Android smartphones, tablets on the march

Just a year ago, Android handsets accounted for a slim 8.7 percent of the global smartphone market, with OS vendors such as Nokia, RIM, and Apple well in the lead, according to an industry survey. Not anymore. Also: Android establishes a beachhead in the tablet market.

We've already been hearing plenty of reports about how Google's Android OS has been surging in the domestic and worldwide smartphone marketplaces, but the latest figures from the industry analysts at Canalys put the new mobile platform landscape on stark perspective, with Android sales seeing an extraordinary, 615-percent growth spurt in 2010 to topple Nokia's Symbian platform off its throne.

As of the end of the fourth quarter last year, Android enjoyed a 33.3 percent share of the global smartphone market, according to Canalys, with Nokia's Symbian OS trailing (just barely) at 31 percent.

Mind you, Nokia still ranks as the No. 1 global manufacturer of smartphones, the survey noted, with the Finnish phone giant seeing worldwide shipments of its smart handsets grow 30 percent in 12 months.

But that wasn't enough to stop Android, which saw its global market share kick in the afterburners with help from a veritable gang of smartphone makers—think HTC, Samsung, LG, and Acer, according to Canalys.

After Nokia comes Apple, which saw its fourth-quarter 2010 global iOS market share dip ever so slightly to 16.2 percent, from 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009—although as with Nokia, Apple still saw a healthy surge in global sales (up nearly 86 percent compared to the fourth quarter of '08).

In fourth place, we've got BlackBerry maker RIM with 14.6 percent of the global smartphone market, down more than five percent from the year-ago 2009 period, while Microsoft saw its fourth-quarter 2010 market share slump to 3.1 percent.

Narrowing our focus to the U.S. market, the contest for the top smartphone OS really wasn't one, with a new NPD Group survey crowning Android the crown last quarter with a whopping 53 percent slice of the domestic pie.

Far behind in terms of smartphone platforms was Apple with a 19 percent share, according to NPD. Apple still had the top-selling smartphone in the U.S. last quarter with the iPhone 4, but a trio of Android handsets were nipping at the iPhone's heels: the Motorola Droid X, the HTC Evo 4G, and the Motorola Droid 2.

RIM was tied for second with 19 percent of the U.S. smartphone market last quarter, NPD said, with the old Windows Mobile OS at 4 percent and the new Windows Phone 7 platform at just 2 percent.

Meanwhile, Android isn't just surging in the smartphone department, with researchers at Strategy Analytics reporting (via Bloomberg) that Android-based tablets grabbed a 22-percent share of the worldwide tablet market last quarter, up from a mere 2.3 percent the previous quarter.

That's still far behind Apple's 75-percent global tablet share last quarter, but consider this: Apple's tablet share in the third quarter of 2010 was a dominant 95 percent, meaning that Android managed to take a serious chomp out of Apple's share of the slate market.

But while Android may be gaining ground on Apple's tablet market share—and eclipsing it in terms of smartphones—it's important to keep in mind that almost all the big mobile OSes are moving more devices (many more, in some cases) than they were a year ago.

For example, Apple saw its tablet sales surge an eye-popping 74 percent between the third quarter of 2010 and last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics, even as Android tablet sales soared to 2.1 million units from just 100,000 in the same period.

Same goes for smartphones, with only Mircosoft selling fewer smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2010 than it did during the year-prior period, according to the Canalys survey. Indeed, overall smartphone sales nearly doubled from 53.7 million units to 101.2 million handsets.

In other words: even if Android's piece of the mobile pie is bigger than Apple's, or Nokia's, or RIM's, the overall slices are getting bigger—a lot bigger. For us consumers, that's a good thing.

Source: Yahoo News

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Google topples Symbian from smartphones top spot

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Google's Android dethroned Nokia's Symbian as the global leader in smartphone software in the last quarter of 2010, ending a reign that began with the birth of the industry a decade ago.

The reshuffle underscores how quickly Google, which offers its software to phone makers for free, has raced to the top of the smartphone market ahead of Apple's rapid ascension. Google and Apple have revolutionized the smartphone market in recent years, sending Nokia scrambling.

In the fourth quarter, phonemakers sold 32.9 million Android-equipped phones globally, roughly seven times more than the year-earlier quarter, compared with Symbian's sales of 31 million, according to Research firm Canalys.

The numbers also highlight Google's success in battling Apple, whose shipments of its popular iPhone increased to 16.2 million from 8.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Unlike Apple or Nokia, Google does not make its own phone hardware but instead offers its Android operating system free to other phone makers who can adapt it to suit their devices.

As a result, Android has become the standard software for many phone makers. U.S. phone maker Motorola Inc has even managed to stage a comeback of sorts by focusing solely on Android after years of heavy market share losses.

Hit models from Samsung Electronics, HTC and LG Electronics also helped Android in the quarter as phone companies in many regions aggressively promoted Android phones.

