Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Internet, Apple, iPhone, iPod touch
"Apple has a two or three-year lead" in mobile internet domination
Philip Elmer-DeWitt has an excellent article over at Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog on Morgan Stanley's The Mobile Internet seminar. The article is full of juicy tidbits, but here is the main course:
Another interesting tidbit that DeWitt spotlights is a diagram that compares Facebook's 350,000 apps and 137% year-over-year growth with the iPhone's 100,000 apps and 163% growth. As DeWitt points out, "The place where Mark Zuckerberg's 430 million users overlap with Steve Jobs' 57 million is the sweet spot of the mobile Internet. It's here, according to Morgan Stanley, where we find the future of computing."Based on past performance, according to Morgan Stanley, Apple is in the "pole position" in the race to dominate mobile Internet computing, which is supposed to be for the 2000s what desktop Internet computing was for the 1990s, personal computing for the 1980s, mini computing for the 1970s, and mainframe computing for the 1960s.
"Apple has a two or three-year lead" according to Katy Huberty, thanks to an installed base of 57 million handsets, 100,000 apps and 200 million iTunes subscribers with credit card numbers on file.
Be sure to check out DeWitt's article, as it's a great read, but if you want to delve deeper, you can check out the 92 slides of the Morgan Stanley presentation, the 659-slide "key themes" presentation, and the massive 424-page Mobile Internet Report, all in PDF format.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
L3 said 9:57AM on 12-16-2009
I have a two or three-year lead in mobile gadgetry early adoption domination.
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mikeyrogers said 10:04AM on 12-16-2009
I'm sorry but anyone who refers to the iPod touch as the iTouch loses any and all credibility in my book.
Learn the product names if you want to be taken seriously, please.
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Jonathan said 10:19AM on 12-16-2009
Easy there mikey. TUAW didn't make the chart, Morgan Stanley did.
mikeyrogers said 11:17AM on 12-16-2009
Never blamed it on TUAW.
Brian said 1:40PM on 12-16-2009
And anyone who goes by the nickname Mikey instead of Mike or Michael instantly loses any & all credibility in my book...
mikeyrogers said 3:30PM on 12-16-2009
Haha. Instantly?! Shit, I don't even stand a chance with you, Brian!
Also, how do you know Mikey isn't my name?
Also, I want to nickname you Bri-y Wi-y.
Steve said 4:25PM on 12-16-2009
I knew some bozo would make that comment. Anyone who gets worked up about someone calling the iPod Touch the iTouch loses all credibility in my books. Product names get shortened all the time. Think Coca Cola - Coke and Chevrolet - Chevy, and while your at it, get a life
mikeyrogers said 4:37PM on 12-16-2009
If I'm the bozo getting worked up about it what does that make the person who is getting worked up over something I say? Get a life.
And your argument holds no water, BTW, as the companies you referred to go by those names, themselves. Do me a favor. Go to chevy.com. Redirected somewhere? Try Coke.com. Same thing? Give iTouch.com a whirl. Hmm, nothing. How about apple.com/itouch? Still nothing. Seems like Apple has nothing to do with that name. Iiiiiiinteresting. :P
steve said 5:00PM on 12-16-2009
Yeah, I saw that coming. You get upset about something, I point out your stupidity for caring and I end up looking like I care too much. That argument could go on ad infinitum but your point is moot because you were the one who needed correcting. It doesn't matter that Apple doesn't call it the iTouch because they don't get to decide what their product will be referred to in the common vernacular. Language evolves; you should try it sometime.
puhsitch said 6:04PM on 12-16-2009
I don't like it either, mikey, but I guess it's kind of like "Beemer" for BMW.
Although I don't think you'd find any market analysts referring to the brand in that way. A name is a name, and no one has the choice to change it in formal literature. Like, I'd be pretty pissed someone wrote a newspaper article about me and insisted on referring to me by my high school nickname.
mentalsticks said 10:16AM on 12-16-2009
What? Two comments already and no gripes about the iPod Touch being called iTouch?
oh wait, never mind.
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Jordan said 10:22AM on 12-16-2009
"200 million iTunes subscribers with credit card numbers on file."
Only because Apple forces anyone with an account to have a number on file. It's stupid practice.
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mentalsticks said 1:36PM on 12-16-2009
nope. apple doesn't have my creditcard number on file. i rely on gift cards.
Dave Barnes said 10:34AM on 12-16-2009
I read all 104 pages of the report.
Wow! A boatload of data.
It is amazing that this amount of information is available for free.
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Fred said 11:13AM on 12-16-2009
The word "iTouch" makes me want to punch people in their naughty bits.
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Ryan said 11:33AM on 12-16-2009
Interesting information but it is irrelevant if iTunes has 200 million credit cards on file. It costs nothing to use wifi on the iPod Touch (got it right).
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Tony said 12:21PM on 12-16-2009
How old is this? I saw that same graph on 9to5mac about 6 months ago..
Slow news day/week I guess.
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DarkFoxDK said 12:29PM on 12-16-2009
That graph is totally useless..
They're comparing users of a device that launched in 2007, to users of ISPs that launched in the 90'ies...
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Erika said 3:33PM on 12-16-2009
i-mode wins, since all the subscribers of it are only in Japan.
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Jimmy said 5:50PM on 12-16-2009
So Apple will dominate mobile internet computing, doing for the 2000s what desktop internet did in the 90s, yadda yadda yadda.
Too bad the 2000s will be over in about 2 weeks... great forecasting as always from Morgan Stanley.
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