Welcome to the United States of Android and iOS

We know about the "blue state/red state" divisions in America, but now we have a map showing a "North vs. South divide" in the battle between Android and iOS (Apple) phones.

Consumers in the South and Southwest "tend to be Android-biased compared to the rest of the country, while those in the Midwest and Northeast lean towards iOS," according to Jumptap, a targeted mobile advertising company, which put together the map.

"California, Texas and Florida over-index for Android use, and states in New England and the Midwest over-index for iOS use." Over-indexing, says Jumptap, means that a mobile OS "is used/requested at a rate higher than the national average in that area."

Research In Motion's BlackBerry use, interestingly, is "over-indexed in New York."

The data, Jumptap said in a report, "establishes an evolving narrative of a North vs. South divide in the ongoing battle of the two top mobile operating systems..

The report is based on information from the first half of the year from more than 83 million users on the company's mobile ad network.

Jumptap found, as other research companies have, "that Android continues to hold the top spot in terms of overall share (with iOS coming in a close second), but that iOS ads continue to outperform ads on other operating systems."

(That's because "the uniformity of the iPhone’s browsing and app experiences generates higher advertising interaction," Jumptap said. "Updates of the Android and BlackBerry OS platforms should strive for the same seamless experience.")

While the map shows an OS divide, it also shows that some states, normally not allied in politics or much else, can be when it comes to wireless: California and Texas, for example, are Android dominated; Montana and Louisiana are iPhone-heavy. Stuck inbetween an iPhone and Android state: both North Dakota and South Dakota, which lean toward the BlackBerry.

Update: While Hawaii and Alaska aren't shown on the map, "Hawaii is a state that falls in the iOS camp, and Alaska over-indexes for both Android and iOS," Jumpstat says.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

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Welcome to the United States of Android and iOS

We know about the "blue state/red state" divisions in America, but now we have a map showing a "North vs. South divide" in the battle between Android and iOS (Apple) phones.

Consumers in the South and Southwest "tend to be Android-biased compared to the rest of the country, while those in the Midwest and Northeast lean towards iOS," according to Jumptap, a targeted mobile advertising company, which put together the map.

"California, Texas and Florida over-index for Android use, and states in New England and the Midwest over-index for iOS use." Over-indexing, says Jumptap, means that a mobile OS "is used/requested at a rate higher than the national average in that area."

Research In Motion's BlackBerry use, interestingly, is "over-indexed in New York."

The data, Jumptap said in a report, "establishes an evolving narrative of a North vs. South divide in the ongoing battle of the two top mobile operating systems..

The report is based on information from the first half of the year from more than 83 million users on the company's mobile ad network.

Jumptap found, as other research companies have, "that Android continues to hold the top spot in terms of overall share (with iOS coming in a close second), but that iOS ads continue to outperform ads on other operating systems."

(That's because "the uniformity of the iPhone’s browsing and app experiences generates higher advertising interaction," Jumptap said. "Updates of the Android and BlackBerry OS platforms should strive for the same seamless experience.")

While the map shows an OS divide, it also shows that some states, normally not allied in politics or much else, can be when it comes to wireless: California and Texas, for example, are Android dominated; Montana and Louisiana are iPhone-heavy. Stuck inbetween an iPhone and Android state: both North Dakota and South Dakota, which lean toward the BlackBerry.

Update: While Hawaii and Alaska aren't shown on the map, "Hawaii is a state that falls in the iOS camp, and Alaska over-indexes for both Android and iOS," Jumpstat says.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

View the original article here

Read More

Welcome to the Apple store that isn't

They have smiles on their faces and apples on their hearts.

They have iPods, iPads, and MacBook Pros on their tables and pristine white paint on their walls.

But these are mere prestidigitators who want to press you into believing you are in a temple of the digital world. For, as beautifully relayed by the American blogger BirdAbroad, this Apple store in Kunming, China, is less apple pie and more, well, takeaway.

The owners appear to have taken away everything they believe Apple devotees worship in retail. The blogger, a 27-year-old who lives in Kunming with her husband, was herself at first fooled. But then the scales fell from her eyes and the wails began to develop a little lower down.

"The stairs were poorly made. The walls hadn't been painted properly," she noted.

"Appointment at the Genius Bar for next Tuesday? Certainly, madam."

(Credit: BirdAbroad)

When she thought about it a little further she realized that Apple stores aren't called Apple stores. At least not at the store. There is only the Apple logo on the storefront. Yet here were the words "Apple Store," bold as you like.

As the blogger (who seems to be called Jessica) sniffed around further, she examined the MacBooks and other products--which she can't be sure are really MacBooks or, indeed, anything to do with Apple. She then talked to the staff, who truly seemed to believe that they work for Apple.

Crucially, Apple doesn't appear to think so--there is no mention of an Apple store in Kunming on Apple's Web site.

A PC World commenter called MarkWine7 said the store had been open for a while and that it was "100% fake."

Another PC World commenter, Edelbrp, suggested that this might be one of 13 Apple resellers in Kunming--which is in southwestern China and is renowned, among other things, for being the place where Chinese athletes undergo high-altitude training.

BirdAbroad said on her blog, however, that this was not some elevated Apple reseller. She wrote in reply to one commenter on her blog: "If I bring my computer to the fake "Genius Bar," is anyone there actually going to be able to do anything about it? I seriously doubt it."

To support her position, a commenter on her blog called Todd, who said he worked for Apple, was very clear: "As an Apple employee, this is not an Apple Premium Reseller. It doesn't even look like a proper reseller; more like a ghetto version of the Apple Store."

Indeed, the pictured and loftily entitled Apple Store may not even be the only slightly dubious one in the area. BirdAbroad said she espied two more--one of which was helpfully called "Apple Stoer."

It seems that fake Apple products and stores are proliferating in China. There again, perhaps these products are merely leftovers from the Chinese factories that make them in the first place. Every factory has leftovers, doesn't it?

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