In fact, only Nokia, Apple and RIM have so far resisted using Android software.

Meanwhile, Symbian suffered from the troubles of its owner and main user, Nokia.

Last week Nokia warned of a grim start to 2011 after rivals ate even more of its smartphone market share, highlighting the scale of the task its new boss has to turnaround the business.

Stephen Elop, a former executive for Microsoft Corp who took over as Nokia chief executive in September, will unveil his plan to revamp Nokia's strategy on February 11.

Elop said last week he wants to reopen markets such as the United States, where Nokia has lost out badly, and flagged a possible change in software strategy.

Some experts said this may mean that Nokia will announce plans to introduce smartphone models using Android.

Nokia shares fell 0.7 percent to 7.79 euros on Monday. Google shares rose to more than $603 in early trade after closing at $600.99 in regular Nasdaq trade on Friday.

(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Will Waterman and Derek Caney)

Source: Yahoo News

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BlackBerry Experiences Brief Outage

If you couldn't access your email on your BlackBerry this morning, you weren't alone. RIM's BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) experienced a brief outage early Saturday.

"BIS email delivery was delayed this morning in (North America) due to system maintenance," RIM tweeted from @BlackBerry, its official Twitter account. "Service is now being restored. We apologize for any inconvenience."

The outage was also confirmed by Verizon Wireless.

"This morning's RIM email issue 100% over," @VerizonWireless tweeted. "All BlackBerry users on all wireless companies should be back up. Apologies!

Additionally, AT&T mentioned the issue on its Twitter feed.

BlackBerry is still the leading mobile operating system in the U.S. with 33.5 percent of the market share. However, the most recent numbers show a decline in RIM's lead. According to numbers gathered in November, BlackBerry dropped 4.1 percent from the 37.6 percent share that it snagged in August.

This decline could be attributed to the growth of Google's Android platform, which recently leapfrogged Apple to become the number two mobile platform in the states. Android and iOS are in a close race, however. Google's os leads with a 26 percent share, and Apple isn't far behind with 25 percent of the market.

While BlackBerry has faltered, both Google and Apple have strengthened their foothold. Android gained 6.4 percent of the mobile platform market and Apple added 0.8 percent to its share.

RIM also continues to face problems with India, with the government threatening to cut off BlackBerry service in the country if RIM does not hand over access to encrypted data traveling over the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). While the two parties have reached a solution for BIS, no solution has been reached for BES.

Source : Yahoo News

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The Main Differences Between iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4

There is no doubt that the appearance of the iPhone brought a true challenge to the phone manufacturers. It was amazing to watch how all the other companies started copying the iPhone. Nobody was probably expecting Apple to release a phone and here I will say not just a phone but the best smart phone ever made. Didn’t really matter how hard they tried, no one could copy the iPhone. Even the high price of it did not stop people from buying and some of the countries even run out of phones to sell – the demand was that big. Of course, after the release of the smartphone and the results that followed nobody believed that any other phone will be able to achieve the same. However, in 2010, Apple proved them all wrong with the release of the new iPhone 4.

I suppose you have all seen the new smartphone. The style doesn’t differ much from its predecessor, although the new iPhone 4 is the slimmest smartphone to date. Its strength has also been improved by the stainless steel back. The front of the phone has a special cover that is against scratches. However, not only the design has been changed. As we all know the iphone 3GS did not have two cameras and recording abilities. The new iPhone 4 has two cameras and video recording, helping you to remember all the important events. The new iPhone 4 has the function FacetoFace talk, which allows you to have video calls with your loved ones. Of course, this is not all. There are more pixels with higher resolution that allow you to enjoy the true colors of the applications and especially the one that allows you to read books. The other improved feature is concerning the applications. Now you can have many applications opened at the same time without worrying that they will be slow or will shut down any minute. The only problem known to Apple was concerning the built in antenna. Some people were saying that when they were holding the phone with their left hand, they lose the signal. Apple tried to rectify the problem with some specially made covers but then got rid of it completely.

The new iPhone was a better seller than the iphone 3GS and the reason for that of course is the slim design and the better applications and features. In many countries, there is a huge demand for iPhone 4. There are gossips that Apple is preparing to release iPhone 5, which did not stop people from buying. If there is a new iPhone coming out I am very curious to see what it has to present for us. In my opinion, every modern person has to have the iPhone!

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Android Tablet, Smartphone Boost Samsung in Q4

Samsung Electronics reported a fresh all-time sales high in the fourth quarter, boosted by two products with Google's Android mobile OS on board.

The world's largest maker of memory chips and LCD panels said sales rose 7 percent year on year to 41.87 trillion Korean won (US$37.57 billion) in the fourth quarter, beating its previous sales record of 40.23 trillion won, from the third quarter of last year.

