Why They Upgrade?

Upgrades, as the word literally advises, hardly require vivid changes. All it takes for a good upgrade is an incremental expansion that matters. Clearly how and when you upgrade is more important: for profits, removing your competitors and promoting the company’s way forward.

An Android upgrade is the key non-event there is, unless a bug is causing chaos on your system and you badly need a patch. The worst part of an Android upgrade is your handset  or tablet manufacturer decides when and if at all you need it.

Why is it important that big daddies like Apple, Microsoft and Google upgrade the way they do? To find out I dig into the companies’ objectives, income models and promotion processes.

Money talks

Google doesn’t make money on Android directly. It offers the OS free of cost to the makers. The money comes in through advertisements. So Android’s strength is not its plan, it’s the customers. More the spectators higher is the ad rate. On the contrary, Microsoft has a straight relationship with Windows phone 7: an authorizing fee that ZTE claims is about $30 per device. So the better its OS service, more handset producers want them. Thus, more will be revenue.

Difficult to Control

Once Apple coders have made the new device or OS, their work is over. A splendid show in San Francisco and within 8-10 days the new stuff is up for distribution. But Google and Microsoft have to wait.

By March 2011 only 1% Android phones are powered by the latest version of OS.WHY? Because Google is not the Android’s regulator. It hands over the code to the makers who test their hardware to support it. The android ecosystem is disjointed on all 5 counts: UI, device, OS, market and service. Hazards of an Open source I guess.

Then how does Microsoft get it right?

The WP 7 upgrade-Mango-was updated on all registered devices within 2 months .Microsoft has the ability to push updates through the Zune Software and bypass carriers altogether.

Support Needed

Get in the latest for sure but what about the old one? Apple totals here too. Apple’s newest releases work on 2 years old devices or even more. Most other houses put their newest version on hottest devices only. On the other hand Microsoft Windows allows downloads and updates to older OS.

The Purchaser

No matter how they do it, it is good for one reason-We the Shoppers love it. And everyone wants their buyers to be happy.

Not All Upgrades Satisfy Consumers

Quick upgrades can make the first versions of a product seem an ugly buy.

We present two such examples.

• Motorola Razr and Razr Maxx-The 1^st of its kind was released in November 2011 and three months later came Razr Maxx. Razr customers spent around 33,990 INR for a phone which in review appeared sub-optimal.
• Samsung galaxy S-II and Samsung Skyrocket-The similar story. The Samsung Galaxy came in October and within a month or two came Samsung Skyrocket which filled in a powerful battery life and healthier performance.

AN UPGRADE SHOULD TAKE THE WHOLE NETWORK FORWARD!!!