I've seen this argument several times over, but it doesn't make it any more sound. If iOS was offered on, say, three types of smartphones simultaneously (instead of just the one new one at a time now), that wouldn't make its sales triple (not even close).
Having more options doesn't necessarily increase sales. In some cases it drives down sales, because of a confused consumer. If Apple all of a sudden offered three different flavors of the iPhone 5, yes sales would probably increase a bit because of options being present that previously didn't exist. But for the most part you'd see the existing singular iPhone's sales merely split to all three options. We saw this with the unveiling of the Verizon iPhone. Yes, sales spiked for a short period of time, but at the end of the day it didn't cause iPhone's average trend of sales to increase more than it was with it only on AT&T. The people that wanted a phone with iOS, got a phone with iOS, only now they didn't have to switch to AT&T to get it.
And I'm sure you would like to see OS total share across every type of electronics device under the sun, because iOS is in an entire sector of the market that Android is not: MP3 players. The results would obviously favor Apple.
>We saw this with the unveiling of the Verizon iPhone.
This isn't really a fair comparison since so many of the VZ iPhone target market may be locked into contracts. (even still, the iPhone is VZ best selling phone)
>If Apple all of a sudden offered three different flavors of the iPhone 5, yes sales would probably increase a bit because of options being present that previously didn't exist.
What happened to iPod marketshare when Apple released the iPod mini? (again not a perfect analogy, but related).
Having more options doesn't necessarily increase sales. In some cases it drives down sales, because of a confused consumer. If Apple all of a sudden offered three different flavors of the iPhone 5, yes sales would probably increase a bit because of options being present that previously didn't exist. But for the most part you'd see the existing singular iPhone's sales merely split to all three options. We saw this with the unveiling of the Verizon iPhone. Yes, sales spiked for a short period of time, but at the end of the day it didn't cause iPhone's average trend of sales to increase more than it was with it only on AT&T. The people that wanted a phone with iOS, got a phone with iOS, only now they didn't have to switch to AT&T to get it.
And I'm sure you would like to see OS total share across every type of electronics device under the sun, because iOS is in an entire sector of the market that Android is not: MP3 players. The results would obviously favor Apple.