Apple (AAPL) Exec Blasts Google, Samsung Into Galaxy S IV Launch
That's exactly what Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) marketing chief Phil Schiller thinks about smartphone rival Samsung and Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system. Speaking with Reuters on Wednesday.
Schiller's comments come as Samsung is expected to launch its latest-and-greatest device, the Galaxy S IV smartphone (S4), Thursday night. Schiller also commented that the S4 would use an operating system that is nearly a year old. He noted that about 50 percent of Android users are on an operating system that is over two years old, while 16 percent are on an OS that is one year old. That leads to a lot of fragmentation in the Android marketplace, he noted. By contrast, about half of iOS users are on the latest version of the platform.
On the 1.5 million Android devices that are said to be activated each day, Schiller noted that the out-of-the-box experience is "inferior" to Apple with customers having to log onto nine different systems to begin using Android fully. Schiller commented, "At Apple we know that it's not just enough to have products pumped out in large numbers...You have to love and use them. There is a lot of data showing a big disparity there."
Despite the comments, the proof is in the pudding. Samsung took control of 30.3 percent of the global smartphone market in 2012, from 19 percent the prior year. Apple rose just 0.3 points to 19.1 percent last year, accelerating in the latter part of the year on the launch of the iPhone 5 handset.
Apple is indicated for a higher open Thursday.