Samsung Android Owners Giving Up?
Now this is just weird:
According to new data from cell phone resale company Gazelle.com, Samsung smartphones are being dumped by users following a California jury’s declaration that 21 of Samsung’s Android devices infringe on Apple patents — the company reports a 50% increase in the number of Samsung smartphones sold over the past few days. “Consumers seem to be jumping ship,” Gazelle.com’s chief gadget officer Anthony Scarsella told MarketWatch. “We expect this trend to continue, especially with this latest verdict.” Scarsella also noted that the increase in sales has prompted a 10% average price drop on used Samsung devices, and MarketWatch adds that several experts believe prices will continue to fall.
Samsung owners, presumably happy with their devices, start selling them because of a jury verdict in California? This makes no sense to me. In fact, I would think the story was a hoax if there weren’t real numbers backing it up.
Does anyone have anything like an explanation?
Didn’t the original Galaxy S1 and a whole host of other Samsung phones launch in Summer 2010? Most likely a bunch of people who just got new upgrades after their 2-year contract was up and they’re dumping their old phones. I agree with you, no one is going to sell their phone because of this – that’s just not logical.
I was listing to TWiT on the way into work this morn. I recall hearing Leo say that a bunch of companies, Samsung included, have scheduled new product announcements just ahead of Apple expected 9/12 iPhone 5 announcement. I’m thinking people are locking in a quoted price from Gazelle (great company, used them lots) in case they want to upgrade.
And it would stand to reason that Samsung looks to being dumped since they are the number two smart phone maker by a wide margin. The verdict is just serendipity that doesn’t help.
Why iPhones don’t appear to be being dumped? *shrug* Hand-me-downs, brand loyalty, contract cycles… My theory’s not perfect.
My wife and I didn’t pile on the smartphone bandwagon immediately — heck, we didn’t even get cell phones until 2004. By the time we decided we wanted smartphones we were under contract with crappy feature phones so we had to wait until those contracts were nearly up.
We’re about six months away from our current contract running out but my wife is not eager to pay big money for new iPhones while the ones we have still seem to be in good shape. Maybe once the iPhone 6 comes out we’ll be ready to get a 5…
Of course, you can always buy a generation back when you re-up your contract and save big.
I got an iPhone 4 after the iPhone 4S came out. Works great for about 25% of 4S.
From my own research, iPhones are heavily subsidized. As Neo pointed out, last generation is fine if you aren’t addicted to “latest & greatest.”
I’m an Android-based user and have been generally happy with my Samsung products. I have an old phone now and am looking to upgrade this year. I was going to purchase the Galaxy III, but after the verdict, I’m going to hold and support the increasing monolith that is Apple. I HATE what they are doing with their catty little battle with Google and that was originally what was going to keep me on Android, but not anymore. I’ll download the Google Maps app, etc.
Steve, you must love it, but I think it sucks having a company that is dominating this badly. In the long run, competition makes things better for everyone. Apple’s native apps blow and they’re already giving their users less options. I don’t like it.
But, count me in on iPhone 5.
No, I don’t love it. As I’ve written before, I think US law on IP is a confused and overly-restrictive mess.
As a patent holder, I can tell you that the US now pretty much conforms to most other countries (thanks to the trade treaties), so this isn’t a domestic or regional issue.
If you want to see a real mess, look at copyright law and it’s application.
The book “Trazan” should be public domain by now, but just try to use the book and see the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs come after you with a flock of lawyers. They are even worse than the Scientologists.
I think the above explanations are most likely, that it’s simply a coincidence of timing. But if I wanted to cast it as a reaction to the ruling, then I’d look at is as the consumers reading the tea leaves and deciding that the eco-system supporting their ‘Droids is going to fold. Given that, what use will these phones be in the near future? If Apple is successful with the ban, and it expands to other Android devices, then the app space will most likely shrink considerably as well, if not disappear outright.
I don’t really believe this. At least not yet. But it is something to pay attention to. I start my new job next week, and I’ll be tapped into the general mobile development community pretty tightly. I’ll keep my ears and eyes open to any rumors.
And as much of a fan of Apple as I am, I, too, am not at all happy with the potential direction this is going. I could give a shit about Apple’s native apps. The developer community more than makes up for any lack there. But the competition over the last few years has made the mobile space extraordinarily dynamic and rich. If Apple truly nukes Android, then I think we’re all going to be worse off. Nothing destroys a market like a monopoly.
Assuming it’s not just a coincidence, isn’t it possible that a lot of people don’t understand how the law works and are afraid the decision is going to hurt them in some fashion?
I agree it doesn’t make sense, but if you don’t understand that people who’ve already bought the phones won’t be penalized, even if the phones end up being banned, maybe it makes sense to them.
Saw another article that claimed that sales were taking off. Don’t know that either are really true.