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Google Responds to Steve Jobs' Activations Gibe

- By - Source : Tom's Guide US

Oh, snap!

Yesterday during Apple's iPod and Apple TV event, Steve Jobs made a sly gibe at Apple's iOS competitors. While speaking about how many activations Apple sees on a daily basis, Jobs said his impressive number of 230,000 new activations doesn't include upgrades.

"We think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers," Jobs said, making sure to point out to the press in attendance that Apple didn't count upgrades in its activations numbers. "These are new activations," he added.

Though Jobs didn't mention any names, it was clear that the friends he was referring to were the folks over at Google. Last month, Eric Schmidt revealed that they were activating 200,000 Android phones per day. Clearly Steve thinks this number has been padded with the inclusion of upgrades. However, Google yesterday responded to Steve's shot at Android and denied that this is the case. The search giant told Fortune:

"The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services."

So there you go. Google doesn't include upgrades in its activations numbers. In fact, they might even be under reporting things. Your turn, Steve.

Source: Fortune

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JOSHSKORN 09/03/2010 12:23 PM
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At least Apple found a way to lure dumb people into technology. I'll give them that much.

silver565 09/03/2010 12:24 PM
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There will always be a market for drop kicks

banthracis 09/03/2010 12:27 PM
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Both those numbers seem off. By Job's numbers, that's 7 millions new iphones/ipads in the last month. I don't think they've sold that many total, nevermind the last month.

Google's numbers would be at 6 millions android phones sold in the last month, which is more believable, but based on sales numbers released by the companies, still a bit high.

Clearly the term activation has to be properly defined.

nightcrawl3r 09/03/2010 12:43 PM
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someguynamedmatt 09/03/2010 12:51 PM
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restatement3dofted 09/03/2010 12:54 PM
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You'd think that after striking out at competitors after the iPhone 4 antenna fiasco and getting his ass handed to him by Nokia and RIM, Steve-O would have learned his lesson, but apparently not. Maybe this will do the trick.

Oh, who am I kidding. No it won't.

ckthecerealkiller 09/03/2010 1:03 AM
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Do these activations include used devices purchased and activating a new contract? Just new devices purchased and starting a new contract? Or how many times an iPhone was turned on per day or what? New activations could mean so many things.... I still give Android the market overall. At the almighty Jobs' behest or not.

borisof007 09/03/2010 1:08 AM
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Abrahm 09/03/2010 1:14 AM
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Steve thinks Android activation numbers were counting upgrades? Upgrades from what? The G1? Android didn't get mass market presence until November of 2009 with the launch of the Droid. How many people have upgraded their device within a year?

Also, 230,000 devices a day for iPhone 4, not including upgrades, doesn't sound right to me. Sounds way too high, not to mention Android has been gaining ground on iPhone in all of the polls.

adikos 09/03/2010 1:32 AM
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230,000 is also the number of blue jeans + long sleeve black shirts inside Job's closet.

dheadley 09/03/2010 1:35 AM
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while the Android phones are selling more per quarter finally as of this last quarter reported, they do not have anywhere near the number of units sold that the iPhone has sold since release, nor do they have the higher marketshare of phones currently in use.

People like to quote part of the retail reports that says they had the highest marketshare of new smartphones sold in the 2nd quarter but like to forget that the same reports placed Android at 13% of overall marketshare and Apple at 28% with BB at 33% still holding on to the top spot.

And to the guy that said he didn't think that Apple had sold 7 million phones total, I am not sure if you are meaning the iPhone 4 hasn't sold 7 million quite yet or you really are talking total but the iPhone was well over 50 million in total sales since release last month when those same reports were released, or about 2.5 times the number of Android phones sold since it's release. Those numbers could have only gone up since then so they are probably closer to 60 million by now.

Plus the whole we aren't counting Android devices that don't have Google services thing is a lame excuse, as Android is a OS and if you count all Google devices sold then you have to count all iOS devices sold and that would be around 100 million and climbing.


oh and before it gets said I am not an iPhone user nor do I own any Apple products. Windows mobile 6.5 phone user and windows 7 computer user. Just tired of people twisting the truth when it comes to Android and then claiming the Apple users are the ones living in fantasy-land.

