A Social Network Study of the Apple vs. Android Smartphone Battle

In this paper we measure and quantify how consumer's choice of smartphones are related to their peers' smartphone choices. Specifically, we study and compare this 'social component' of product adoption for two competing classes of smartphones: iPhone and Android. This is done by constructing a proxy of a social network by using anonymous phone log data from Norwegian mobile phone users, and then coupling adoption data to this social network. We find that smartphone adoption is dependent on the underlying social network both for Android and for iPhone users. Comparing the two, we see that the effect is strongest for the latter. In addition, we measure that the core social network is larger for iPhone users than for Android - Measured by telecom communication, Apple users have more friends than android users. We also present results showing urban/rural differences in smartphone usage.