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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Apple fudges iPhone sales figures by bundling iPod touch numbers into the mix

By | May 11, 2010, 3:00pm PDT

Summary: It seems that yesterday’s NPD data which suggested that Android had a 28% market share and the iPhone a 21% touched a nerve at Apple HQ and prompted a response. But Apple’s response interestingly bundles the iPod touch in with iPhone sales, seriously fudging the numbers.

It seems that yesterday’s NPD data which suggested that Android had a 28% market share and the iPhone a 21% touched a nerve at Apple HQ and prompted a response. But Apple’s response interestingly bundles the iPod touch in with iPhone sales, seriously fudging the numbers.

The response was sent by Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison gave a statement to Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski:

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. 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.

OK, first off, it’s highly unusual for Apple to take the time to respond to NPD data. The fact that there was a response suggests that the information touched a nerve.

But what’s also interesting is how Apple is fudging the figures. The 85 million iPhone and iPod touch figure is correct, only 50 to 55 million of those are iPhones.

Way to fudge the figures Apple. Naughty, naughty!

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Topics

Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, Apple Inc., Sales, Apple iPod Touch, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

Talkback Most Recent of 30 Talkback(s)

  • RE: Apple fudges iPhone sales figures by bundling iPod touch numbers into the mix
    Jobs: Activate the RDF!

    Engineer: If we do something may blow!

    Jobs: We're being outflanked. We have to take that chance. Activate the RDF on my mark.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    djchandler
    11th May 2010
  • LOL Apple is loosing it!
    Look at Apple fan boys at work. Wonder what they are going to say by Feb 2011 when there are going to be more android apps, more android phones more selection for Android and the 4GS will look like outdate technology. Like I said once about a month ago, Apple cant counter act millions of brilliant engineers worldwide with a few thousand with one mans vision. Android will be here for years cause its a community based trend. iPhone is Steve Jobs vision and it will die when he cant perform his job anymore
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Uralbas
    12th May 2010
  • Android Was in Development Before Apple Even Had a Phone Concept!
    @Uralbas A whole 22months before Google bought Android in August of 2005, Andy Rubin was working on the underlying concepts of Android OS with "Location Awareness" as it's central theme. That's 4 years before Apple iPhone went on sale!

    Apple's "Sold" numbers is as bogus as Sony's PS3 sales to pump up it's lackluster launch. By reporting units shipped to retailers, demos, pre-sales (pre-sales are a promise to buy with a deposit only), etc as "Units Sold"! .....not that they all don't do this today, because they all do!

    It's just Apple was a little smarter and waited until the end of the fiscal year to put iPad on sale. So now they don't have to actual taxed sales till next March. No doubt they are also blended sales to Pad their numbers as well. They've already been caught blending downloads as for iPad (no matter that the receiving devices were often iPod Touches or iPhones)!

    Apple is becoming a Shyster Outfit quicker than Cal Worthington and his dog Spot! .....you can never trust 'em and be honest.... look at Steve Jobs and tell me you actually trust that guy! xD

    http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2005/tc20050817_0949_tc024.htm
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Monarky
    13th May 2010
  • Re: Follow Up Post for Correction (ZDNet won't allow)!
    @Uralbas ZDNet is so afraid to actually let you edit your post, that they block your posting of corrections. More than one way to skin a cat, though! grin

    Correction for "Android Was in Development Before Apple Even Had a Concept":
    "It's just Apple was a little smarter and waited until the end of the fiscal year to put iPad on sale. So now they don't have to report actual taxed sales until next March.

    @ZDNet webmaster Get your site fixed. Not for me, but for any potential readers in the future. CNet and other sites are already becoming more popular to blog with this asinine site refurb!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Monarky
    13th May 2010
  • no sales numbers here
    @djchandler
    npd is not reporting sales numbers, they made an online poll, a survey. i can pull numbers out of my a** too. they even ignored sales to corporations (still the majority of smartphone sales). so if this isn't totally useless "data", i don't know.

    talk about the quality of "reporting" these days. most of the reprints didn't even mention that it was only a survey, let alone they didn't count corporate customers. i understand that zdnet has an anti-apple agenda and the quality of their blogs is usually very low as well, so i am not expecting a balanced post here, but also more reputable sources like the wsj screwed up.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    banned from zdnet
    12th May 2010
  • So are exit polls useless?
    @banned from zdnet
    Polls which follow strict demographic requirements (like this one) are statistically valid and can have a very low error factor.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    daengbo
    13th May 2010
  • RE: RE: RE: RE: Apple fudges iPhone sales figures by bundling iPod touch numbers into the mix
    The initial study was flawed too: "According to NPD, Android-based devices accounted for 28 percent of the smartphone market while smartphones running Apple's iPhone OS garnered just 21 percent of the market".

    What is an Android-based device ? Does it include devices using Android but are not a smartphone? And the study compared it to iPhone OS, meaning that if Android devices included non smartphone devices, Apple was completely right in including the iPod Touch.

    Apple's answer was consistent. And the study itself was not very clear about what devices it took into account.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    atari_z
    11th May 2010
  • RE: Apple fudges iPhone sales figures by bundling iPod touch numbers into the mix
    @atari_z ... umm, exactly what/how many devices do you know of running Android that are NOT smartphones?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    GoodThings2Life
    11th May 2010
  • Nook runs android
    @GoodThings2Life as do several other eBook readers.

    Not taking sides here. You asked. Draw your own conclusions.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    ericesque
    12th May 2010
  • No need to get confused.
    @atari_z
    NPD survey was restricted only to smartphone purchases in the 1Q from the 4 _US_ telecom carriers. So other devices such as Nook, etc., were not counted. It is apple that is fudging the numbers by providing worldwide statistics and including iPod Touch to counter a survey that restricted itself to US smartphone sales.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    schinnas
    12th May 2010
  • Read
    @atari_z
    Quoting from your quote: "... of the smartphone market." Non-smartphones are not in the smartphone market, by definition.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    daengbo
    13th May 2010
  • RE: NPD survey asserts 5-5.5 million Andorid OS phones were sold in USA in Q1
    28 percent against 21 percent of iPhones equals 5-5.5 million of AndroidOS phones (Apple sold up to 4m iPhones in USA in Q1 2010; ATT activation figures confirm that).
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DeRSSS
    11th May 2010
  • RE: Apple fudges iPhone sales figures by bundling iPod touch numbers into t
    @denisrs Apple only sold 2.7M in US. --Android 3.6M
    Worldwide- Android ~5.2M iPhone 8.8M
    ZDNet Gravatar
    turleymuller
    20th May 2010
  • Who exactly sold ***5-5.5m AndroidOS phones in USA in Q1 2010***???
    Who sold all those phones exactly?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DeRSSS
    11th May 2010
  • Apple sold the iPhones, but phones using the Android OS come from..
    ..many different companies.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    AzuMao
    11th May 2010
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