Camikazi 09/03/2010 2:00 AM
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banthracis :
Both those numbers seem off. By Job's numbers, that's 7 millions new iphones/ipads in the last month. I don't think they've sold that many total, nevermind the last month. Google's numbers would be at 6 millions android phones sold in the last month, which is more believable, but based on sales numbers released by the companies, still a bit high. Clearly the term activation has to be properly defined.


They count iOS devices which include iPads, not just iPhones.

Camikazi 09/03/2010 2:01 AM
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Camikazi :
They count iOS devices which include iPads, not just iPhones.


Ignore my comment completely did not see that you mentioned iPads too :P

hamthony 09/03/2010 2:19 AM
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Trasnlation= (while throughing up double guns) "suck it Jobers"

bsbsbsbs 09/03/2010 2:45 AM
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Steves next turn, "fetal position in the corner"

jaysbob 09/03/2010 2:45 AM
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Google is holding their numbers wrong.

volt-aire 09/03/2010 2:52 AM
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As Mark Twain said, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Activations/day is such a bizarre way of tracking anything that I'm pretty sure the only reason they use it is so shareholders/potential customers see a large number with no real perspective. This is unlike, say, marketshare, where BlackBerry is still ahead of both of these newcomers (as dheadly pointed out).

jaysbob 09/03/2010 2:59 AM
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volt-aire :
As Mark Twain said



actually it was Benjamin Disraeli who said that.

ap3x 09/03/2010 3:17 AM
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dheadley :
while the Android phones are selling more per quarter finally as of this last quarter reported, they do not have anywhere near the number of units sold that the iPhone has sold since release, nor do they have the higher marketshare of phones currently in use. People like to quote part of the retail reports that says they had the highest marketshare of new smartphones sold in the 2nd quarter but like to forget that the same reports placed Android at 13% of overall marketshare and Apple at 28% with BB at 33% still holding on to the top spot. And to the guy that said he didn't think that Apple had sold 7 million phones total, I am not sure if you are meaning the iPhone 4 hasn't sold 7 million quite yet or you really are talking total but the iPhone was well over 50 million in total sales since release last month when those same reports were released, or about 2.5 times the number of Android phones sold since it's release. Those numbers could have only gone up since then so they are probably closer to 60 million by now. Plus the whole we aren't counting Android devices that don't have Google services thing is a lame excuse, as Android is a OS and if you count all Google devices sold then you have to count all iOS devices sold and that would be around 100 million and climbing. oh and before it gets said I am not an iPhone user nor do I own any Apple products. Windows mobile 6.5 phone user and windows 7 computer user. Just tired of people twisting the truth when it comes to Android and then claiming the Apple users are the ones living in fantasy-land.



Agreed

dalethepcman 09/03/2010 3:26 AM
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dheadley :
while the Android phones are selling more per quarter finally as of this last quarter reported, they do not have anywhere near the number of units sold that the iPhone has sold since release, nor do they have the higher marketshare of phones currently in use. People like to quote part of the retail reports that says they had the highest marketshare of new smartphones sold in the 2nd quarter but like to forget that the same reports placed Android at 13% of overall marketshare and Apple at 28% with BB at 33% still holding on to the top spot. And to the guy that said he didn't think that Apple had sold 7 million phones total, I am not sure if you are meaning the iPhone 4 hasn't sold 7 million quite yet or you really are talking total but the iPhone was well over 50 million in total sales since release last month when those same reports were released, or about 2.5 times the number of Android phones sold since it's release. Those numbers could have only gone up since then so they are probably closer to 60 million by now. Plus the whole we aren't counting Android devices that don't have Google services thing is a lame excuse, as Android is a OS and if you count all Google devices sold then you have to count all iOS devices sold and that would be around 100 million and climbing. oh and before it gets said I am not an iPhone user nor do I own any Apple products. Windows mobile 6.5 phone user and windows 7 computer user. Just tired of people twisting the truth when it comes to Android and then claiming the Apple users are the ones living in fantasy-land.



