Symbian is now officially dead, Nokia confirmed today. In the company’s earnings announcement that came out a little while ago, Nokia confirmed that the 808 PureView, released last year, was the very last device that the company would make on the Symbian platform: “During our transition to Windows Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian,” the company wrote. “The Nokia 808… → Read More
Apple today posted Q1 earnings that indicated that — despite wider problems in the European economy, and price and device competition from Android everywhere, it continues to make advances in international markets. Apple broke out sales in Greater China — which includes the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan — on its balance sheet, which were up by 67% on the same quarter last year, and 26% on the… → Read More
When it comes to developing for mobile platforms, Android and iOS — the top two mobile platforms by device sales worldwide — are also first in the mind of app makers. But surprisingly, beleaguered BlackBerry isn’t so far behind: an indication that, if RIM really connects on BB10, it could have a shot at some kind of comeback, or at least the support of developers to make sure it has the content… → Read More
The LG Optimus G Pro, a successor to LG’s flagship Optimus G smartphone, looks to be preparing for a Japanese launch at least, according to a couple of separate leaks this morning. Engadget has managed to secure a slide purportedly showing the phone’s design and listing its specs, and the Japan-based Blog of Mobile separately received a spec list that fits with the info received by Engadget. → Read More
In a research note released today, Nielsen examines the potential for smartphone growth in the BRIC region (Brazil, Russia, India, China), where, in many cases, feature phones still dominate. According to the firm’s findings, only in China are smartphones predominant, where they’re now owned by two-thirds of mobile subscribers, as of the first half of 2012. However, in India, Russia and Brazil… → Read More
iPhone-maker Apple’s share of the smartphone market will peak this year — at just over a fifth (22 per cent) of the global market, says analyst ABI Research. Apple’s share will then remain flat through to 2018 as mobile maker Samsung continues to dominate. ABI notes that Samsung has grown its share of the global smartphone market from eight per cent to more than 30 per cent in 2012. → Read More
Smartphones with very large displays are set to take a much bigger chunk of the market this year, according to analyst IHS iSuppli which is predicting so-called phablets will more than double their share this year. iSuppli is forecasting that 60.4 million units will ship in 2013, up “a notable” 136 per cent from 2012′s 25.6 million. → Read More
ChangeWave has released its quarterly consumer smartphone report, which tracks North American demand for devices and satisfaction with handsets. The survey covers planned purchases during the next 90 days, and indicates that Samsung sales could see strong early gains in 2013, while interest in Apple’s iPhone takes a hit. Samsung’s Galaxy Note II in particular made a promising showing, meaning… → Read More
Smartphones including the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy SIII and HTC Sensation XL are consistently consuming more mobile data than tablets, according to a new report by mobile data analytics company Arieso. The firm looked at the data demands of more than one million distinct subscribers over a single, 24-hour weekday in November 2012. The data was taken from a tier-1 UMTS network in Europe. → Read More
As trends go, it’s been hard to miss this one: Smartphones are getting bigger. Much bigger. But unlike many a flash-in-the-pan craze, the so-called phablet (phone-cum-tablet) phenomenon is, I would argue, here to stay, because phones are getting bigger for a reason: what we use them for is changing. This is technology evolution in action. → Read More
Samsung has issued preliminary earnings guidance for Q4 and said its expectation is another record quarter with consolidated profit of around 8.8 trillion Korean won ($8.3 billion), on consolidated sales of approximately 56 trillion Korean won ($53.6 billion). The Q4 figure compares to 8.06 trillion Korean won in the previous quarter, and 4.66 trillion Korean won in the year ago quarter. → Read More
The smartphone boom is continuing apace, but with growth comes mutation: new figures out from Deloitte estimate that 2013 will be the first year that the industry collectively ships 1 billion smartphones worldwide, taking the total installed base of smartphones to nearly 2 billion. However, at the same time, the definition of “smartphone” is changing, perhaps in some surprising ways. → Read More
Attention dumbphones, point-and-shoot cameras and music players: sorry to tell you this, but it looks like your days may be numbered. According to a new survey out from Accenture (embedded below and released to coincide with the CES show), consumers are moving away from buying “single-use” devices and opting instead for those that offer the ability to do many things, with smartphones (at 41% of… → Read More
There’s really no other way to slice it — Taiwanese smartphone OEM HTC has had a difficult 2012. More than a few people have already weighed in on the company’s spotty 2012, but CEO Peter Chou recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal to offer his take on the company’s rough patch.
