Tag: Smartphones

Global Smartphone Market Makes Big Gains

The global smartphone market reached a new milestone in the third quarter of 2010 (Q32010), with the top vendors posting significant growth, according to a new report from IDC.

Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 81.1 million units, up 89.5 percent from the 42.8 million units shipped during Q309. For the first three quarters of 2010, vendors have shipped a total of 200.6 million units, up 67.6% from the 119.6 million units shipped during the first three quarters of 2009.

"That the smartphone market has grown nearly ninety percent from last year and more than six times the overall mobile phone market indicates strong demand worldwide and vendors’ collective ability to meet that demand," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

"Increasingly, users look to smartphones as their next devices while carriers have broadened selection and offered generous subsidies. To keep up with demand, vendors’ plans to emphasize smartphones in their portfolios have resulted in sharp growth as evidenced by Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. We expect more vendors to do the same."

By the end of 2010, IDC expects more than 20% of all devices shipped to partners worldwide will be converged mobile devices, the first time this has occurred. In comparison, 15% of all devices shipped in 2009 were converged mobile devices.

"Smartphone makers have the wind behind their sails," said Kevin Restivo, senior analyst, Mobility, at IDC. "The market transition to smartphones is proceeding at a brisk and unabated pace."

Nokia landed in the top spot in Q3, shipping 26.5 million units with a 61.6 percent increase year-over-year, followed by Apple with 14.1million units and a 90.5 percent increase. RIM came in third, shipping 12.4 million units with a 45.9 percent increase, followed by Samsung, shipping 7.2 million units with a 453.8 percent increase year-over-year. HTC was fifth, shipping 5.8 million units with a 176.2 percent increase.

“The other important development during the quarter was how vendors are seeding the market for future growth," said Llamas. "BlackBerry, iPhone, Microsoft, and Symbian all announced or launched refreshed operating systems, with each one providing an improved user experience over its predecessor.”

“While these new operating systems initially appear on high-end devices at launch, they provide a glimpse of what the broader smartphone market will look like next year as the OS finds its way into more devices in the market."

November 4, 2010
RIM: Customers Tired of Being Told What to Think by Apple

Apple and Google have become known for taking shots at one another during announcements and presentations. We talked about this at length here. However, Google’s not the only target of Steve Jobs these days. BlackBerry maker RIM was on the receiving end of some other harsh comments from Apple’s CEO this week when the company reported its financial results for the last quarter.

Aside from pointing out that iPhone sales had surpassed BlackBerry sales, Jobs made comments like 7-inch screen tablets like RIM’s PlayBook, would be "dead on arrival".

RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie had the following to say on the company’s official BlackBerry Blog:

For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7" tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.

Snap.

Reactions to Balsillie’s comments range from "You tell him, Jim" to "Come on Jim, you’ve gotta do better than that." For example, one reader commented:

"I read a transcript of what Steve said and just became disgusted. You killed it! This is why I will be a BlackBerry forever, y’all are good, honest people who make the best products.

While another said:

If customers are tired of ‘being told by Apple’ …sales would reflect that? Come on Balsille, RIM needs to step up their game and you know it.

RIM’s PlayBook is due out next year, and when it ships, we’ll see how customers react. I’m guessing it’s not going to launch with the same hype the iPad carried, simply because Apple was first to the game, but that doesn’t mean it can’t sell well. Of course the market will be much more competitive soon. Apple and RIM will both have plenty of competition from manufacturers using Android for tablets.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the tablet market looks similar to the smartphone market for all three of these brands this time next year, in terms of brand market share. Sooner or later, Microsoft will get involved too.

October 20, 2010
Will Windows Phone 7 Be A Success?

Microsoft showed off its new Windows Phone 7 devices this week. There are a lot of questions about how Microsoft will perform in the smartphone space, though they’re clearly up to the challenge. Microsoft’s success in this space also has big implications for the company’s performance in the search market, which means search marketers should keep an eye on this.

Do you think Windows Phone 7 will be a hit with consumers? Share your thoughts.

If Windows Phone 7 doesn’t work, Microsoft likely just try again (although some think this one is do or die). The Kin didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean Windows Phone 7 can’t. The company ended Kin abruptly for a reason.

Microsoft has some catching up to do in this space. There’s no doubt about that. Consumers have been buying up smartphones faster than ever, and established players like Blackberry, iPhone, and Android seem to be at the center of most users’ attention.

Brian Chen at Wired has an interesting take. He says Windows Phone 7 will make Android look chaotic. "Microsoft may be late to the game with a consumer-savvy phone OS, but Windows Phone 7 is aiming to do right a lot of what Google is doing wrong," he says.