Wow Steve, you don't have to keep creating accounts here to post your religious belief's, we know its you. Seriously though try using real information instead of made up numbers. Android is about to surpass rim in total devices in use globaly, they have had an %800+ gain in sales quarter after quarter. Your numbers aren't even acurate for the US only market, as Apple only has a 21% market share in the US Apple doens't seem to want any friends, and seems to have no problem throwing dirt in the faces of both its enemies and partners. At least google took the high road and didn't acuse Apple of fudging its numbers again like claiming they beat mozila's download day record by forcing all mac users to download safari in a single day then exclaiming "Screw your 8 million, we had 15 million people download safari in one day!" I think Aple was accusing Google of this because they patented that marketing tactic of lying to everyone and were hoping to have another patent lawsuit.

dalethepcman 09/03/2010 3:28 AM
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I'm not sure what happened to the link but here is the link that was supposed to be in that comment.

http://www.asymco.com/2010/08/02/a [...] nes-in-q1/

TheKurrgan 09/03/2010 3:33 AM
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Bottom line: Apple has a huge head start. Google has no where near the number of devices out there as apple at this point. The end. However, moving towards the future, its going to be interesting to see what happens. Android is shaping up nicely, and is available on all US carriers at this point. Apple still has to wait until 2012 to release it to non-AT&T carriers. Simple math says Android has a good chance of catching up with the numbers, but only time will tell. Statistics can be twisted to show anything with enough skill in accounting / excel, but the bottom line at the end of the day tells the truth.. Now its just a question of how to find that bottom line.. My answer: Airports. Observe who is using what. This will tell the truth, and as of 7 months ago when in Las Vegas / LA, I saw a CLEAR picture of the most widely used phones: Blackberry / iPhone. They were about a tie, which would tell me those are the leaders. So, any one going or have been at the airport lately that observes this stuff care to chime in on what it look likes now and where? Screw the statistics fed to us, lets go get the info ourselves.

silversurfernhs 09/03/2010 3:42 AM
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Why is he such a D***? Like all the damn time - he must be a torturous F*** to work with... Makes me wonder if his wife is getting some on the side... to counterbalance his limp d***edness sybdrome.

matchboxmatt 09/03/2010 3:50 AM
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And no one who buys Apple will ever know.

NeeKo 09/03/2010 4:04 AM
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Take that Mr Jobs.

Up your a**!

BPT747 09/03/2010 4:25 AM
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As much as I like my Droid the #1 device in this market is Blackberry iPhone + Android < Blackberry market. This may change but I don't think Apple will end up on top since they cannot compete with all the manufacturers that make the different versions of Blackberry and Android phones.

dalethepcman 09/03/2010 4:29 AM
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@ thekurrgan -

Quote :Bottom line: Apple has a huge head start
the smartphone market of the united states is a small piece of the pie and android has alredy surpassed apple in the big picture

0421981516 09/03/2010 5:17 AM
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230,000 ? emm.... i donated three of those while i have only one iphone4, first one,lose button replacement, second one OS frozen when upgrading, third one, so far so good.

f-14 09/03/2010 5:31 AM
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why not ask the manufacurers how many phones they have shipped, would prove more relevant to the #'s supplied to google or apple?

husker 09/03/2010 5:32 AM
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Quote :
"We think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers," - Steve Jobs


Irrelevant. What you "think" is not relevant. What you "think" is not a statement of fact but pure propaganda. If I were trying to mislead people and not say anything that could be proven wrong, I would simply say "I think the world is flat". What I "think" can not be disputed, even if I am wrong, my statement is true in so far as that that is what I thought.

jerreece 09/03/2010 5:58 AM
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f-14 :
why not ask the manufacurers how many phones they have shipped, would prove more relevant to the #'s supplied to google or apple?



Or get Jobs to admit how many iPhones the Apple store & AT&T have actually SOLD. Seriously, 230,000 activations per day? That means realistically, they'd have to sell (let alone manufacture) at least that many per day to keep up with demand.

I could see 230,000 activations on release day (or shortly there after), but not on a continuous basis.