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Cellphones Iphone Idle Apple

34% of iPhone Owners Think the 4 Is 4G 306

Posted by samzenpus from the this-one-doesn't-even-go-to-4 dept.
tekgoblin writes "An interesting study was just released by Retrevo which indicates that a startling 34% of iPhone 4 owners are confused to what '4' actually means. iPhone owners who had an iPhone 3G knew that the 3G actually stood for 3G so that is where the confusion has stemmed from. iPhone 4 owners think that the 4 means 4G."
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34% of iPhone Owners Think the 4 Is 4G More

34% of iPhone Owners Think the 4 Is 4G

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  • In other news (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MaskedSlacker ( 911878 ) on Thursday July 14, 2011 @02:26PM (#36765452)

    consumers are stupid. Film of them accidentally hitting themselves in the balls at 11.

    • This goes to the credibility of the witness, your honor. The iPhone user likes to claim that he's better, smarter, funnier, cooler, more sophisticated, better equipped, and more likely to get laid than the rest of us. We now know that the smarter part is a lie. :)

    • How much stuff do you purchase without hours of research and knowing the full detail on what you are getting?
      Most people don't know the difference between 3g and 4g except for it suppose to be faster. The iPhone 4 is faster then the 3g so it must be on 4g.
      If you are not interested in the area, there is a degree of ignorance that you deal with. I bet those people will look at our purchasing decisions on some other product and laugh at us for choosing such a product because we weren't fully educated. Eg. S

      • How much stuff do you purchase without hours of research and knowing the full detail on what you are getting?

        Very little, but then I purchase very little. I don't buy shit just because. Clothes and books are the only thing I don't spend hours researching before buying, but even then I put a lot more effort into only buying stuff that actually suits my needs/wants than most anyone else I know.

        There's a difference between my buying two-buck chuck because I'm a binge drinker who doesn't intend to taste it, and me thinking two-buck chuck is good wine. I have no disrespect for the person who bought the iPhone 4 beca

        • You make a good point, although I'd suggest that deceptive marketing does apply here, considering "4g wireless" is a marketing term that covers a wide variety of technologies, some of which are slower than what is possible under "3g" speeds.

      • How much stuff do you purchase without hours of research and knowing the full detail on what you are getting?

        Only the very trivially priced stuff

    • Are you sure it's the consumers that are stupid? Maybe it's the pollsters asking the wrong questions. When I buy a computer, I don't buy it in order to run windows, or run linux, or run mac osx, or run solaris, I buy it to run world of warcraft, or to run ms office. The underlying technology is relevant, but not the point and for the most part I don't need to know the details. Whether my OS uses a unified VM subsystem, COW pages, or ZFOD just isn't that important to me. In the same fashion, what the wireles

    • Guys, I dunno how to break it to you but at least on AT&T it is 4G as it has been redefined. A 3G phone is incapable of doing more than 128kbps upstream on AT&T's network. When you negotiate your network connection, you set a hspa version. The iPhone 4 and the 4G Android phones negotiate the same way. They get the same transfer speeds.

      Blame the FCC for allowing this to become so goddan murky. Reminds me of the old days when USB 1.1 got relabeled USB 2.0 Full-Speed, vs USB 2.0 Hi-Speed which was way

    • Excuuuse me for not knowing whether my overpriced phone conforms to an undefined standard. What the hell is 4G anyway? And what do I care if iPhone 4 has 4G or not? Yeah, it may mean a 30% faster network, but with signal strength variations, congestion variations, and outrageous traffic pricing, I seriously doubt you could tell the difference between 4G and 3G or even 2G.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Macrat ( 638047 )
      Very true. I think the survey is flawed and the real issue is that most users don't even know what 4G is.

  • Even their "4G" networks aren't 4G.

    4G is suposed to have "peak data rates of up to approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility such as mobile access and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for low mobility such as nomadic/local wireless access, according to the ITU requirements."

    LTE advanced release 8 currently supports up to 300 Mbit/s maximum

    • That's okay, you can't really use that much speed what with 5 GB (maximum) data plans anyways. Really, you should be thanking the carriers that their speeds are so low, it makes going over the cap so much harder!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Rich0 ( 548339 )

      While I understand the complaint, they actually exceed the 4G spec for cell phone use, and that is what they're advertising.

      If they were selling tower-based point-to-point dish antennas I could see where this might be deceptive.

