iPhone/iTouch sells 30 million in 19 months

[averyblund]

Jo21 said:

u can program in open c, java, python for symbian they are not AJAX app like the iphone also they support ajax apps and flash in their browser.

which is based on the same webkit safari .

also symbian it's very complete basic functions wise, nokia make great job that you don't require many apps.

i use windows live messenger , emtube and google maps the rest its basic for symbian.

things like stereo bluetooth, copy paste, flash video, video recording, that the iphone lacks.

 

At first I thought you were just a little mistaken now I know you are just uninformed on the iPhone (no offense). 

 

-First off NO apps in the AppStore are ajax- where did you get that idea? They are objective-c which IMHO is one of the best languages out there.

-Secondly the iPhone has Google Maps (better implementation w/ streetview), not sure what "emtube" is but if that is Youtube, ditto. As for Live Messenger never met a person who used it who didn't have AIM, Y!, or ICQ- either way the iPhone has dozens of messengers that work with Live.

-Thirdly Stereo BT is coming this summer, with cut and paste, video is an omission but there are 3 solid apps which allow it (jailbroken) and one allows Youtube upload. As for Flash- sorry Flash Mobile doesn't count, anybody who has ever used it knows that. That is like saying that Java ME is the same as desktop Java- not a chance. And anybody who has ever worked on Symbian knows what a nightmare the compiler is and how slow the resulting code is. Check the N95 version of Monkey Ball vs. the iPhone. On similar HW the iPhone almost matches the PSP, while the N95 version is 2D and looks SNES quality. Let me share the quote I forgot in my last post:

 "Games sold via the App Store are the most profitable in terms of any of the formats we work on," said Simon Jeffery, the US president of Sega. As you may have heard, one of Sega's games, Super Monkey Ball, has sold more than 500,000 copies.

-Fourthly my point about penetration that you ignored- is frankly one of the main points of my argument. Nokia doesn't exist in Japan, admittedly a difficult market for western companies (though Apple has done well enough), but the big issue is the US. In the late 90/2000's nokia had a massive presence in America. Now they offer less than 3 new models none of which are high-end. Nokia hasn't even bothered to release most of their smartphones in the US at all. Quick question- where does most SW development occur (especially games)? The US and Japan. See what I'm getting at?

Lastly, while we only have limited information you can try and argue that Symbian users are just as likely to use apps/web as others but what we have simply disproves it. Those (web) marketshare numbers are drawn from more than ten thousand sites across the world. The survey is done by a reputable company, and yet Symbian is in a dead heat with Android! The Android that is only availible on one phone (G1) launched only months ago. If that doesn't show you that Symbian users not browsing I don't know how I could convince you.

 

Listen Nokia makes some good HW, more (physically) solid than anything I have seen out of Japan or the US. But they are leagues behind in SW, with no signs of catching up. They are a company with almost zero knowledge of SW up against comppanies who have done that for years. Looking at their bloated slow SDK or their OS GUI it is pretty hard to think they will compete in SW department against Apple, Google, or Palm all of who seem to get it. Funny that none of them were even in the biz 3 years ago.

 

If 47% is accurate, there seems to be mixes number out there- that is still a massive fall from Q4-07 where Symbian was at 62.3%. 15% share loss in a year in any market is a sign that something is very wrong with the platform. Even WinMo didn't see that and I think anybody who works in the industry would agree that is the dog of the bunch.

 

Edit: Plaupius beat me to some of this.