This must be another shot in the “thermonuclear war” that the late Steve Jobs promised Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) would wage against Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and its Android operating system. Apple is planning to begin accepting smartphones that use the Android platform as trade-ins on new iPhones. Apple already accepts older model iPhones as trade-ins.
Bloomberg cited a person with knowledge of the matter as its source for the report and said it was unable to get a comment either from Apple or Google.
If Apple is going to do this, now is a really good time. Samsung Electronics recently launched its top-of-the-line Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones and the devices are scheduled to begin shipping next month. By launching a trade-in program now, Apple may be able to steal some Samsung customers who would have upgraded to the new devices.
That would be another poke in the eye to Google. Apple shipped nearly 75 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of last year and now holds the lead in the U.S. platform race with 47.7% of the market, compared with 47.6% for Android.
What must be even more satisfying for Apple is that the company took 89% of all smartphone profits in the fourth quarter last year. That’s $18.8 billion of a total of $21 billion. Android took the rest.
Samsung and Android have tried to be all things to all people. Apple has focused on being all things only to people who can afford to pay a premium price, and the company has proved there are a lot more of those people than we might suppose.
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