  • Really? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lev13than ( 581686 ) on Thursday July 14, 2011 @02:28PM (#36765516) Homepage

    Just 34%? There is absolutely no way that the number can be that low.

  • How many even know what 4G is? or that Apple isn't yet using that standard.
    • That's what I was going to ask. Of the remainder, how many actually know the definition of 3G or 4G? I'd have to look them up. On the other hand, I can tell you the data throughput that my phone can manage, which seems like a more relevant bit of information.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kinthelt ( 96845 )

      It's one more than 3G. Duh!

  • Are there even 4G phones yet? (Score:3)

    by artor3 ( 1344997 ) on Thursday July 14, 2011 @02:30PM (#36765556)

    My understanding was that the name had been co-opted as a near-meaningless marketing term.

  • I wonder what percentage of 4G phone owners living in areas without 4G coverage think that they have 4G service?
  • With the ridiculously low data caps on today's mobile plans "4G" is basically just a convenient way to drain your battery and blow through your data plan faster than ever before...

  • cheap laugh (Score:5, Funny)

    by will_die ( 586523 ) on Thursday July 14, 2011 @02:35PM (#36765638) Homepage
    http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-05-10/ [dilbert.com]
  • In other words apple's customer base is 66% clueful, about double the average. I don't like apple or their walled garden bullshit but that is quite impressive.

    • Well, one should assume that, but it just means that just 66% had a hint of an idea what they're gonna buy.

      And people wonder who the fuck is gullible enough to believe TV ads...

  • I hope you're not suggesting that Apple had any intention of misleading people? That would be outrageous. I mean, they put out the iPhone for 2G networks, then the iPhone 3 for 3G networks, then just as people were starting to want a 4G handset they put out the iPhone 4. And you dare to suggest that it even _occurred_ to Apple that the numbering might confuse people!!!??? Go to your room and don't come out til supper time! Cheeky young scamp.

    • You're intentionally muddling the argument. There was no "iPhone 3". Apple put out:

      • iPhone
      • iPhone 3G for 3G networks
      • iPhone 3Gs for faster speeds on 3G networks (notice this is the 3rd iPhone release)
      • iPhone 4

      Likely, if their next phone supports 4G, they'll call it the iPhone 4G to distinguish from the iPhone 4. And if it doesn't, then it will be the iPhone 5.

      • Looks to me like Apple deliberately hoped their customers would be stupid enough to equate that 4 with 4G. else, why call it an iPhone 4? There hasn't even been an iPhone 2 yet.

  • To expect anything common across version numbers.
    iPhone to iPhone 3g to iPhone 4 (Where was the iPhone two)
    Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
    Solaris 2.5, Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7, Solaris 8, Solaris 9
    8088, 8086, 286, 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV, Pentium V (I have gotten lost after that, where it went insane)
    Don't get me started about the mess of Google and Mozilla started.

    Lets be nice to consumers...
    Major.Minor.Patch
    Ma

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tepples ( 727027 )

      Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV, Pentium V (I have gotten lost after that, where it went insane)

      After Pentium 4 was the Core series (Core Solo, Core 2, Core i).

    • The iPhone 3G was the iPhone 2.

      Missing in your release list was the iPhone 3Gs which was the 3rd iPhone.

      Same kind of numbering as Windows 7
      Win 3 ran on top of DOS.
      NT4 = Win4
      2K = Win5
      XP = Win5.1
      Vista = Win6
      Win7

  • Forget that.... (Score:3)

    by freeze128 ( 544774 ) on Thursday July 14, 2011 @02:41PM (#36765752)
    Ask them what the "i" stands for....

    • It used to stand for "Internet" back when the iMac first rolled out. Now, it stands for a brand. Nothing too complicated about that.

    • The "i" stands for irritating. See the evidence..

      Irritating Pad
      Irritating Pod
      Irritating Mac
      Irritating Phone
      Irritating Tunes

      See, it all fist nicely, i for irritating.

  • The carriers are confused too! (Score:3)

    by DdJ ( 10790 ) on Thursday July 14, 2011 @02:43PM (#36765770) Homepage Journal

    No shock there -- the carriers are confused as well. They've been referring to stuff that's unambiguously not 4G in marketing materials as if it were 4G. They're using 4G to mean "better than what you probably think of when you hear 3G". It got so bad that 4G had to be formally redefined.

