This article is from the archive of our partner .
Looking at the future of the iPhone, two articles, one from the Wall Street Journal's Anton Troianovski the other from The New York Times' Kevin J. O'Brien, out of the Barcelona's Mobile World Congress reach some differing conclusions. Each with access to the exact same statistics and history, one sees failure the other doesn't. Who will get it right? Someone!
Profits and Sales
Booming: "Apple, the global market leader in smartphones, is enjoying record profits and sales that have transformed it into the world’s most valuable company on any stock market," writes The Times. "Apple had captured 52 percent of all profits in the smartphone industry in 2011, a share he predicted would increase to 60 percent this year."
Not-so-booming: "Last year, despite Apple Inc.'s high-profile launch of the new iPhone 4S, only 5% of the smartphones sold in Greece and 9% of those sold in Portugal were iPhones, according to research firm IDC. Most of the rest were phones running Google's Android operating system, which the company is promoting heavily as it seeks a firmer foothold in the wireless industry," from The Journal.
A Subsidy Problem?
Subsidies are hurting mobile carriers: "We can't keep subsidies at these levels," José Miguel Gilpérez, CEO of Telefónica Spain, recently told Spanish newspaper El País, notes The Journal. "When you buy a TV or any other consumer good, you pay for it. It is healthier that users pay for their devices and operators invest in networks and services."