Apple’s Biggest Reason to Sue Android Vendors: Marketshare

It’s no secret that Apple has no qualms when it comes to suing its competitors, sometimes over simple or nonsensical patents that shouldn’t have ever been granted in the first place, but what’s the reason? The company currently has more money in its bank account than any other, so what does the company fear, exactly? If not for money, could it be for marketshare? Bingo – according to an editorial at ReadWriteWeb.

A magical number that the article points out is “68”, in reference to Android’s current marketshare (68%). Obviously, that’s quite a brag-worthy number when you’re talking about your product, but for Apple, despite its massive profits, that number is nothing but frustration.

Apple’s marketshare wouldn’t seem so bad if it held the other 32%, but that 32% actually belongs to both Apple and the rest of the market. Apple’s share sits at 16.9%, while all of the competition eats up the remainder. In raw numbers, 104.8 million Android phones shipped during Q2, while 26.0 million iPhones shipped during the same period.

So, fair enough. It seemed unlikely at first, but Google managed to push Android’s market penetration well beyond Apple’s, which in all regards is impressive (namely since Android came out after the original iPhone). Of course, these numbers don’t tackle quality in any possible way. While Apple’s iPhone comes in essentially one flavor – and a high-end one at that – Android of course will end up selling a lot given it’s covering many other price-points. Still, that doesn’t seem to matter to Apple. Android’s marketshare is far too great, and instead of introducing more reasonably-priced options, the best solution is to sue away every threat possible (it’s important to note that Microsoft shares the same strategy).