>>I realize it appears that way - but as I've said to others....I think often people buy Android phones because of the phones themselves (screen size, nice camera, etc.) and not for the O.S. People buy iPhones more (comparatively more) because of the iOS environment/ecosystem. I think it's just a different perspective.

lMHO it's simpler than you say: if you want a Merc you buy a Merc, otherwise you buy a "car" which in this analogy means an Android device. The one you buy depends on budget, peer trends, personal habit and what all the cool other dudettes are doing. Samsung released some of its own apps to try to lock in an ecosystem, worked well for a while but I perceive a push back to vanilla OS so people can get the latest whatever via Google Play.

But I agree that devices increasingly are independent of OS. When purchasing phones in China, now I'm offered the choice of Android or Aliyun and by year-end an optimized new Chinese OS is expected. Some claim it's to reduce dependence on American companies and government snooping so if you're correct that people buy devices not Android, perhaps this will strike a chord with cool liberal youngsters in Peking, Paris and Milan etc etc. I guess we'll find out.

>>I've said many times that we are talking about personal preferences - not to stretch out there, but I believe you and I have talked a time or two about Ludwig von Mises and the entire Austrian concept of valuation...

I agree that personal experience (including yours) is anecdote and the plural of anecdote is not data. Which is why I always try to quote evidence to support my stance even if it doesn't match my own experience. Meantime your anecdote is just as interesting as everybody else's.

>>And you'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't) at the # of lawyers, finance managers, teachers, who are iPhone junkies, using it frequently for work tasks.

LOL, I remember the Sopranos episode where the German cars got stolen from outside the doctor's wedding and the American cars were left. ;-) Yes, I do understand the reality of brand loyalty and clique to reflect expectation- and Merc makes some very fine cars. So does Audi and these days so does VW. But GM and Ford are hardly slouches.

>>Raw numbers, I won't disagree. But unless that patent deal has changed, remember that MS gets a cut without exerting much of a breath.

Fairly sure I was the first here to observe that MS gets more from its licenses than it loses trying to sell WP, so why is MS pouring shareholder value into the WP hole? Another x billion to buy Nokia... for what?