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New Media News Every Morning

As The Age Of Android Begins, Symbian Cries In The Dark

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After dominating North America in spite of iOS, Android has supplanted another mobile OS giant in order to steal the crown as the king of the mobile verse.

Canalys today published its final Q4 2010 global country-level smart phone market data, which revealed that Google’s Android has become the leading platform. Shipments of Android-based smart phones reached 32.9 million, while devices running Nokia’s Symbian platform trailed slightly at 31.0 million worldwide. But Nokia did retain its position as the leading global smart phone vendor, with a share of 28%. […]

In Q4 2010, volumes of Google OS-based smart phones (Android, OMS and Tapas) were again boosted by strong performances from a number of vendors, notably LG, Samsung, Acer and HTC, whose volumes across these platforms grew 4,127%, 1,474%, 709% and 371% respectively year-on-year. HTC and Samsung together accounted for nearly 45% of Google OS-based handset shipments. (Canalys Research)

While this is great news for Google, Canalys analysis of the North American market remains mixed, as they suspect that the upcoming Verizon iPhone may slow down Android’s advance in the US.

Although it’s probably inevitable that Android’s dominance is too great for even Steve Jobs to thwart, Google’s mobile OS has yet to become a hit amongst the premium app crowd.

Unless something catastrophic happens to Android (i.e. Oracle wins their lawsuit against Google), we will probably see a future in which the majority of phones are powered by Android, with other players (iOS, Bada, Windows Phone, etc.) fighting for the scraps on the side.

(Hat Tip: Android Central)

Originally posted on January 31, 2011 @ 12:52 pm

Verizon Avoids Committing Seppuku With The iPhone

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In their quest to regain all the clients they lost to AT&T due to the iPhone (which includes yours truly), Verizon has been launching distinct features like Wifi tethering on top of competitive pricing plans.

However apparently Verizon’s quest for domination has its limits, which was revealed after they unveiled the latest feature coming to the Verizon iPhone.

“I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” he said. Not offering an unlimited plan would put up a barrier for customers who might otherwise switch from AT&T, he said. The country’s No. 2 carrier still has millions of subscribers grandfathered into unlimited plans they signed up for before AT&T switched to tiered pricing last summer. […]

Update: But you’d better act fast. Speaking later Tuesday morning, Mr. McAdam said the iPhone unlimited plan will be a temporary offer and that the carrier will follow AT&T’s move to tiered pricing in the not too distant future. (Wall Street Journal)

While an unlimited plan would have all but guaranteed Verizon’s dominance in the US, it would have easily resulted in their wireless network being overwhelmed by “data hogs,” resulting in the damaging of their brand as the most reliable network.

Unlimited data plans were the Achilles heel of AT&T, who despite spending billions to improve their network has unfortunately been unable to keep up with demand.

Verizon has not commented how long they plan on offering the unlimited data plan, although if it proves to be a popular feature it wouldn’t be surprising to see Verizon remove it within a month lest they face mockery from their Ma Bell nemesis.

(Hat Tip: CNET)

Originally posted on January 25, 2011 @ 1:42 pm

Apple Gives Developers 10 Billion Reasons To Choose iOS

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Despite all the criticisms about Steve Jobs walled garden, Apple has been able to produce a highly successful app store for iOS that is unmatched by rivals like Android (despite the latter outselling iOS last year).

In celebration of their 10 billionth download, Cupertino is giving away an iTunes gift card that would easily put the Macbook Air and Verizon iPad within reach.

As of today, nearly 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 10 billionth app, and you could win a US $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. Just visit the App Store, and download what could be your best app yet. (via Apple.com)

Prizes and gift cards aside, Apple thus far is the only company that boasts how many billions (not millions) of total apps are downloaded, which might explain why developers are flocking towards iOS despite Cupertino’s draconian rules.

Android which is arguably Apple’s biggest threat was estimated to have a total of 289 million downloads last year (note: Apple was at 3 billion downloads around the same time), although Google has yet to release any official numbers for the Android app market.

(Hat Tip: Daring Fireball)

Originally posted on January 14, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

Google: Android Premium App Sales Are Pathetic

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While Google didn’t exactly say that Android sales were pathetic, their emphasis on not being happy with the sales overall is a clear sign that Android premium apps are not doing to well despite the mobile OS’s popularity.

During a session at the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco, a mobile game developer told Android platform group manager Eric Chu that although Android is now shipping on 300,000 handsets per day, users aren’t buying nearly as many apps as they do on Apple’s iPhone.

Chu acknowledged that Google is “not happy” with the number of apps being downloaded through the Android Market. (SF Gate)

Google is attempting at increasing sales by introducing more ways users can pay for apps, although truth be told the search engine giant may need to do more to ensure that premium developers skip over Android’s “barren desert” in favor of Apple’s thriving walled garden.

It might be time for the company to consider aggressively highlighting quality premium apps within the market (perhaps via an Android Genius recommendation feature?) in order to convince users that there are some premium apps worth their cold hard cash.

While Android does have plenty of apps available (over 200,000 now), if premium developers are not generating enough revenue to pay the bills, they may simply skip Android and instead focus all their attention upon iOS.

(Hat Tip: Android Central)

Originally posted on January 26, 2011 @ 12:48 pm

Verizon iPhone One Up’s AT&T iPhone

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The oft rumored Verizon iPhone has finally made its debut to the public to the delight of many frustrated AT&T users.

While the iPhone’s are practically identical save for the different radio chips (as Verizon uses CDMA), AT&T’s nemesis is promising one feature that may convince users to ditch Ma’Bell for Big Red.

The Verizon iPhone 4 will launch on February 3 exclusively first for current Verizon customers. It will launch on February 10 for everyone else. It will be the same $199.99 price for the 16 GB model and $299.99 for the 32 GB model. One key difference from the AT&T version is that will be able able to be used as a personal hotspot. (via TechCrunch)

Currently AT&T customers can only tether their iPhone to a laptop through a wire unless if they want to use it as a personal modem.

The fact that Verizon is allowing users to use the device as a hotspot means that users will potentially be able to connect more than one device to the iPhone as well as give them one less item to carry around with them.

While users can create a hotspot with an AT&T iPhone, they have to jailbreak (or hack) the device in order to utilize it.

Verizon’s iPhone page is already live, and it will be interesting to see if AT&T offers customers the ability to create hotspots in the future (as simply reducing iPhone prices may not convince many users to stay).

Update: Just talked to a Verizon representative, and it looks like FaceTime is unfortunately not available over Verizon’s network.

Originally posted on January 11, 2011 @ 12:50 pm