Microsoft requires manufacturers to include specific hardware elements (like specific buttons) to use Windows Phone 7. "The effort to control quality and consistency may be just what Microsoft needs to regain some ground in the phone battle," says Chen.

I’m not sure I agree with this take, but it’s a theory. Of course, Google’s "wrongdoing" is netting them a growing number of Android sales.

Can Microsoft give consumers a reason to choose Windows Phone 7? Nobody seems to be completely counting them out. Robert Scoble says, "This OS is beautiful. Unlike Nokia or RIM, Microsoft threw out the old OS and started from scratch. For the first time in a while they didn’t just copy Apple, either. They did a whole new UI from scratch. It uses tiles instead of the little icons on my iPhone. It has a very nice contact manager. It shows you all sorts of information from services and your social network up front. Buyers who see it in stores will be very impressed …"

Here are a couple questions for you: Do consumers respect the Windows brand enough to make the move on their phones? Was Microsoft smart to use Windows Phone 7 as the name? A lot of people continue to buy Windows PCs based on familiarity. These same people aren’t necessarily familiar with Windows on their phones. Granted, it’s not the same experience, but from a brand perspective, it will be interesting to see how the decision pays off.

If the Windows Phone 7 initiative is successful and the OS gains significant adoption, it could mean big things for Bing. The inclusion of a Bing search hard key alone could dramatically increase the amount of Bing searches that are conducted. That’s just one reason Microsoft really needs this to work.

Microsoft is coming from behind in the smartphone space, and they have some catching up to do, but the company has shown that its capable of penetrating markets where there is little room for new competitors. They’ve shown this with Bing. Bing is far from having Google’s share of the search market, but there’s no question it has become a significant competitor (much more than any other Microsoft search engine had). Google CEO Eric Schmidt even called it the company’s main competitor.

The smartphone market is spread around more than the search market. There’s no just one dominant player. There’s no reason why Microsoft can’t be a legitimate competitor. It may take a nice-sized marketing budget and some strategic partnerships, but that is nothing new for Microsoft. See Bing’s history.

Here are the first Windows Phone 7 smartphones.

Do you think Microsoft can compete in the smartphone market? How big is Windows Phone 7 for Bing? Tell us what you think.

October 12, 2010
The First Windows Phone 7 Smartphones

Microsoft unveiled 9 new Windows Phone 7 smartphones that will be available for the holidays in various parts of the world. Microsoft has partnerships with AT&T, T-Mobile, Telus, O2, Orange, SFR, Movistar, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, SingTel, and Telstra that will produce smartphone availability in the very near future.

"We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience — one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’format."

For the holiday season in North America, there will be 3 models available for AT&T (the HTC Surround, the Samsung Focus, and the LG Quantum), 2 for T-Mobile (the HTC HD7 and Dell Venue Pro), 2 from Telus (the HTC 7 Surround and LG Optimus), and 1 from América Móvil (the LG Optimus 7).

In Europe, there will be 1 from O2 (the HTC HD7 in the UK and Germany), 2 from Orange (the HTC 7 Mozart in France and the UK and the Samsung OMNIA 7 in France and the UK), 2 from SFR (the HTC 7 Trophy in France and the Samsung OMNIA 7 also in France), 3 from Movistar (the LG Optimus 7, the HTC HD7, and the Samsung OMNIA all in Spain), 2 from Deutsche Telekom in Germany (the HTC 7 Mozart and Samsung OMNIA 7), and 2 from Vodafone (the HTC 7 Trophy in Germany, Spain, and UK, and the LG Optimus 7 in Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK).

Finally, in the Asia Pacific region, there will be 2 models from SingTel in Singapore (the HTC HD 7 and LG Optimus 7), 2 from Telstra in Australia (the HTC HD 7Mozart and LG Optimus 7Q), and 1 from Vodafone, also in Australia (the HTC 7 Trophy).

All models include a Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm.More models will come next year, including some from Sprint and Verizon. Some will also be available from the Microsoft Store and from Amazon.

Do you think Microsoft will be successful in the smartphone space? We discuss this a bit more here.

October 11, 2010
Android Continues to Demand Marketers’ Attention at a Growing Pace

Earlier this year, we asked which would be more critical to marketing between the iPhone and Android. While not everyone agreed, many of you thought Android. We’ve gotta say, it’s not looking like this assumption is wrong so far.

