iPhone Hill

According to NPD, more smartphones were sold in the US that run Android than smartphones than run iPhone OS in Q1 2010. BlackBerry remains in the number one spot. According to NPD. Apple isn’t a fan of the metrics being used:

“This is a very limited report on 150,000 US consumers responding to an online survey and does not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide,” Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison, told The Loop. “IDC figures show that iPhone has 16.1 percent of the smartphone market and growing, far outselling Android on a worldwide basis. We had a record quarter with iPhone sales growing by 131 percent and with our new iPhone OS 4.0 software coming this summer, we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

Since Android can be found in a variety of form factors on all four US carriers, and since Verizon offers it as part of their BOGO (buy one, get one free) promotions, just like the BlackBerry, even if the NPD numbers hold up they’re not surprising.

That the iPhone’s market share is so high in the US, given they’re on one carrier with one form factor, is actually more surprising — only that it happens so often now we’ve stopped being surprised, especially after Apple’s last financial results statement.

And yes, we’re tired of beating that old horse as much as you’re tired of watching it get beaten, but Apple cares only about market share as much as it amplifies profit share. Google isn’t making direct money off of Android (though they do off monetizing services like search, which they also monetize on the iPhone) and on the low-margin, BOGO devices that give BlackBerry its lead, they’re not making Apple-sized margins either (they likely do better on Bold-class devices).

Needless to say, Apple’s not letting AT&T do BOGO for iPhone. For Apple, the iPhone is a premium product and they’d much rather maintain their huge lead in profit share than line discount bins for the sake of per-unit OS market share.

[Android Central, the Loop]

Regarding Android vs. iPhone market share is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Yes, the iPad won’t even ship until exactly a week from today but that doesn’t mean there aren’t folks out there already busy starting “iPad family” rumors replete with iPad nano and iPad HD no less. No surprise, right? “iPhone family” rumors have been dredged up almost yearly by all manner of Apple analysts. Yet there’s still no “iPhone nano” (or iPhone HD for that matter). So, forgive us if no breath is being held…

For future link-back’s sake, however, here’s what Dan “Fake Steve” Lyons quoted in Newsweek (via 9to5Mac):

Paul Saffo, a tech forecaster and professor at Stanford University, expects Apple to roll out a family of other iPad models—a small one the size of a paperback, a big one the size of two magazine pages—perhaps as soon as this fall. (Apple won’t confirm, natch.)

And this before we even start 4th generation iPhone silly season. Rumor fatigue much?

(Lyons’ summation of the existing iPad, however, is interesting and worth a read).

Let the “iPad Family” (iPad nano, iPad HD) Rumors Commence! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

UPDATE 2: Apple confirms the late March ship-stimate to Wired [via @arsinfiniteloop].

UPDATE 1: Seth Weintraub at 9to5Mac puts up a thoughtful reminder about the nature of analyst notes:

If [analysts] do produce something publicly, that means one of two things: (1) Their clients have had the information for weeks and have had time to invest accordingly. (2)They are trying to artificially change the price of Apple’s stock because they have previously told their clients to invest based on the good/bad news that they are about to relay.

ORIGINAL: Digital Daily is reporting that, according to Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, Apple might be facing manufacturing problems that will lead to constrained supplies of the iPad, or even a delay in its launch:

“We have … heard that the upcoming iPad launch may be somewhat limited as a manufacturing bottleneck has impacted production of Apple’s newest device. An unspecified production problem at the iPad’s manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision, will likely limit the launch region to the US and the number of units available to roughly 300K in the month of March, far lower than the company’s initial estimate of 1,000K units. The delay in production ramp will likely impact Apple’s April unit estimate of 800K as well. It is also possible that, given the limited number of units available in March, the launch will be delayed for a month.”

Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook runs Apple’s supply chain with more precision than an aluminum unibody chassis, however, so would a problem this large really be allowed to happen? DIgital Daily claims it’s a “big if” as to whether or not Misek is correct. Best case he isn’t. Worst case, despite Apple’s still current claim of the iPad shipping in late March, we may only see it in April.

Does this affect your odds of buying one either way?

UPDATED: Manufacturing Problems to Lead to Constrained iPad Supplies, Launch Delay? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog