Greg's Bite: Android Blues coming from Motorola
TweetFollow Us on Twitter

Greg's Bite: Android Blues coming from Motorola

By Greg Mills

All is not rosy with a gentile fragrance of spring in the air at the Android handset camp. Various problems come up, with all sorts of consumer products, creating what is called a "product return factor."

Each of the cell phone networks have some sort of handset return policy so customers who have a problem with a certain phone from a defect issue to just not liking a handset, allowing free returns or exchanges for some period of time.

Those returned phones are packed up and returned to the manufacturer in exchange for factory fresh units. A typical return factor of 2 to 3% is considered acceptable as a cost of doing business. Hey, some people return solid gold bars. High return rates cost the manufactures a bundle.

Smartphones have certain eccentricities that can turn consumers off or please them.  The return rate on Apple products is normally low across the board due to the inherent quality of their products. I have returned an iPhone in the past to AT&T (you know the catchy sales sloan, "no bars in more places." That particular iPhone 3GS had a hardware problem, and AT&T cheerfully swapped it out for another one in just a few minutes at my local AT&T store.

That defective iPhone cost Apple some money to handle and fix before returning it to the market as a refurbished iPhone. Apple gives warranty protection on refurbished product that matches the warranty on new products. Refurbished products are always discounted, price-wise.

While raw numbers on the return rate of products is normally a closely held company secret, the analysis of why specific products are returned is critical information that allows product refinement. Motorola recently disclosed that up to 70% of the returned Android smartphones they took back were returned not for hardware issues that were Motorola's fault, but for Android software issues, Ouch!  This certainly is an issue for all the Android handset makers.

It turns out the loose quality control on Android apps under the Android OS 2.2 is killing Motorola's profit margin. The apps suck up so much energy the battery goes flat so fast the consumer blames the handset and returns it for another one, which also disappoints them. So they return the second phone and get something else. It is hard to convince a disappointed consumer the problem with a crappy smartphone is sloppily software. Which platform you buy is your problem at the end of the day. If you want an iPhone experience, buy and iPhone.

All of this serves to exonerate Apple for being so anal about such issues with its heavy handed control of what goes into the App Store. Many an app has been rejected by Apple for using too much power. Apple iOS app developers are sent back to the drawing board to reconfigure their app to be more battery friendly.  

The Android 2.2 OS is also prone to slow down across the board when trying to process a poorly designed app and naturally, one tends to blame the darn phone, not the poorly written app or sloppy Android OS. That ticks Motorola off, but they have no alternative software platform to go to other than Windows Mobile, which historically is much worse.  

Motorola has taken steps to protect themselves from the deficiencies of the Android OS and poorly written apps by adding an "interface layer" to its smartphones they call "Blur and Motoblur." This software (likely held in ROM form on the circuit board) may soon warn users when an app is sucking too much energy, so Motorola can deflect the blame on poor battery life to the crappy software.  

This is an attempt by Motorola to reduce the return rate on perfectly good smartphones that are commonly returned for mis-diagnosed issues. Cell phone salespeople are not generally so educated about the issues involved to properly diagnose the problem and have no incentive to do anything but exchange a "bad phone".

All the problems in the Android camp have recently lead to a leveling off of Android's market share in Nielsen ratings. RIM and Nokia continue to decline as Apple prepares to launch the iOS 5 on Monday. This sort of behind the scenes issue is why with only about 25% of the smartphone market, Apple collect over half the profits of the entire industry. Throwing crappy products through the door at low margins is not the Apple market approach.  

Similar marketing issues have come up with the various tablets that were breathlessly touted as "iPad killers" a year ago. Now, the news is that the failed tablets are being sold off so cheaply the market for non-Apple tablets is becoming flooded. No one wants them at any price.  

This flood of unwanted cheap tablet computers will tend to discount both the mediocre and the better ones, as well. ASUS fears Acer will write off its failed slate computers and sell them at prices so low, it will be considered "dumping."  All this tends to re-enforce the gold standard of Apple iPad, around the world.

"Do a few products really well" has been Steve Jobs golden rule at Apple. Look for a flood of Apple tech news beginning Monday as our favorite tech magician pulls the next rabbit out of the hat.  

That is Greg's Bite for today. 

 

Community Search:
MacTech Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

Latest Forum Discussions

See All


Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Early Black Friday Deal: Apple’s newly upgrad...
Amazon has Apple 13″ MacBook Airs with M2 CPUs and 16GB of RAM on early Black Friday sale for $200 off MSRP, only $799. Their prices are the lowest currently available for these newly upgraded 13″ M2... Read more
13-inch 8GB M2 MacBook Airs for $749, $250 of...
Best Buy has Apple 13″ MacBook Airs with M2 CPUs and 8GB of RAM in stock and on sale on their online store for $250 off MSRP. Prices start at $749. Their prices are the lowest currently available for... Read more
Amazon is offering an early Black Friday $100...
Amazon is offering early Black Friday discounts on Apple’s new 2024 WiFi iPad minis ranging up to $100 off MSRP, each with free shipping. These are the lowest prices available for new minis anywhere... Read more
Price Drop! Clearance 14-inch M3 MacBook Pros...
Best Buy is offering a $500 discount on clearance 14″ M3 MacBook Pros on their online store this week with prices available starting at only $1099. Prices valid for online orders only, in-store... Read more
Apple AirPods Pro with USB-C on early Black F...
A couple of Apple retailers are offering $70 (28%) discounts on Apple’s AirPods Pro with USB-C (and hearing aid capabilities) this weekend. These are early AirPods Black Friday discounts if you’re... Read more
Price drop! 13-inch M3 MacBook Airs now avail...
With yesterday’s across-the-board MacBook Air upgrade to 16GB of RAM standard, Apple has dropped prices on clearance 13″ 8GB M3 MacBook Airs, Certified Refurbished, to a new low starting at only $829... Read more
Price drop! Apple 15-inch M3 MacBook Airs now...
With yesterday’s release of 15-inch M3 MacBook Airs with 16GB of RAM standard, Apple has dropped prices on clearance Certified Refurbished 15″ 8GB M3 MacBook Airs to a new low starting at only $999.... Read more
Apple has clearance 15-inch M2 MacBook Airs a...
Apple has clearance, Certified Refurbished, 15″ M2 MacBook Airs now available starting at $929 and ranging up to $410 off original MSRP. These are the cheapest 15″ MacBook Airs for sale today at... Read more
Apple drops prices on 13-inch M2 MacBook Airs...
Apple has dropped prices on 13″ M2 MacBook Airs to a new low of only $749 in their Certified Refurbished store. These are the cheapest M2-powered MacBooks for sale at Apple. Apple’s one-year warranty... Read more
Clearance 13-inch M1 MacBook Airs available a...
Apple has clearance 13″ M1 MacBook Airs, Certified Refurbished, now available for $679 for 8-Core CPU/7-Core GPU/256GB models. Apple’s one-year warranty is included, shipping is free, and each... Read more

Jobs Board

Seasonal Cashier - *Apple* Blossom Mall - J...
Seasonal Cashier - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Read more
Seasonal Fine Jewelry Commission Associate -...
…Fine Jewelry Commission Associate - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) Read more
Seasonal Operations Associate - *Apple* Blo...
Seasonal Operations Associate - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Read more
Hair Stylist - *Apple* Blossom Mall - JCPen...
Hair Stylist - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Blossom Read more
Cashier - *Apple* Blossom Mall - JCPenney (...
Cashier - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Blossom Mall Read more
All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.