A surge in sales turned Android into the second biggest smartphone platform in the world last year, according to a new report from Gartner.
Unit sales of smartphones running Google’s mobile OS grew 888.8 percent year over year, from 6.8 million in 2009 to 67.2 million in 2010. In terms of market share, that translates into major shift–from 3.9 percent in 2009 to 22.7 percent in 2010.
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.
Well, most of us knew this moment would come, with the only debate left being when this moment would come. Market analyst firm Canalys keeps track of worldwide smartphone shipments, and has concluded that in the fourth quarter of 2010, more Android smartphones were sold than Symbian phones. After a decade of supremacy, the Symbian dominance has been toppled (according to these figures, of course).This week, smartphone giants Nokia, Motorola Mobility and Samsung posted fourth-quarter earnings that, each in its own way, reflected the looming presence—and successes—of Apple.
Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha noted that the Android-booster had made strides in the smartphone space during the quarter, but that sales were nonetheless affected by Verizon’s announcement that it would soon offer an iPhone 4. Meanwhile, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, despite announcing that the world’s leading phone maker had managed to increase smartphone sales by 38 percent during the quarter, conceded that Nokia still hasn’t created a smartphone that can compete with the appeal of the iPhone or top-selling Android devices.
Back on the first of the year, we let you know that RunKeeper, a popular fitness tracking application, would be available for free until the end of January. The company has decided to keep it free and will not resort back to the $10 application price it featured previously.
The feature-packed app allows users to track their runs, bike rides and other activities via GPS and track all of their fitness goals. It has been so popular across both iOS and Android platforms that it was named one of the top-grossing apps of 2010.
Now that there is no fee to get started, they have not stated how they will be making revenue as the full Pro version is now available for free. Expect additional paid server-based features as well as more advanced training programs available in the near future. All in all, what is better than RunKeeper, and what can be better than free?
QR Code:
[Via LifeHacker]
HTC pointed to several key achievements underpinning another strong quarter – riding the Android wave in order to scale up its volumes; adopting a rapid design cycle with strong attention to software; and focusing heavily on north American and then on European branding. This has turned the firm into a high impact smartphone maker rather than a white label and niche vendor, but it still has challenges ahead. One will be to take advantage of the tablet boom while that continues, another will be to stave off the new attack from Samsung.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, sales were NT$104bn ($3.6bn) and HTC reported a huge 160% year-on-year leap in net profits to reach NT$14.6bn ($500m). It sold 9.1m handsets in the quarter, up 163%, and a large percentage of its full-year total of 24.6m units even considering the holiday season effect. The 2010 unit sales figure was up 111% on the previous year while annual revenue rose 93% to NT$278.8bn ($9.57bn). Average selling price was up to $364.
via Rethink Wireless
TurboTax’s New SnapTax App Fills And Files 1040EZ Returns, Using iPhone Camera To Record W-2 Data
Would you like to use your Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone or Android smartphone to file your 2010 state and federal income tax returns? There’s an app for that.
Called the Nexus One, the Google phone is coming in January 2010 after Google admitted it had given employees devices to test. The Android operating system device resembles the unlocked HTC Touch, runs Android 2.1 on a Snapdragon chip and has two microphones. There is also reportedly voice to text features for the phone. Google crafted and customized the smartphone’s software and will sell the device online. This is a leap for Google, which has never sold hardware and has been content to furiously upgrade the Android OS and let carriers T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Sprint sell Android phones.
The Google phone is real and it is coming in January 2010 to challenge Apple’s vaunted iPhone, according to a deluge of press reports in the wake of Google’s acknowledgment that a special device with new mobile features and functionality is being tested by its employees.
The Android operating system-based device, which people are calling Nexus One, resembles the unlocked HTC Touch, lacking a physical keyboard. It is also apparently larger and thinner those devices, perhaps coming close to the screen size of the Motorola Droid phone.
The device runs Android 2.1 (the Droid runs Android 2.0) on a Snapdragon chip and has two microphones. There is also reportedly voice to text features for the phone. The Unlockr has pictures of the device here.
Google ignited an avalanche of coverage when it gave devices to employees Friday for dogfooding, part of the company’s test process for soliciting feedback and suggestions. TechCrunch uncovered several tweets from Google employees who raved about the device, even when they were not supposed to discuss it.
“A friend from Google showed me the new Android 2.1 phone from HTC coming out in Jan,” wrote the GreatWhiteSnark in a poetic tweet. “A sexy beast. Like an iPhone on beautifying steroids.”
Google felt compelled to respond to questions about whether this so-called Google phone, a device the company is creating with a hardware partner but selling itself as a GSM phone independent of carrier help, Dec. 12.
Mario Queiroz, vice president of product management at Google, wrote in a company blog post:
“We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.Unfortunately, because dogfooding is a process exclusively for Google employees, we cannot share specific product details. We hope to share more after our dogfood diet.”
Given Qeuiroz’ comments, it is quite likely the device is this very same Android Developer Phone 2 in a shadowy picture on the Android Developer Web site here. Google began offering SIM-unlocked gadgets for $399 a year ago this month to let programmers test and debug Android applications.
The Wall Street Journal meanwhile confirmed previous reports and added some details (paywall warning), confirming that it is an HTC-built smartphone upon which Google crafted and customized the software and will sell it online.
This is a leap for Google, which has never sold hardware and has been content to upgrade the Android OS and let carriers T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Sprint sell Android phones
. That Google is allegedly eschewing the carrier crutch marks a bold step for the company for which there are many reasons.
Experts believe Google is doing this because Android is fragmenting — too many operating systems and custom firmware builds — and Google wants to make a device with which it is completely satisfied. Om Malik wrote:
Google’s decision to release a device shows that the company is worried about the fear of fragmentation of the Android ecosystem that we have often talked about. By putting its stake in the ground, the company is hoping that it doesn’t make the mistake that Microsoft made by dragging its feet in releasing Zune and ceding the market to Apple’s iPod. The iPhone, despite the issues with AT&T’s pokey 3G network, as very eloquently pointed out by Verizon in its ads, continues to sell like a monster. Google doesn’t have much time and needs to respond fast.
Others say Google wants to “own” the device because carriers hew to the competition and and can get downright Draconian about what features run on devices they sell.
For example, the Google phone is expected to feature the company’s Google Voice phone management application. Verizon has said it would support Google Voice, though Apple rejected it from running on its iPhone, which is sold exclusively by AT&T.
Experts expect the iPhone to appear on other carrier networks in 2010; a Google phone such as the Nexus One could facilitate that move.
[via eWeek]
Adobe Systems has promised users of phones running Google’s Android and Palm’s webOS that they will get a browser plug-in with Flash support in the first half of next year.
Those who visit Adobe’s website on a device running either of these operating systems are told to check back next year. The note for Android users says, “Adobe Flash Player 10.1 is coming to Android 2.0 and future releases in the first half of 2010.”
Video Demonstration
In this video demonstration, Adrian Ludwig from Adobe shows off various websites with Flash Player 10.1 on a Palm Pre running webOS:
[via Brighthand]
Gotta love Open Source, Marvell Technology has already been developing it’s own version of Android and is going to be releasing it on Motorola hardware in China.
HELSINKI, Oct 13 (Reuters) – China Mobile (0941.HK), the world’s largest mobile carrier by subscribers, will next year introduce eight OPhone smartphone models from U.S. phone maker Motorola (MOT.N), a company official told Reuters.
[via Reuters]