New data released by Nielsen indicates that Android was the most popular mobile OS in the U.S. among smartphone buyers who purchased devices over the past six months. The data takes into account a full month of iPhone 4 availability.

"Among all smartphone owners, Blackberry still holds the dominant share with 31 percent of the market, though its lead over Apple is declining," the firm notes. "Twenty-eight percent of smartphone owners have Apple iPhones, compared to 19 percent who have Android devices."

Clearly Android still has some ground to make up before it catches its competitors that had head starts, but as the charts above illustrate, it’s making that ground up at a pretty good pace. Google TV, due out soon, won’t do anything to slow it down either.

Recent stats from Smaato, which serves over 16 billion ad requests from over 7,000 publishers and over 50 mobile ad networks, indicates that Symbian actually beats all other mobile marketing operating systems when it comes to ads clicked (and Nokia’s new family of smartphones are running this), but Samsung just announced it will no longer support Symbian. Also, rumor has it that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been discussing the possibility of getting Android on Nokia phones.

Obviously, you don’t want to ignore any of these major mobile operating systems if you’re trying to maximize your audience, but it helps to know what the people are looking at, and more and more, it seems they are looking at Android. It may be on bottom in the above chart, but how long do you think that will last if sales continue the way they have been?

WebProNews recently had a conversation with Tim Nguyen, a sales manager for mobile marketing firm Trumpia, which has worked with plenty of small and large businesses in assisting them with utilizing mobile marketing to drive traffic and revenue. He gave some pointers for effective campaigns.

How big a factor is Android in your marketing mix? How about mobile in general? Comment here.

October 5, 2010
Google Updates Its Finance For Smartphones Site

Google said today it has made a number of improvements to its finance for smartphones site it launched in August.

Google Finance for smartphones users can now view mutual funds’ prices, and stats by entering the ticker into the search box.

Smartphone users can can also view wider stock charts by turning their phone on its side for a landscape view.

Besides being able to view last price and market caps for stocks in their portfolio, users can see how their portfolio is doing in real-time by clicking on the Performance tab from the Portfolio page.

Finance for smartphones is also faster. The Google+Finance+Blog%29″ title=”google finance smartphones”>Google Blog offers more details. “Well, we can’t help when the mobile networks get overloaded or you’re out of the 3G zone, but we are doing everything we can to help you get the information you need as fast as possible.”

“We now cache the CSS and Javascript from pages on the mobile site so that reloads are faster than ever.”

October 5, 2010
Report: Android Continues Market Share Growth

Millennial Media has released its Mobile Marketing Mix report for the month of August. Among its findings are continued Android growth, as well as significant iPad growth. The firm points to the following as the highlights:

– The Android impression share increased 7% month-over-month, and now makes up 26% of the Millennial network.

– The iPhone remained the top mobile phone on the Millennial network (by a significant margin), and iPad requests increased by 76% month-over-month

– In breaking down usage of the mobile web by carrier-7 different carriers had at least a 9% market share

– 45% of Blackberry users are Women (more BB stats on page 4)

Here are the charts for the top manufacturers and devices in August, according to Millennial Media:

The report also looks at some interesting info regarding RIM’s BlackBerry platform and data regarding its users. For example, the average income of BlackBerry users is 13% higher than the smartphone average.

The entire report can be found here.

September 28, 2010
Apple Tops In Smartphone Satisfaction

The average amount of time people keep their cell phone has increased by 17 percent from 2009, according to a new study from J.D. Power and Associates.

People are keeping their mobile devices for an average of 20.5 months, which is the longest period off time since the study began in 1999, when the average was 17.3 months. The current level of ownership does differ by brand, with the highest ownership at an average of 27.8 months, and the lowest at 17.5 months.

“One possible reason for the significant increase in the length of mobile phone ownership is that more customers are delaying an upgrade purchase due to the general economic downturn, in which the expense of purchasing a new device could outweigh the added benefit of owning it," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates.

"Typically, when upgrading to a new cell phone, there’s the added expense of either subscribing to a more expensive service plan and/or incurring termination fees when switching service providers .”

For a fourth consecutive time, Apple ranks highest in customer satisfaction among manufacturers of smartphones with a score of 800 on a 1,000-point scale, and performs well in ease of operation, operating system, features and physical design. Motorola (791) and HTC (781) follow Apple in the rankings.

LG ranks highest in overall wireless customer satisfaction with traditional handsets for a fourth consecutive time with a score of 731. LG performs well in all four factors, particularly physical design, features and operation. Sanyo (712) and Samsung (709) follow LG in the rankings.

