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development_ Version 2.0 Available! > > >> -- > > >> * Written an Android App? - List it athttp://andappstore.com/* > > >> ====== > >> Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the > >> company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, > >> 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. > > >> The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not > >> necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's > >> subsidiaries. > > -- > > * Written an Android App? - List it athttp://andappstore.com/* > > ====== > Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the > company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, > 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. > > The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not > necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's > subsidiaries. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