Despite falling prices for LCD screens and DRAM, two of Samsung's main products, the company's net profit rose 13 percent year on year to 3.42 trillion won.

"Overall in the fourth quarter we saw difficult business conditions caused by a slowdown in IT spending caused by the economic slowdown," said Robert Yi, vice president and head of Samsung's investor relations team, in a conference call. A number of companies have said economic uncertainty in the fourth quarter hurt their earnings.

Android, the most potent rival to Apple's iOS in smartphones and tablets, provided a needed lift to Samsung during the quarter, as the world's second-largest handset vendor moved to expand market share.

Sales of Samsung's Android-based tablet, the Galaxy Tab, hit 2 million units in the quarter, while the company's Galaxy S smartphone was a star performer, the company said.

"[Currently] the market is quite inclined to Android OS and we are reacting quite aggressively with a huge range of products from very high-end to mid-tier smartphones. We are also coming up with a more varied lineup for Android," said Lee Younghee, senior vice president of the company's mobile communications business.

Samsung sold 10 million Galaxy S smartphones last year, she said, and is readying a successor that will feature a dual-core processor and a Super AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) Plus display. Samsung also plans to unveil a range of devices to follow up the success of the Galaxy Tab.

Overall, Samsung sold 80.7 million mobile phones in the fourth quarter, raising its 2010 total to 280 million, up 23 percent over 2009.

Younghee cautioned that in the first quarter, "smartphone competition will become fiercer upon launch of new smartphones. At the same time we expect various new tablets to be launched in the market."

The company has set a goal to sell 60 million smartphones this year, twice as many as 2010, she said. Samsung sells smartphones with a range of OSes, including Windows Phone 7 and its own Bada OS.

The electronics giant saw tough times in its component businesses.

Prices for LCD screens and memory chips, both DRAM and NAND flash, fell in the fourth quarter, Samsung executives said. The price declines in DRAM and NAND will continue in the first quarter, but LCD screen prices may have reached bottom, according to Lee Jungryul, senior vice president of Samsung's LCD business. He expects LCD panel prices to start to tick up over the next few months.

Overall, Samsung expects component prices to remain weak in the first half of this year but to pick up in the second half of the year, notable words for people looking for PCs or flat-screen TVs, because weak component prices usually mean deals for end products.

Samsung is considered a technology industry bellwether because it is the world's largest producer of several products, including flat-screen TVs, DRAM, NAND flash memory chips and LCD screens. It's also the second-biggest mobile-phone vendor.

The company plans to spend 23 trillion won on new manufacturing equipment this year, up from capital spending of 21.6 trillion won last year, the company said in a statement. Samsung will invest 10.3 trillion won of the figure on semiconductors, down from 12.7 trillion won last year, and 4.1 trillion won in its LCD business, down from 4.6 trillion won last year.

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Sony unveils new 'NGP' portable game console

Japanese entertainment giant Sony on Thursday unveiled a new portable touchscreen gaming console as it looks to launch a fresh challenge to Nintendo and Apple in the competitive mobile gaming market.

At a special media event in Tokyo, Sony also unveiled a "Suite" application for older PlayStation games, allowing them to be played on mobile phones and tablet computers running Google's Android operating system.

The device, codenamed "Next Generation Portable" will succeed Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld device and boasts 3G mobile connectivity and WiFi, allowing users to download games and other content, said Kazuo Hirai, president and group chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment.

The NGP features a five-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen, a GPS receiver, a motion sensor and a rear panel touchpad to control certain actions, as well as navigation buttons and a joystick.

Software titles will be available on a small, flash-based memory card, Sony said.

The device will also incorporate front and back cameras and gyroscopic controls.

Sony said the device would be available by the end of 2011, entering the market ahead of the key holiday shopping season. It did not indicate a price.

The Japanese giant's PSP Go, launched in November 2009, already features software downloads through a wireless connection, allowing players to also browse the Internet, watch movies, play music and read books and comics.

Its gaming rival Nintendo is also set to introduce its new 3DS handheld device next month which allows users to play 3D videogames without the need for special glasses, the first major game machine to do so.

"NGP has fascinating new features, such as a touch panel on the backside, which would be enough to differentiate itself from rival game consoles," said Hiroshi Sakai, an analyst at SMBC Friend Securities.

"It's easy to try to compare NGP to Nintendo's 3DS, but they have earned two different customer groups already. Sony has earned serious game fans by providing sophisticated consoles."

Sony sold nearly 65 million PSPs as of the end of September 2010, but the device has been overshadowed by the popularity of Nintendo's DS, which has sold at least double that since its release the same year.

Sony's move comes as smartphones and tablet computers such as Apple's iPhone and iPad take a growing share of the market for portable gaming devices on to which high quality games can be easily downloaded and played in minutes.

The PlayStation Suite, an application for Google's Android market that will run videogames of older PlayStation console quality, will be available later this year.

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