Other highlights of the study include:

The average price of a traditional wireless mobile phone has declined to $76 in 2010 from an average of $81 at the beginning of 2009. The decline is primarily due to discounts given by handset providers and wireless service carriers to incentivize sales. Currently, 42 percent of customers report having received a free mobile phone when subscribing to a wireless service.

Mobile applications continue to enhance the smartphone user experience. More than two-thirds of users say they download third-party games, while 54 percent say they download travel software, such as maps and weather applications. Forty-one percent say they download utility applications, while 36 percent say they download business-specific programs. This indicates that smartphone owners are continuing to integrate their device usage into both their business and personal lives.

The study also examines operating systems commonly used in wireless smartphones. Among operating systems measured, the Android operating platform (supported by Google); the Apple operating system used in iPhone devices; and Palm’s Web OS platform perform particularly well.

September 23, 2010
Why Nokia’s New Smartphones Mean Good Things for Marketers

As reported earlier, Nokia has announced a new family of smartphones powered by the Symbian platform. The Nokia E7, C7 and C6 join the previously announced N8.

Depending on how well these devices sell, this could mean good things for the future of the Symbian platform, which itself has been greatly updated. This could also mean good things for marketers, as stats from Smaato indicate that the Symbian beats all other mobile operating systems when it comes to ads clicked (via Wired). Smaato serves over 16 billion ad requests from over 7,000 publishers and over 50 mobile ad networks.

"Symbian and Feature Phones continue to perform well with a CTR Index of 130 (145 in July) and 120 (118 in July) respectively," the company says. "RIM passes Android in performance, with its strongest month since Smaato’s metrics began. Apple overtook Windows Phone, as it fell by almost half from 98 in July to 58. The Index consists of the average CTR of all devices and this number is set to 100."

"Symbian remains the leading OS in both regions [USA and Europe] as Windows Phone and Android both dropped by around 40% in the US (Windows 153 in July 80 in August. Android 103 in July to 60)," says Smaato. "In Europe, Windows Phone and Android dropped in performance, but while Windows remains the second best OS, Android fell to last place."

Smaato co-founder Harald Neidhardt told Wired’s Ryan Singel he could only speculate on the CTR differences among operating systems. A couple guesses he made were related to displays and demographics.

Whatever the case may be, if the numbers are indicative of the big picture, more advanced Symbian phones in more users’ hands would appear to be a good thing for mobile marketers moving forward. They would also appear to suggest marketers have a ways to go for effectiveness on other operating systems.

Read our interview with Trumpia’s Tim Nguyen for some mobile marketing tips.

September 14, 2010
Nokia Unveils New Family of Smartphones

Nokia has announced a new family of smartphones powered by the new Symbian platform. The devices are integrated with enhanced Ovi services and apps. They are the Nokia E7, the Nokia C7 and the Nokia C6.

The latest version of Symbian comes with over 250 new features such as HDMI support, multiple personalized home screens, multipoint touch, multitasking and "turbo charged" graphics.

"We are thrilled that Nokia, the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer, continues to recognize the power of the Symbian platform and has chosen it to run on four of the company’s hottest new smartphones," says

Daniel Rubio, Leadership Team member for Technology and Delivery Management at Symbian. "It is very rewarding to see the Symbian^3 platform brought to life so faithfully on these devices, providing compelling experiences at a range of price points that will make them accessible and appealing to users around the world."

The three devices mentioned join the previously announced Nokia N8 in the Nokia smartphone family.

"Today our fight back to smartphone leadership shifts into high gear," said Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia. "Despite new competition, Symbian remains the most widely used smartphone platform in the world. Our new family of smartphones introduced today feature the all-new Symbian OS, rewritten to be faster, easier to use, more efficient and more developer friendly."

In fact, Nokia announced some improvements in developer tools, such as significant enhancements to the Nokia Qt software development kit (which the company says results in 70% reduction in the number of lines of code required when developing for the phones), improvements in the Ovi Store user experience, and a lower barrier of entry and increased monetization opportunities for developers (like free Java and Symbian signing, in-app purchase, improved revenue share, and advanced analytics).

Savander also commented on the anticipation for the Nokia N8, saying, "Based on the level of consumer interest and the highest online pre-orders in Nokia history, we expect big things from the Nokia N8."

September 14, 2010
Another Report Has Android Moving Up Quickly

Mobile ad network Millennial Media released its latest Mobile Mix report this morning. Android is now officially the number 2 OS on Millennial’s network. The Android OS grew another 47% month-over-month. Since January, Android has grown 690%. Android surpassed RIM as the number 2 OS on the network.

Apple ad requests increased 24% month-over-month, but are actually down 15% since January. iPad ad requests grew 327% month-over-month, however.

Here are the top manufacturers and devices:

There was a significant increase in app developers programming for RIM’s platform. RIM apps represented 11% of the US Developer Platform Usage Mix. This was a increase of 9%, and represents the increased importance app developers are placing on the RIM platform, the firm says.

Shopping and retail apps entered into the top 10 Mobile App Channels, perhaps reflecting a potential back-to-school trend, Millennial notes.

Smartphones and connected devices increased their impression share 7%, and now represent 68% of the total impression share. Millennial says this is an example of the continued demand consumers have for a rich media experience they cannot get on a feature phone.

August 18, 2010
Chad Ochocinco Wants to Get Rid of Farmville

Fast Company has an interview with none other than Chad Ochocinco, receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals who makes as much of an impact on online pop culture as he does on the football field (perhaps more so). He wants to get rid of Farmville.

ComputerWorld reports on a new Apple hire, Benjamin Vigier. The hiring, CW blogger Jonny Evan says, confirms that the iPhone 5 will be the "iWallet".

There’s an interesting piece at MacWorld about how smartphones are on the verge of becoming more powerful as chip makers ready dual-core chips for them. Agam Shah with IDG News Service writes, "Phone makers haven’t officially announced plans to put dual-core chips in smartphones, but the chip makers are getting ready. Qualcomm has already shipped its first dual-core processor, the MSM8660, and is due to start sampling a faster dual-core chip, the QSD8672, later this year. Texas Instruments is scheduled to ship a dual-core chip, the OMAP4430, later this year, and it could reach devices early next year."

Google has a noteworthy post about video sitemaps and understanding location tags at the Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Owen Thomas of VentureBeat in a NYT piece reports that Facebook’s Monica Keller, an open standards advocate has left the company for SocialCast. Thomas notes this is a blow to Facebook’s reputation for technological openness.

Best Buy has reportedly sent a Wisconsin Priest a cease-and-desist letter for driving around a car looking like the company’s "Geek Squad" vehicles, that says "God Squad". (via Slashdot)

According to Andy Greenberg at Forbes, a single hack infected five million individual websites. He speaks of an incident revealed in which a collection of sites invisibly attempted to download malware to users’ PCs as a result of a widget compromised by hackers.

A man named Philip Markoff, who was facing murder charges related to Craigslist, has apparently killed himself, CNN reports.

Market research firm Interpret shared findings from a study, indicating that there is little correlation between filesharing and consumers cutting back on spending. "The good news for content creators and providers is that the struggling economy does not appear to have increased filesharing," said Interpret CEO Michael Dowling.

August 16, 2010
Consumer Reports Recommends Numerous Android Devices

While Apple may have dominated the headlines with iPads and iPhones, 2010 has been a pretty good year for Android. Now Consumer Reports is recommending a variety of Android devices.

Android Headlines points to September’s issue of Consumer Reports, which ranks smartphones. Eight different ones made the "Recommend List" including:

– Motorola Droid
– HTC Droid Incredible
– HTC Droid Eris
– HTC myTouch 3G Slide
– Google Nexus One
– HTC Evo 4G
– HTC Hero
– Samsung moment

This has to rub Apple the wrong way, as the publication declared recently that it could not recommend the iPhone 4, following the "Antennagate" debacle.

Last week, the NPD Group released a report finding that one in three smartphones shipped in the U.S. are Android devices. This moved Android up over RIM for the first time.

Meanwhile, as the global smartphone market grew by 50% year over year in the 2nd quarter, according to IDC, Google’s partners saw some growth of their own. HTC and Samsung posted the highest year-over-year growth rates among the top vendors in the space.

August 9, 2010
RIM Announces BlackBerry Curve 3G

Research in Motion (RIM) announced its latest smartphone today, the BlackBerry Curve 3G. The plan for the device appears to be to win over non-smartphone users.

"The majority of people in the worldwide mobile phone market have yet to buy their first smartphone and the BlackBerry Curve 3G is designed to provide an extremely attractive and accessible choice that will help convince many of them to make the leap," says RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. "The new BlackBerry Curve 3G is a perfect choice for happily busy people who are looking for a user-friendly 3G smartphone to help them make the most of their day and to stay connected with their friends, family and co-workers."

Last week, RIM unveiled the BlackBerry Torch, as well as the BlackBerry 6 operating system. The company called the announcement of these "one of the most significant" in the company’s history.

Today’s announcement may not be as exciting to smartphone enthusiasts, but if the company’s plan works, it could be key in winning back some of the market share it has lost to Android. Also last week, the NPD Group released a report indicating that Android had surpassed RIM in U.S. smartphone shipments for the first time.

August 9, 2010
Google Android Partners See Big Growth In Second Quarter

The global smartphone market grew 50 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2010 (2Q10), driven in part by makers of smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system, according to a new report by IDC.

Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 63 million units in 2Q10, compared to 41.9 million units in the same period one year ago. For the first half of 2010, vendors shipped a total of 118.3 million units, up 54 percent from the 76.8 million units shipped during the first half of 2009.

Google’s smartphone partners, such as HTC and Samsung, posted the highest year-over-year growth rates among the top 10 vendors in 2Q10. Four out of the ten vendors, who primarily ship Android-powered smartphones, experienced year-over-year growth rates of more than 100 percent. The top suppliers of Android devices last quarter, on a unit shipment basis, was HTC.

Emerging smartphone suppliers, such as HTC, that are allied closely with Google gained share at the expense of the historic top smartphone players last quarter," says Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program.

"This is largely a result of greater consumer interest in smartphones generally and Android devices in particular."

Nokia was the top smartphone vendor in 2Q10 with 38.1 percent of the market followed by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion with 17. 8 percent. Apple captured 13.3 percent of the smartphone market, followed by HTC at 7.6 percent and Samsung with 4.8 percent.

"The worldwide smartphone market will continue this explosive growth in the second half of 2010, setting up a critical starting point for 2011," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

"That more smartphone models will be launched is a given, but just as important is the anticipated launch of several refreshed operating systems. Both BlackBerry and Symbian^3 are poised with fresh, yet familiar experiences while Windows Phone 7 promises a complete break from previous versions. All these are expected to launch in the second half of 2010, and their reception among end-users will indicate their future in this fast-growing segment of the market for 2011 and beyond."

August 6, 2010
IBM Looks Into Accessible Mobile Interfaces, Google Giving up on Wave?

IBM has partnered with the Industrial Design Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on mobile web research. The initiative will focus on development of new designs of mobile device interfaces that can be used by people who are semiliterate or illiterate, as well as individuals who have limited or no access to information technology.

Google appears to have somewhat given up on Wave, at least as a standalone product. The company posts to the Official Google Blog:

We were equally jazzed about Google Wave internally, even though we weren’t quite sure how users would respond to this radically different kind of communication. The use cases we’ve seen show the power of this technology: sharing images and other media in real time; improving spell-checking by understanding not just an individual word, but also the context of each word; and enabling third-party developers to build new tools like consumer gadgets for travel, or robots to check code.

But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily “liberate” their content from Wave.

Nielsen reports that the mobile Internet is more popular in China that it is in the U.S. "Widespread ownership of mobiles is only a fairly recent development in China, but consumers there have fully embraced the technology and in some ways are using it more robustly than their American and European counterparts," says Shan Phillips, Vice President, Greater China, Telecom Practice, The Nielsen Company.

Nielsen also has another interesting report looking at who is buying the iPad, and asking if they will also buy an iPhone.

WordPress has introduced its own "like" buttons. Now readers can "like" posts, although I’d say for publishers, the Facebook "like" buttons will be a lot more effective for driving traffic. Still, it’s nice to provide as many gateways for engagement as possible (without getting too cluttered, anyway).

According to the Financial Times, Motorola and Verizon have teamed up on a "TV Tablet." This is a device with a 10-inch screen that users will be able to watch television on.

Reuters reports that Sharp intends to launch a 3D smartphone this year. This would feature a 3D panel that can be viewed without special glasses and would have a 3D capable camera.

According to Unwired Review, Samsung is considering puting touchscreen functionality on the back of a tablet. This is based on a patent application for a "mobile terminal having dual touch screen and method of controlling content therein".

Meanwhile, as Engadget writes, Microsoft has been teasing an as-of-yet unannounced product via Twitter, saying, ""Don’t be so touchy…flat is where it’s at," and offering a small partial image of some object. This may or may not be a trackpad.

August 4, 2010
Report: Android on 1 in 3 U.S. Smartphones Sold
The NPD Group has released a new smartphone report, finding that Motorola and HTC have driven Android to the lead in the U.S. Android is installed on one in three smartphones sold, according to the group.

Meanwhile, for the first time since 2007, RIM has slid to the number 2 position, as Android took the lead.

While Android accounted for 33% of all smartphones purchased in Q2, RIM accounted for 28%. Apple came in third at 22% with the launch of the iPhone 4.

"For the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers," said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. "While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple’s iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch."

This week, BlackBerry unleashed its new BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6. It remains to be seen what kind of an impact this will have on the market.

"Blackberry 6 will soon offer features that have been popular in recently launched Android handsets, such as support for capacitive touchscreens and a WebKit-based browser. However, the Blackberry Torch lacks the large screen allure that has characterized the best selling Android devices at its price point, including the Droid Incredible and EVO 4G," Rubin said.

The top 5 Android smartphones sold were:
1. Motorola Droid
2. HTC Droid Incredible
3. HTC EVO 4G
4. HTC Hero
5. HTC Droid Eris
Android still has tablets and Google TV to look forward to as far as attracting more users.
August 4, 2010
RIM, AT&T Introduce BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6
Today, Research in Motion (RIM) and AT&T launched the BlackBerry Torch, the first smartphone to feature the new BlackBerry 6, which was also unleashed today.

"This is one of the most significant launches in RIM’s history and we are proud to introduce the new BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 together with AT&T," said RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. "With a new user interface, new browser and new handset design, the highly anticipated BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 deliver integrated and uncompromising capabilities for consumers and business professionals that preserve the industry-leading strengths of the BlackBerry platform while adding exciting new dimensions."

Here’s the full feature list from the release:
- Elegant styling, measuring approx. 4.4" (5.8" open) x 2.4" x .57" and weighing 5.68 ounces
- 3.2" 360×480 capacitive touch screen display
- 35 key full QWERTY backlit slide-out keyboard, designed to feel optimally balanced when opened for typing
- Optical trackpad that makes navigation fast and smooth
- Powerful 624 Mhz processor with 512 MB Flash memory
- 4 GB built-in memory storage plus a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards; a 4 GB card is included giving users 8 GB of storage out-of-the-box
- 5 MP camera with flash, continuous auto focus, image stabilization, scene modes, geo-tagging and zoom, as well as video recording at up to 640×480 resolution
- Built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging
- Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n); qualifying smartphone customers can enjoy seamless connectivity to over 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots at no additional cost
- 3.5mm stereo headset jack
- Premium phone features, including voice activated dialing, speakerphone and Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including systems that support the Bluetooth Message Access Profile standard) and other Bluetooth accessories
- New BlackBerry® Desktop Software 6 with integrated media sync for easily syncing music, photos and videos^**. It also includes Wi-Fi Music Sync, a unique feature that allows users to view their entire iTunes® or Windows Media® Player music libraries from their BlackBerry smartphone, create and edit playlists as well as select music for download. When in range of their home Wi-Fi network (or via USB), the changes are synced with iTunes or Windows Media Player and the songs are automatically downloaded to the smartphone
- Tri-band HSDPA (3G) and quad-band EDGE support for the option of voice service in more than 220 countries, data service in more than 195 countries and 3G connectivity in more than 125 countries, including Japan and South Korea
- Removable, rechargeable 1300 mAhr battery that provides approximately 5.8 hours of talk time on 3G networks or 30 hours of audio playback or 6 hours of video playback
"BlackBerry 6 is the outcome of RIM’s ongoing passion to deliver a powerful, simplified and optimized user experience for both touch screen and keyboard fans," said Lazaridis. "Following extensive research and development to address consumer needs and wants, we are delivering a communications, browsing and multimedia experience that we think users will love, and we are thrilled to debut BlackBerry 6 on the amazing new BlackBerry Torch smartphone."

A Nielen report released this week indicates that loyalty is lacking among BlackBerry users, saying that half of BlackBerry users could potentially choose an iPhone or an Android phone for their next device. These things should be taken with a grain of salt, and that was before today’s announcements, but it still has to be a little worrisome for RIM.
August 3, 2010
Android Shipments Off the Charts

The smartphone market grew by 64% during the second quarter by Canalys‘ calculations. BlackBerry shipments grew by 41% and Apple’s share grew by 61% thanks to the iPhone 4’s release. However, it is Android that is getting the most attention from this report. According to Canalys, Android shipments grew by 886%.

"The latest release of our detailed and complete country-level smart phone shipment data for Q2 2010 clearly reveals the impressive momentum Android is gaining in markets around the world," said Canalys VP and Principal Analyst, Chris Jones. "In the United States, for example, we have seen the largest carrier, Verizon Wireless, heavily promoting high-profile Android devices, such as the Droid by Motorola and the Droid Incredible by HTC. These products have been well received by the market, with consumers eager to download and engage with mobile applications and services, such as Internet browsing, social networking, games and navigation."

