Posts Tagged ‘smartphone’
Android misses handset growth target for Spain
September 12th, 2009 | 
Author: 
BARCELONA
Since the launch of Android devices in Spain in April this year and up until last week, only a very limited range of handsets from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC have been available on the market.
An article in today’s Expansión reveals that this is set to change, with Samsung launching its Galaxy model on Monday and Motorola looking to launch its Dext model in November.
However, all of this is unlikely to alter the fact that Android’s target for an installed base of 6m units in Spain by the end of 2009 will not be met. Current estimates show that Android devices represent only 2% of the handset market share in Spain. Whilst the push by new manufacturers entering the market, coupled with HTC’s launch of the Tattoo model may drive market share up a notch or two by the end of the year, Android still has to compete with other smartphone platforms with more established user bases.
Market estimates for an overall market share of 8-10% by the end of the year seem over-optimistic, and it appears more likely that they will not materialise until the choice of handsets and embedded services significantly improves.
Published by Ric
Posted in Mobile, Phones | 
Tags: 3g, blog, blogs, google, handsets, htc, market share, motorola, samsung, smartphone | 
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Acrossair muscles into Augmented Reality (AR) arena with iPhone app
London-based Acrossair recently rolled out its own take on the Augmented Reality (AR) story, by releasing an application that allows New Yorkers to point their iPhone camera at any city street and get an overlay of how close and in which direction the nearest subway stations are.
Hold the phone flat and it shows all the subway lines in coloured directional arrows.Raise the iPhone and it will point you to the nearest subway station, with distances shown.
You can see a quick demo video here:
Acrossair is clearly pitching itself against media darling Layar and, with its nifty new applications, muscling itself into position to grab some of the AR limelight.
Competition is clearly hotting up, not only in the US but also in Japan, where Tonchidot launched its own iPhone app, Sekai Camera that adds a social networking dimension to AR.
This definitely remains an area to keep close tabs on, with new smartphones enabling new consumer applications that were perhaps unthinkable until only a few years ago.
Published by Ric
Posted in Mobile, Phones |
Tags: application, blog, blogs, iphone, Network, Networking, smartphone, social networking |
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Motorola: Following three quarters of losses turned a profit for the most recent quarter
The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company reported a net profit of 26 million dollars in the second quarter of the year compared with a net profit of four million dollars a year ago.
Motorola posted a net loss of 231 million dollars in the first quarter.
Earnings per share of one cent in the second quarter were better than expected by analysts who had forecast a loss of four cents per share.
Revenue during the quarter which ended on July 4 fell 32 percent to 5.49 billion dollars.
Motorola’s mobile phone division cut its operating loss in half compared with the first quarter. It rang up a second-quarter operating loss of 253 million dollars on revenue which fell 45 percent to 1.8 billion dollars.
“In Mobile Devices, we improved the operating loss, reflecting a lower cost structure, and substantially reduced cash consumption as compared to the first quarter,” Motorola co-chief executive Sanjay Jha said in a statement.
“We have agreements in place with carriers and remain on track to bring our new smartphone devices to market for the holiday selling season,” said Jha, who is also CEO of the Mobile Devices division.
Motorola said it shipped 14.8 million handsets in the quarter, a slight increase from 14.7 million the first quarter, giving it an estimated global handset market share of 5.5 percent
Motorola said it expects to again post earnings per share of one cent in the current quarter.
Motorola enjoyed success with its popular Razr phone launched in 2005 but has been losing ground since to Apple and Research in Motion as well as other major cell phone makers such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
Motorola enjoyed a 17.5 percent share of the handset market two years ago.
Motorola has said it hopes to have devices based on Google’s open-source Android operating systems in stores by the fourth quarter of the year.
Motorola shares gained 9.68 percent to 7.48 dollars in early trading on Wall Street.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: apple, ash, blog, blogs, car, cell phone, google, handsets, market share, Mobile, mobile device, mobile devices, mobile phone, motorola, nokia, operating system, Operating Systems, research, samsung, smartphone, sony, sony ericsson, system |
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USA: 40% of consumers strongly prefer a single portable device for all applications
This preference has been a driving force behind the fast-growing popularity of smartphones, which often combine voice, data, music, and multimedia functions into a single product, and make it less necessary for the user to carry a laptop.
Just because a device has all the features, however, doesn’t necessarily mean consumers will use them. Consumers who frequently use mobile banking, for example, are still more likely to be interested in a laptop or netbook than a web-ready smartphone.
“Just because technology makes a capability possible doesn’t mean that consumers will value it,” explained DDW managing director, Chip Lister. “The device with the right mix of capabilities delivered at the right price point is going to win in this market.”
That “right mix of capabilities,” without over-developing a product, is exactly what handset, netbook, and laptop manufacturers must strive for.
40% of Americans Prefer Single Mobile Device
see also Data Development Worldwide
Posted in Communications |
Tags: amp, application, Banking, blog, blogs, car, consumers, Mobile, mobile device, smartphone, Technology, world |
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USA: FTC continues its investigate of the Apple-Google relationship, event after a Google director resigned
Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC’s bureau of competition, commended both companies for recognizing that sharing directors raises competitive issues, in light of the resignation of Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt from Apple’s board.
Feinstein said regulators have been investigating the Google-Apple tie for “some time,” even as the two companies increasingly compete with each other in markets such as smartphones and operating systems.
“We will continue to investigate remaining interlocking directorates between the companies,” Feinstein said.
Antitrust experts say, typically, a resignation like Schmidt’s would have closed the FTC investigation. But because one other person still sat on the boards of both companies, the agency was not likely to close its investigation down yet.
Former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson remains a director of both companies.
“Generally it would have shut down the investigation because they (regulators) achieved what they wanted to achieve,” said Gary Reback at the law firm of Carr & Ferrell.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: amp, apple, blog, blogs, car, google, operating system, Operating Systems, reuters, smartphone, system |
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