iPhone, Android and Deja Views

George Santayana once said "Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". Nowhere is that more clear than in the breathless excitement today that Android has caught up with iPhone sales:

NPD's number crunchers have just announced their findings for Q2 2010, concluding that 33 percent of phones sold during the period had Android on board. This marks the first time in eons (Q4 2007, to be more precise) that RIM has not held the crown of most purchased smartphone OS on US soil, with its BlackBerrys accounting for 28% of the market and Apple's iPhone occupying third spot with 22%. Motorola and HTC are the key suspects fingered for Android's continuing ascent, with the "large screen allure" of their handsets playing well with the buying public.

This has of course led to lots of speculation about The Rise of Google, The Death of Apple, etc etc. But that totally misunderstands Apple's 4 decade old strategy - to go for maximising market return, not market share. This started in the 1970's with the original Apple II PC market and continues to this day - Apple like to take the 15 - 20% top margin customers in the market and leaves the (continually commoditising) remainder of the market to be fought over.

So, Tech pundits of today - get out your (Internet and Computing Technology) history books before penning another line.....