Smart-phones' business mushrooms, Android lures customers for reasonable price, service
KUWAIT: Business of mobile telecom sets is booming worldwide and statistics show that there are five billion smart-phone sets used by peoples of the world, thus 80 percent of the earth population possess these sets.
Android operating systems of Google Co. control up 47 percent of the smart-phones' market, followed by iPhone of Apple, which operates on the iOS system, at a rate of 29 percent.
First iPhone saw the light in 2007, while Android was fabricated in 2008. Statistics show that iPhone sales reached 218 million sets last March. The number of Android sets had amounted to 300 million till last February, according the specialized magazine, Bloomberg.
In Kuwait, the smart-phones' business is substantially mushrooming, with the market flooded with the various sets and soft-wares, provided mainly by Apple, Google and Blackberry, followed in line by Nokia and Microsoft.
Most managers of telecommunication companies and citizens, interviewed by KUNA, say that sets operated by Android has the lion's share in the domestic market, in 2012, on the basis of two criteria; hike of daily sales and possession of these gadgets by large segments of the Kuwaiti society.
Some dealers say that each day, four Android-operated sets are sold, compared to a single iPhone. They attribute the much higher sales of the Androids to the larger number of companies that make this software service, thus resulting in greater and diverse specifications and lucrative prices, starting from only KD 40. They also refer to the competitor's monopolization of its iOS system, along with fixed prices and scheduled production of the sets per year.
Christian Axpedito, an employee at a major telecom company, said he sells up to 40 Android sets per day - compared to only 10 iPhone-operated ones.
Lucas Mirto, a dealer, said Android has proven largely lucrative on the local market due to the customers' desire for the best service at the lowest possible prices.
Android-operated sets' prices range between KD 37 and KD 190 compared to the prices of the iPhone, least of which is KD 190 per set for 16-G power).
Khaled Al-Ali, who uses the iPhone, says that he no longer uses his personal computer, having experienced easy use of the software, which also provides online diverse readings, including books.
Another citizen, Yousef Al-Mutairi, says 60 percent of Android applications can be done free of charge, compared to only 25 percent of those of Apple.
Dalal Al-Gattan says Google has succeeded through its program, Android, in providing the customers with additional memory, a high-capacity camera and a long-life battery.
Mohammad Al-Kanderi, who serves at a financial brokerage company, says possession of the smart-phone has become a necessity considering rapid technological development and modern-day needs for high speed to accomplish tasks easily and stay abreast of local and external developments and issues.
Source: KUNA
