-People who are willing to spend a lot of money on a device they love (iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch) will spend money on apps.
-People who got their 2nd-rate, poorly built device (most android devices) for free from their carrier or for $50 from a flea market. They are not going to spend money on apps and are most likely to pirate apps/content.
Feature phones show less uptake of apps. It's a rare iPhone user that hasn't purchased a dozen or so apps in a year. I'm sure they exist - but there's a lot more of us who've purchased 30 or more apps to balance them out.
So since I got a iPhone 4S for "free" am I the second type of user?
The way apple works in the US is not the same as the rest of the world!! The iPhone is available (since launch) on every carrier in Australia. For $0 upfront. Does that make it 2nd rate?
-People who naively bisect a hugely complex, graduated marketplace
-People who understand it's far more involved than that.
Seriously, though, I think it's a bit perverse to see all of the proud boasting about the spend of iOS owners -- it often amounts to less than $100 per user, where $2.99 is considered an expensive app. Is this really the future that developers were hoping for? Dancing for pennies, hoping to be that incredibly rare break-out viral hit?
Your original comment was the sort of partisan garbage that HN does not need (leave it to the Engadget comments), and I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Now, however, your stripes are a little too obvious.
I don't "hate apps" at all, and your claim to that effect makes you look a little juvenile, continuing your bizarre "bisect the world" fetish. Nonetheless in a discussion where you herald the spend of iOS buyers (the devices are "expensive"? They are some of the least expensive options in their respective realms), it is kind of humorous considering the actual reality that most iOS users in aggregate spend very little. Just tried to load up my new iPad and it was actually difficult to get much past $75...a few days ago I spent $600 on Vegas Pro for the PC.
-People who are willing to spend a lot of money on a device they love (iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch) will spend money on apps.
-People who got their 2nd-rate, poorly built device (most android devices) for free from their carrier or for $50 from a flea market. They are not going to spend money on apps and are most likely to pirate apps/content.