Yesterday night, we had many people at my house for Easter. One of the invitee came in with its new Android phone. I asked him to have a look at it. Then, I asked him if he could get to his voice messages because we tried to reach him all day long without any success. It happens that this new Android user (he used to have a flip phone before) just didn't know how to get to his voice mail. Nor did he know how to configure his new phone for anything. But he was a proud owner of a smartphone, just as good as the iPhone (in his own words).

Today, I went to a local mobile shop in order to get my iPad on a new data plan. While I was waiting in line, a couple in front of me was looking to get an iPhone. The girl asked what would be the cost of the phone. The salesman replied, 80$ for the 16 gigs iPhone 5c. She replied that she expected the phone to be free on contract. So the salesman replied, no problem, here are a bunch of “other smartphones” that will cost 0$ but will be as good as the iPhones or even better (aka bigger screens). He was, after all, a well informed person as he was a proud owner of a Nexus 5. The girl asked her boyfriend if this was ok with him. He said, yeah, why not. They settled for an HTC I think (I could see the device he chose). So the salesman filled in all the papers and near the end of the process he stared to do some upsale. He suggested the couple to get ear buds as the phone didn't come with it. Then, he suggested to get a charger for the car. He couldn’t sell a case as the phone was “so new”, he didn't have them yet. The couple ended up buying.. 80$ of accessories, for an Android smartphone. Obviously, they didn't care what the smartphone really was in itself and they weren't very good at maths obviously.

What can be concluded from all this? First, I cannot generalize but I have a feeling that sellers of smartphones are really pushing Android phones just because they can, whatever the customer really needs. I also understand that these two new Android users are just worthless to the ecosystem. They will probable end up making phone calls, Facebook and that’s about it. These two Android users are prime examples of why Android has become what it is. And this is a place where there is no sustainability for Apple in the long term.