For the second month in a row Android has the lead in mobile ads, which means money for developers which in turn will mean more and better apps for Android. In January, Google’s mobile OS captured 54 percent of all ad impressions seen on smartphone platforms on the network, up from 46 percent in December. At the same time, the share of impressions held by Apple’s iOS fell to 28 percent from 32 percent the prior month.
It’s appearing to be a bad choice that Nokia made going with Windows Mobile 7 over Android. Nokia said they picked Windows because it would be too hard to differentiate between them and the other hundred plus Android phones on the market. Windows 7 has shipped a meager 2 million handsets so far to date vs Androids over 33 million just last quarter.
Nokia haven’t you ever heard the term if you can’t beat em join em? You were loosing the battle before and you pick an obsolete OS to rebound with? Android will be leaving you in the dust while you try and catch up with Blackberry and WebOS let alone even try and compete with iOS and Android.
Verizon CTO: we don’t ‘need’ the Nokia-Microsoft partnership; Android, iOS, and BlackBerry are the big three platforms
If you have Nokia shares I would suggest selling yesterday!
With Verizon the strongest carrier for the Google Android mobile operating system, the arrival of Apple’s iPhone on the largest network in America is expected to displace around a million Android handset sales in the first quarter of availability.
Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said on Thursday that Verizon typically would have sold between 4 million and 5 million Android handsets this quarter if Apple’s iPhone were not available. But he sees the arrival of the iPhone taking a chunk out of Android sales on Verizon, disrupting them by about a million.
[via Apple Insider]
Prepaid carrier MetroPCS has landed a smartphone from Samsung’s Galaxy S lineup to support its new LTE services.
The Samsung Galaxy Indulge is the first LTE-capable Android smartphone to hit the market. The device comes equipped with Android 2.2 Froyo, a 1GHz processor, 3-megapixel camera and a 4GB microSD card preloaded with the action flick Ironman 2.
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.
If you’re shopping for a new phone this week, has T-Mobile got a deal for you! February 11th and 12th — this upcoming Friday and Saturday — T-Mobile is giving away all phones for free with a two-year contract. Even their newest 4G Android phones are going to be absolutely free for those who are eligible for upgrade or for those starting new lines. The Vibrant, the G2, and the MyTouch 4G are all normally priced at $100 after rebates, so this a substantial savings on those phones. This is a great Valentine’s Day present to T-Mobile customers, so if you’re looking for a new phone, drop into your local T-Mobile store Friday or Saturday, but you’d better get there early! Full release after the break.
[via Talk Android]
Android’s platform fragmentation is complicated enough for users, but now more confusion looms as Google segregates the smartphone and tablet OS. While Android Honeycomb 3.0 for tablets is in the pipeline, a report from Pocket-lint suggests Google will release a mid-way version of Android for smartphones that can run some Honeycomb apps on phones.
With Honeycomb, arriving first on Motorola’s 10-inch Xoom tablet, Google is splitting Android into two distinct versions: one for phones and one for tablets. However, there won’t be an Android 3.0 for phones this spring when Honeycomb tablets start arriving. Instead, reports suggest Google will launch Android 2.4, about a month after Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), to try to bridge the gap between phones and tablets.
Android 3.0 HoneyComb is Google’s attempt to make Android tablets finally competitive with the hot-selling iPad. That primarily means goodies for consumers and developers. But there were some notable features that your IT admin or CIO will love.
1) Full disk encryption.
2) Stronger passwords.
3) App compatibility between smartphone and tablet.
5) Web-based Android Market.
With changes taking place at blinding speed in the mobile technology marketplace, it’s a wonder insurers can keep up with their corporate-wide strategies. Upgrades, new smart phone and smart pad platforms, bolstered network speeds all play forward to insurers’ adopting a deferral approach to embracing new technologies.
A report issued this week of global country-level smartphone market data holds that Google’s Android has become the leading platform. Canalys published its final Q4 2010 results, which revealed shipments of Android-based smartphones reached 32.9 million, nudging Nokia’s Symbian platform out of first place with slightly at 31.0 million worldwide. Nokia did retain its position as the leading global smartphone vendor, with a share of 28%. The fourth quarter also saw the worldwide smartphone market continue to soar, with shipments of 101.2 million units representing year-on-year growth of 89%.
Although smartphone use is up, insurers’ choice of smartphone platforms is very much in a state of flux.
[via Insurance Networking News]
T-Mobile has given more in-depth info about their latest Honeycomb-based Android tablet, and its been announced that the device will be 3D friendly. It’s known as the “G-slate,” and it has arrived courtesy of LG Electronics. The device will come with required red and blue glasses for seeing in 3D.
