brian s hall asks (again) “what are Android users doing with their Android phones?”

Despite the massive market share numbers, there is more (total) browsing on iPhones. More app usage on iPhones. More Google searches! iPhone users are consuming more WiFi, playing more games, uploading more photos, etc.

In other words, iPhone users are getting *value* for their device whereas Android users, in total, seem to be, well, throwing their money away.

Maybe, if all of the Android users purchased a data plan to go along with a phone which still required an out-of-pocket expense. What I think may be happening is many of the Android phones being sold are either bundled for free with contract, or are entry-level (subpar) phones coupled with pay-as-you-go plans.

I am open to the idea that a large portion of Android phones sold are underutilized because the user has no intentions of using them as smartphones. For these users, all they really needed was a cheap phone to make calls and maybe text, and an Android phone was offered to them for free.

While some people online stop at overall market share when comparing products, I am more concerned with their usage in the real world. I decided to look at sales numbers for Android and iOS devices in correlation with both their online market share and Black Friday sales numbers to see how they stacked up. What I found was rather interesting.

In my post Another Angle to Google’s Motorola Acquisition last year, I detailed why I believed Google was acquiring Motorola Mobility; patents:

With Motorola Mobility’s existing patent portfolio, it only seems logical that Google’s reason for the acquisition was to help protect Android licensees from further patent lawsuits.

While Google has helped out HTC in its legal battles with Apple—even if via proxy—they are being more direct in helping Samsung . From The Korean Times:

A U.S. court recently ruled to block the sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphones, which were designed in collaboration with Google. Since the decision, the two firms have been working closely to create a united front against Apple’s legal offensive, said Samsung.

I don’t believe this “united front” is solely because of the Galaxy Nexus ban. One thing both Google and Samsung are being investigated for are abusing FRAND patents, with Apple labeled a victim:

Samsung is demanding Apple to pay 2.4 percent of the retail price of iPhones and iPads, while Apple claims the rate is excessive considering the companies’ commitment to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing (FRAND).

The European Union is investigating whether Samsung abused FRAND-related patents, while Google is being investigated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as to whether it is illegally using FRAND patents acquired in a takeover of Motorola Mobility to block smartphone rivals.

My thanks to AppleInsider for The Korean Times link.

Seen on Engadget:

[…] functionality for [Google] Play that lets users update and uninstall apps by way of the My Android Apps tab in the browser-based version of the store.

I wish Apple had an option to install iOS apps remotely via the web or desktop versions of iTunes. As for uninstalling remotely, I don’t see how beneficial that would be, although I could see companies using this feature for their corporate users.

From Gizmodo:

[…] Google’s going to announce a 7-inch, Nexus-branded tablet called the Nexus 7. According to the leak, it’s built by Asus, with a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, GeForce 12-core GPU and 1GB of RAM with two different storage variants: 8GB and 16GB.

[…] The screen is an IPS display with a 178-degree viewing angle, running a resolution of 1280 by 800. The device will also sport a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera. The battery will also give you 9 hours worth of operation.

[…] this could all prove to be an elaborate fake. We’ve seen them before and we’ll see them as long as there’s a rabid tech-loving public that will queue up around the block for value this good.

If true, this appears to be Google’s answer to Amazon’s Kindle Fire. If not, congrats to the those who caused tech reporters/bloggers to react excitedly.