Apple versus Google – a modern battle between two giants of the digital economy which is being played out in a number of interesting ways.
Apple fans talk about innovation, quality, the revenues for developers from the AppStore and user experience.
Advocates of the Google-run Android ystem, however, talk about activations and market share. But while more Android phones are purchased (I’ll include “free phones” with activation), Apple’s iOS seems to have the lead in usage as measured by mobile web browsing statistics.
Well that lead for Apple is no longer just a terrestrial advantage.
In a recent post, Gogo Inflight published stats of device usage on planes. But while the split between laptops, smartphones and tablets is roughly equal, iOS has a 3:1 advantage over Android in share of operating systems.
I wonder if venture capital guru Fred Wilson still says to develop Android first?
Enjoy the infographic below…
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If we used similar rear view looking data 5 or 6 years ago, would that mean it made sense to develop for blackberry/RIM?
Very interesting read. I believe this has a little to do with social economics. The larger percent of affordable phones on the market which support the Android platform vs Apples iOS (associated more with premium providers/ plans), which comes with a high barrier of entry for the user. Recognizing air travel isn’t for every budget and Apple remains the top choice for higher income users (cite: Spectrem Group), you could argue this has a direct correlation with higher iOS usage in flight.
Pity they couldn’t break down the data a bit more. For example browser by device-OS, browser by regional of origin or destination of flight, etc. It’s not as if people with iPhones or iPads will use anything but Safari, or that people with Android phones or tablets will use anything but Chrome, so the breakdown is really only important for Windows and MacOS. I have no idea offhand what the reality of Gogo’s distribution is, but assuming Gogo is mostly in the US, if similar data was available for flights in Asia, the stats might be rather different.
Also, stop me before I complain about the terrible design and wasteful and distracting presentation style of this so-called infographic. The underlying pivot tables would be vastly more informative. Oh, sorry: too late to stop me