Today, Apple announced their financial results for the last quarter, and despite strong overall results (not that this was helped by less than ideal performance of the Apple Watch), fell short of expectations which was punished by its investors. However, in Tim Cook‘s financial call, it wasn’t the iPhones performance, or even the Apple Watch, that was the underlying message – it was Apple’s tendency to make Android users jump the fence onto iOS platforms that Cook was sure to highlight, so much so that it was mentioned multiple times:
“The strong iPhone results were broad-based in both developed and emerging markets, and we experienced the highest switcher rate from Android that we’ve ever measured…
“We also are incredibly happy to see the highest Android switcher rate that we’ve observed. And so, from our point of view, the iPhone is doing outstanding…
“But as I back up from it and look at it from more of a macro point of view, the thing that makes me very bullish is the 27 percent number I just quoted; the fact that we are seeing the highest Android switcher rate; the customer satisfaction that we have on the iPhone versus the competition—it’s a huge margin; the loyalty rate that we have versus competition, an enormous gap there…
“In certain geographies, the way that we win is to get [Android] switchers. In other geographies, the way that we win is to get people to buy their first smartphone. In other geographies, the way that we win is to get people to upgrade from their current iPhone…”
Yes, four separate times. Now, we’d love to call bull on Cook’s statements, but it’s a pretty tough feat without his data, and the simple fact that we can kind of see how that might be true – in a market that is increasingly ruled by flagship devices, it’s arguable that the iPhones have the greatest brand pull with the general public of any flagship device. Throw in the fact that most of Android’s ecosystem includes low and mid-range devices that some people might get disillusioned with and jump the fence, and that there are now more Android devices than ever before, it seems inevitable that this statistic would be true now, if not year after year.
What we would be interested in seeing is any counter-data that shows us how many iPhone users are now switching over to Android – then we might have a fair comparison.
What do you think about Android users switching over to iPhones more than before? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: iMore via Phone Arena
