Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

MLB.com Boss Bob Bowman Is Still an Apple Man. But Samsung Is on Deck. (Video)

The last time we asked MLB.com boss Bob Bowman for his take on mobile platforms, it went something like this: He loved Apple and Apple users, supported Android because he had to, and thought BlackBerry was still a viable market.

That was two years ago. What do things look like now?

Well, Bowman, who runs Major League Baseball Advanced Media, baseball’s digital business, is still a big Apple fan.

But he has acknowledged that his users are increasingly picking up Android devices — particularly the high-end Samsung units. And BlackBerry? Gone but not quite forgotten: “We hope BlackBerry comes back.”

Some details from Bowman’s chat with Walt Mossberg at D: Dive into Mobile today:

  • His user base, which used to split 80/20 in favor of iOS over Android, has now moved to 70/30. “The Samsung phone is quite a good Android phone,” Bowman said.
  • But the uptick in Android users, he said, doesn’t track with revenue. That still splits 80/20 in favor of iOS users. “Maybe even 85/15.”
  • Bowman figures this is because iOS users are still, on average, paying more for their phones than Android users, and that means they’re more willing to pay for content like his apps/subscription service, which starts at $20. (Note that other developers have told me that when you compare high-end Android buyers to iOS buyers, the differences in behavior patterns tend to go away.