Android has one clear advantage over the iPhone and BlackBerry devices in that it a presence across manufacturers and carriers. With the smartphone market growing in general, it stands to reason that Android is a key beneficiary.

The U.S. smartphone market grew 41% year over year, according to Canalys. This is the largest smartphone market in the world with 14.7 million units, accounting for 23% of global shipments in the second quarter.

Android devices collectively represented a 34% share of the U.S. market in the quarter. The firm says that with growth of 851%, Android has become largest smartphone platform in the country.

August 2, 2010
Worldwide Mobile Phone Demand Gains Significantly (Not Just Smartphones)

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has released its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker study, which finds a 14.5% increase in mobile phone demand, as the market fragments.

Mobile phone vendors shipped 317.5 million units during the second quarter, an increase of 14.5% from the 277.2 million units shipped during the second quarter of 2009. For the first half of 2010, vendors shipped a total of 620.6 million units, up 18.5% from 523.5 million units for the same period last year.

"That worldwide growth was driven primarily by vendors outside the top vendors is particularly noteworthy," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Directly contributing to this is growth in the smartphone category. Companies with a strict focus on the smartphone market, like RIM, Apple, and HTC have clearly benefited from steadily increasing user interest. But it’s not just smartphone vendors that have driven the market forward – it’s also the companies with a presence among entry-level handsets and mid-range devices, which have long been the domain of the worldwide leaders.

"To dismiss the worldwide leaders would be a mistake," added Llamas. "Each currently enjoys broad distribution, a deep portfolio, and brand recognition. Moreover, each is in the midst of refreshing its respective product portfolio, with greater emphasis on smartphones during the second half of this year. Still, the upward pressure from vendors outside the current top five vendors, particularly Apple and Motorola, will provide tough competition in the quarters to come."

IDC analyst Kevin Restivo says some traditional mobile phone makers and brand owners have gained share due to higher volumes of lower-cost models, which are increasingly popular with wireless service providers.

Another recent study found an up-tick in cheap knockoff phones.

July 30, 2010
Motorola Announces Second Quarter Sales of $5.4 Billion

Motorola announced its Q2 financial results today. These include sales of $5.4 billion. The company shipped 2.7 million smartphones during the quarter, but mobile device sales were down 6% from the previous year.

Other highlights include:

– Second-quarter GAAP earnings of $0.07 per share, compared to GAAP earnings of $0.01 per share in second quarter 2009; non-GAAP earnings per share* of $0.09 compared to earnings of $0.03 per share in second quarter 2009

– Total cash** of $8.3 billion; completed $500 million debt tender offer

– Enterprise Mobility Solutions sales of $1.9 billion; GAAP operating earnings of $181 million; non-GAAP operating earnings of $292 million

– Mobile Devices sales of $1.7 billion; shipped 8.3 million handsets, including 2.7 million smartphones; GAAP operating earnings of $87 million; non-GAAP operating loss of $109 million

– Networks sales of $967 million; GAAP operating earnings of $178 million; non-GAAP operating earnings of $191 million

– Home sales of $886 million; GAAP operating earnings of $29 million; non-GAAP operating earnings of $57 million

– Announced sale of majority of Networks business to Nokia Siemens Networks

"In the second quarter, our Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Networks businesses continued to deliver best-in-class market leadership and financial returns, with strong operating earnings and excellent cash generation," said Greg Brown, Motorola co-CEO and CEO of Motorola Solutions.

"In addition, last week, we announced that Nokia Siemens Networks will acquire the majority of our Networks business. We are very proud of the operational and financial performance of our Networks business and are excited to have reached this agreement to combine our Networks team with such an industry leader," Brown continued. "This is great news for our customers, our investors and our people and will allow us to sharpen our strategic focus on providing mission-and business-critical solutions for our government, public safety and enterprise customers."

"The Droid X launch has been very well received and is seen as one of the best smartphones in the market today with a 4.3 inch high-resolution display, Adobe flash and an 8 megapixel camera. As we continue to execute on our business strategy, we are in a strong position to continue improving our share in the rapidly growing smartphone market and improving our operating performance," added Sanjay Jha, Motorola co-CEO and CEO of Motorola Mobility. "The Mobile Devices and Home businesses remain focused on developing next-generation products to capitalize on the convergence of mobile experiences and home entertainment."

More details about Motorola’s second quarter can be found here.

July 29, 2010