So what the hell happened this year? According to Chou, failures in marketing were a big part of its weak year. → Read More
By one account Apple is having a very strong quarter in the U.S. in smartphone sales on the strength of the iPhone 5, but overall, Android and specifically Samsung are continuing to dominate the market. According to figures out today from comScore, there are 123.3 million people in the U.S. using smartphones as of November 2012, and Android represents 53.7 of them. Among all mobile users —… → Read More
There can be little doubt Nokia’s mobile glory days are behind it. Samsung now occupies its former throne at the top of the global mobile tree and Google’s Android is the dominant smartphone platform, while Windows Phone still lags Nokia’s legacy OS Symbian. So where did it all go wrong for Nokia? What were its big missteps and how could the 147-year-old firm have stayed in the smartphone… → Read More
Samsung is looking to move around 20 percent more mobile phones in 2013 than it did in 2012, according to a new report from The Korea Times. The Korean electronics firm wants to ship 510 million phones in the New Year, which exceeds the 420 million it projected for 2012. The 2013 increase adds anticipated holiday sales to its existing 288 million total devices sold through September. Around 76… → Read More
Apple’s shares, as you may have seen, have been sliding in the market on the back of strong competition from Android device makers. Today, some new figures on recent smartphone sales will give investors both encouraging and discouraging food for thought on that matter as we dive into the final weekend of sales before Christmas. → Read More
Forrester Research just published its annual “State of Consumers and Technology” report. As usual, it’s chock-full of interesting statistics about how U.S. consumers use the Internet, but the most interesting statistic is probably that the overall online penetration rate in the U.S. has stabilized at 79 percent (the same number Forrester found in 2011). That’s the percentage of U.S. adults that go… → Read More
HTC may be making some of the best smartphones (including the HTC One X series and Windows Phone 8X devices) but that isn’t stopping it from facing some fiscal trouble, according to a new report. Asian supply chain watcher Digitimes (via BGR) says that HTC is cutting back on new models and Q1 shipments of existing devices as it tightens its purse strings. → Read More
We are far from global ubiquity for LTE and other 4G networks, but carriers in markets that have implemented the faster mobile data standard are seeing a boom in growth. Figures out today from Strategy Analytics predict that shipments of LTE devices will hit 275 million units in 2013, a three-fold rise from the 90.9 million that have been shipped this year. And while a lot of this is being driven… → Read More
Nokia’s once cluttered trophy cabinet hasn’t had much silverware to boast of in recent years as the company shifts its focus to Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. Despite this shrinking its high end marketshare, it has continued to sell a lot of basic mobile phones — which has helped it stay on top of the annual global cellphone rankings. But no longer. Now it’s Samsung’s turn at the top. → Read More
BlackBerry 10 is leaky like a sieve: we’ve seen what is likely the first hardware, and developer previews have shown off the UI on video over and over for a while now. In the latest breach of BB10′s absolutely sub-par cloak of secrecy, a number of screenshots have surfaced over at Thinte (via BGR). The screenshots line up with what we’ve seen in preview demos in the past, but also show off some… → Read More
Europe’s mobile market has reached a tipping point: the top-five markets in the region collectively now have a majority of consumers using smartphones, according to the latest numbers from comScore. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK are now collectively reporting a 55% smartphone penetration, according to comScore’s MobiLens research — an online survey of “nationally representative”… → Read More
Research by Ofcom suggests the U.K. leads international markets for mobile device adoption and usage, driven by mobile social networking. Internet shopping on mobiles is also on the rise, while the U.K. leads for online shopping generally — with Brits spending £1,000+ per year buying stuff online. The rate of on-demand online TV viewing is also at world leading levels in the U.K. → Read More
The Pew Center has been running a long-term study on U.S. consumer habits on the Internet and other digital media (you can read about past findings here); today it’s releasing a new set of data that looks at the wider global state of affairs, as part of Pew’s Global Attitudes Project, specifically covering social media and Internet and mobile usage. → Read More
What phone does Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales have in his pocket? An unlocked Android-powered 3G smartphone, made by Huawei – which was selling for $85 on the streets of Kenya last year and now goes for $50. Hundreds of thousands have been bought in Africa — and Wales believes the pace of smartphone adoption on the continent is changing its digital landscape much faster than people realise. → Read More
According to IDC’s latest report on smart device shipments, we’re in for a record-breaking holiday season. The analyst firm is expecting device shipments to grow 19.2% over third quarter levels, and 26.5% year-over-year to reach 362 million shipments in the fourth quarter of 2012 with a total market value of $169.2 billion dollars. In Q3, worldwide smart device shipments grew 17.1%… → Read More
For the first time in the history of comScore’s MobiLens U.S. mobile market share report, Apple has come in second overall among handset OEMs. Apple grew its U.S. market share by 1.5 percentage points from 16.3 to 17.8 percent in the three month period ending October 2012, according to the report. During the same period, Samsung also saw its share grow, but only by 0.7 percentage points, from 25.6… → Read More
Apple put out a smartphone this year, which isn’t unusual. But this time it changed the screen size, something it hasn’t done since the iPhone’s original launch. It also changed up the physical design considerably and beefed up its internal processing power. Plus, it added LTE, for much faster mobile data usage. → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
