[acdha]

> iPhones are significantly more expensive than comparable Android phones

This misperception is key to understanding the market, which is really two markets: Android has cheaper phones and dominates there but in the mid to high-end market the situation is reversed because the equivalent Android devices aren’t cheaper and because Qualcomm/Samsung lagged so far behind on CPU performance you’re getting something which performs like 1-2 iPhone generations back in most apps.

Breaking out of that dynamic is hard because the Android manufacturers have to share more of their hardware revenue with less service revenue to compensate, so they don’t really have much room to lower prices since they’re already underperforming at the same price points.

What could change a lot would be regulators forcing App Store competition or limiting revenue sharing across units. Apple and Google both benefit from that at the expense of the pure hardware vendors, but I’m not sure how effective e.g. the EU App Store regulations will prove in practice.

[BenFranklin100]

It sounds to me like you’re saying that Apple management recognized that an integrated ecosystem (phone, tablet, watch, desktop OS etc…) could offer significant value to its costumers (in Apple’s case, the customer is the end user) while providing sufficient margin to serve as a profitable business model. Google, an advertising company, was focused on giving away free stuff (Gmail, Android, etc…) as an means to build profiles of its users that it could sell to its customers (in this case, advertisers).

A bit off topic, but I personally find Google, and by extension, the Android ecosystem, to be an underhanded business model. I don’t feel bad it’s ending poorly for them. It’s especially rich Google ripped off Apple in order to get Android launched [1].

[1] https://www.mactrast.com/2013/12/inside-story-android-ripped...

[talldayo]

I don't know how you can call Android, a Free and Open Source OS, "underhanded" in comparison to it's competition. For Christ's sake; Apple is currently fighting the EU over whether or not they have the right to charge developers for using hyperlinks.

[BenFranklin100]

You claim, without evidence, that open source software determines the ethics of business models built upon it. This is false. Much of the foundational software of the internet is open source, but internet businesses and organizations run the gamut from philanthropies to crime syndicates.

[talldayo]

Conversely, many proprietary business models are carefully hidden from view to prevent people from understanding the extent of the harms. When a software product is made Open Source it fundamentally proves that there is nothing to hide. We can both agree that Google's business model is acerbic, but they aren't putting themselves between the user and the OS like Apple does.

Even if you're the most anti-Google person in the world, you have to admit it's a bit ironic that Android can be built with all Google services disabled whereas iOS, due to it's wonderfully-designed Google Search integration, cannot.

[BenFranklin100]

You are not even wrong.

[tsunamifury]

This is such a ridiculous take and a ridiculous cited source.

Apple makes 25% of its profit from laundered ad money. Like you need to stop trying to understand a sophisticated duopoly ecosystem from a fanboy blog.