    I don't know what the right answer is, except perhaps to discard the short labels and talk about the details. Don't sell me on "4G speeds", sell me on specific speeds (and/or features). For example.

    Myself, I'm constantly tempted to disable 3G on my phone so my battery lasts longer. I do not need the higher speeds. If I could drop back to 2G without giving up any features, I would.

    (Explanation: on AT&Ts network, apparently some towers do not permit simultaneous voice and data if you connect via 2G. Simultaneous voice and data always work if you connect via 3G. That's the only reason I leave 3G turned on today.)

  • I wonder what the context of the question was. I find it surprising that 34% is an accurate number. After all, the word "3G" is on the screen pretty much 100% of the time. More likely, people who don't have a 4G phone aren't sure what "4G" means, and the previous question biased the response to this question.

    Q: Do you know what "4G" means?
    A: Yes, it is technology that certain phones use for wireless communication.
    Q: Do you plan on getting a 4G phone?
    A: I already have an iPhone 4.

    vs:

    Q: Have you e

  • 29% of Android owners do too - some may be legit 4G phones, but those phones sure as hell don't make up 29% of the market.

    24% of Blackberry too - even though they don't offer a 4G model.

    • ... aren't aware of any apps outside the Apple app store, phones outside the Apple line, or music outside of iTunes.

      Of course, that can also be said of Blackberry users, 99% of which probably don't know it's now 2011. ;)

      • That's because 99% of iPhone users can't access an alternate store.

        Interestingly enough, my TV can't access PAL broadcasts, and my car can't accept leaded gasoline from the pump. I could manually modify them to accept said content, but since my needs are served by the default options and the alternates could have negative consequences to normal operation, I choose not to do so.

        I never concern myself with not being able to SSH into a server from my iPhone. I'll admit that part of that lack of concern is tha

  • Each of the major US carriers has their own 4G standard. 3G/4G was a specific idea created by some engineers that was entirely coopted by marketing departments and was then corrupted. No one actually knows what the definition of 4G is except for some engineers, and the marketers and CEOs keep saying "well it's close enough to 4G if we just do this".

    It's simply about speed. The bare minimum information you need to know is what the Mbps are on any single network and what's the fastest Mbps the phone can take.

  • Is 4G so irrelevant people don't even know if they have it or not ? My Interwebz are working, Skype would if my carrier allowed it, I can't blow my monthly data allotment on one movie... What's that 4G you're taling about good for, young man ?

  • Their marketing people renamed their 3G service as 4G months ago.

    http://www.newser.com/story/109146/att-renames-its-3g-network-a-4g-network.html [newser.com]

  • Its similar to the Oracle 9i to the Oracle 10g upgrade. What does the i and g stand for? Nothing its just marketing bs to confuse customers.

  • and adding on computer illiteracy, does this number really surprise anyone?
    Don't forget, a computer illiterate customer is a happy customer and a gold mine.

    LoB

  • if I were a cell service provider, I would put out an 11G network.

  • bloody Gs are there?

  • I note that Retreveo never actually published their survey question. The wording of the question is important, since Apple has long referred to their hardware by "generations", so the first model in a series is referred to as 1G, the next 2G, etc. By Apple's own accounting, the iPhone 4 is "iPhone3,1" for the GSM version and "iPhone3,3" for the Verizon version -- but it's the 4th model released to market, so some consider it the 4th generation (4G) model of the iPhone.

    If the question was simply, "is your ph

  • Pretty much half the customers who ask me for an iPhone 4 can BARELY squeeze the words out. "Do you have any of thouse four-gees in?" "Do you have a four-phone?" "iApple" "A-Phone". They ask if we have iPhones, when they can manage it, I ask "Yes, did you want a 3GS or a 4?", I'd get the response "Thirty-Two Gees please".

    I sincerely hope the people in my city are among the dumbest in the world, or I'm left with no other option but to kill myself tomorrow >.> -- That's about more than their inabil

  • Wow, iPhone users are a lot more clued in than I would have given them credit for. If queried, I'd have probably guessed that only 40-50% actually understood that 4 != 4G...

    Then again I manage a Consumer software product, and I regularly read user feedback (of which at least half is from people who, by their comments, don't seem likely to be capable of feeding and clothing themselves, let alone installing and using computer software)... So maybe I've become biased into thinking people are stupider than they

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