iPhone 4s and iOS sales figures

Market share numbers and shipped vs. sold units can be deceiving and (too) often fail to paint an accurate picture of the mobile space. Heck, statistics can bend the truth and is frequently used to skew the realities and grab headlines. One of the most precise methodologies for measuring the impact of any given mobile platform includes tracking web browser clients in order to determine the number of devices in the wild being actually used. Net Applications, which collects data from the 40,000 sites participating in its network, and StatCounter, another mobile analytics service tracking three million sites, both published the latest figures for October.

The numbers show Apple’s platform increasing its web usage share, in spite of the reports describing the ongoing Android march and its ever-growing market share. According to Net Applications, web usage share for iOS devices has risen by seven percentage points to 61.64 percent share in the month of October. At the same time, Android grabbed just shy of one-fifth (18.9 percent, up from 16.9 percent) of web usage share.

The rise of iOS comes amid the October 14 launch of iPhone 4S, which sold four million units at launch and is in stark contrast with a modest growth in September. Interestingly, October also marks a milestone for Android, which for the first take recorded greater usage share than Java ME devices, which fell 12.84 percent from 18.52 percent.

Another takeaway: iOS’s lead in web page-heavy tablets is bigger than Android’s lead in relatively light usage smartphones. StatCounter uses a different methodology so their overall figures differ significantly to those of rival Net Application. More on that after the break.



StatCounter’s relative data shows iOS and Android tied in a neck-to-neck race with 23.48 percent and 22.11 percent usage share, respectively. Both, however, fell slightly during October as Symbian OS gained 1.79 percentage points. Per StatCounter data for top mobile browsers, Android (20.88 percent) is about to overtake Opera (21.52 percent) as the leading mobile browser. If we combine the iPhone’s and iPod touch’s numbers (18.78 percent and 4.58 percent, respectively), mobile Safari’s resulting 23.36 percent share beats Android or Opera (and it excludes iPad web share date). Another interesting factoid: BlackBerry usage share has dropped notably due to recent outages and subsequent conversions. Net Applications noted that the four day outage coupled with “a large number of Blackberry users switching to the iPhone 4S and Android” resulted in a usage share drop from 3.3 percent to 2.5 percent in October.

Apple Introduces a New iPhone, With a Personal Assistant

CUPERTINO, Calif. — For its next act, Apple is turning the iPhone into a personal assistant.
The company on Tuesday unveiled an eagerly awaited new version of the device, the iPhone 4S, that comes with a “virtual assistant,” Siri, that recognizes voice commands by users to schedule appointments, dictate text messages and conduct Web searches.


Although the new phone is virtually indistinguishable on the outside from its predecessor, the iPhone 4, the company says it is packed with better technical innards, including a more advanced camera. The phone also includes a more powerful chip known as the A5, the same microprocessor that acts as the brains inside the iPad.


The company also said the new phone would run on two kinds of cellphone networks, GSM and CDMA, allowing its operation worldwide.


“When you think about it, only Apple could make such amazing software, hardware and services and bring them together into such a powerful, yet integrated experience,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive officer, who introduced the new phone at an event here at the company’s headquarters.
Despite the new features and the improved technology, Apple fans expressed disappointment on Twitter about the lack of a design change. Investors reacted as well, sending the stock down 5 percent.
Preorders for the iPhone 4S start on Friday; the phone goes on sale on Oct. 14. Prices start at $199 for a model with 16 gigabytes of storage.


Apple will continue to sell its older iPhone 4 through its wireless carrier partners, which will drop the price to $99 from $199 when customers commit to a two-year contract. An even older model of the device, the iPhone 3GS, will be free, instead of $99, with a two-year contract.


The new phone will be available on the AT&T, Verizon and Sprint networks.


Mr. Cook’s appearance was his first at an event introducing a new Apple product since he took over as chief executive from Steven P. Jobs in August. Mr. Jobs was a master pitchman for Apple’s new products, captivating audiences with introductions that seemed off the cuff but were always meticulously rehearsed.


Mr. Jobs, founder of the company, left the top job for health reasons, and became chairman of Apple’s board.


Since the first iPhone was unveiled in 2007, Apple has come out with a new version each year, usually with an eye-catching new design, speedier technical performance and a fresh operating system packed with new features. While Apple generally has released the new versions in June, this one is coming out much closer to the crucial holiday selling season.


With every new iPhone, Apple faces the challenge of how to entice its legions of fans to upgrade to the new device and to convert the much larger pool of people who don’t yet own one. The second task is the more difficult one, as mobile phones running the Android operating system by rival Google have flooded the market, with wider distribution from wireless carriers, more hardware choices and often cheaper price tags.
When the previous iPhone update was released, in June 2010, Apple and Google each accounted for about the same share of new smartphone sales. Since then the market has shifted dramatically in Google’s favor. During the second quarter of this year, Android devices accounted for 43.4 percent of new smartphone sales to Apple’s 18.2 percent, according to the research firm Gartner.


Both companies’ mobile businesses are growing swiftly as they steal share from rivals like the maker of the BlackBerry, Research in Motion, that have fallen behind their technical innovations.


The iPhone is the most critical product in Apple’s line-up and the largest source of its revenue, accounting for more than $13.3 billion — almost half of total company sales — in the most recent quarter.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 4, 2011


Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly said Apple introduced the phone on Wednesday. It was Tuesday.

iPhone 4S Info and Stats

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 4S, the next version of its popular smartphone.

The new iPhone looks much like the iPhone 4, confirming previous reports. It comes with upgraded internals, including the new Apple A5 chip and 1 GB of RAM. Apple VP Phil Schiller revealed that it will be the first iPhone with a dual-core processor and dual-core graphics. It is “up to seven times faster” than the previous iPhone, he announced.

The device also contains a new antenna system that allows it to switch between two antennas for better sound quality and download speeds. The theoretical max of the iPhone 4S is a whopping 14.4 Mbps down, a vast increase from the iPhone 4′s theoretical max of 5.8 up and 7.2 down.

The device also contains a new 8 megapixel camera that can take 3264×2448 images, an increase of 60% from the iPhone 4. It is capable of taking in 73% more light than the iPhone 4 and is 33% faster. It includes a new f2.4 lens for wider shots as well.

iPhone 4S: all new camera system - 8mp sensor, 3264x2448 at 60% more pixels than iPhone 4!  The new 4S camera: "We didn't just want to make this better than other phones, we wanted to make it better than point and shoot cameras." 

Download speeds will be about double what the
iPhone 4 can do.