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Tag: iphone

  • Nokia dominates global smartphone ad traffic

    Nokia may lead the world in smartphone mobile ad traffic rankings but iPhone fastest growing device

    Smartphones accounted for 25.8 per cent of worldwide mobile ad traffic in August, up 3.4 per cent since May 2008, according to AdMob’s August 2008 Mobile Metrics Report.

    Nokia dominates globally, with a 62.4 per cent slice of the traffic in August and more than 50 per cent in every region except North America. In the US, where Nokia does not have a top 20 ranked smartphone, RIM rules the roost.

    The Canadian company has 31.2 per cent of US smartphone traffic and manufactures three of the top 10 devices.

    According to the report, the Apple iPhone was the fastest growing device in the world last month and ended August with more than 2.9 million ad requests per day.

    AdMob stores and analyzes data from every ad request, impression and click and uses this information to optimize ad matching.
    In the latest report, AdMob has highlighted the rapid and global growth of smartphone usage.

    The anticipated launch of new smartphones in the coming months, including the first of Google’s Android phones, the RIM Bold, and the Nokia N96, is a strong indication that this growth is likely to continue throughout the year.

    According to the report, the iPhone ended August with more than 2.9 million requests per day.

    The top five smartphones in the US – the BlackBerry Pearl, Palm Centro, BlackBerry Curve, Apple iPhone, and Samsung Instinct – generated 12.9 per cent of all US traffic in August, a 2.4 per cent increase over July.

    Other highlights from the August 2008 report:

    * RIM is in second place worldwide with 10.8 per cent of smartphone traffic with the large majority of that coming from North America.

    * Motorola and SonyEriccson have a large share of overall mobile traffic, but neither has a smartphone ranked in the top 20 worldwide.

    * Smartphones continue to increase marketshare in the US, accounting for 23.7 per cent of traffic in August, up 3.5 percent since May 2008.

  • Market for mobile touch screen worth US$5bn in 2009


    Apple’s iPhone has done much to thrust touch screens firmly into the public’s consciousness – a place they seem certain to increasingly inhabit.

    A report from ABI Research forecasts that revenue from the global touch screen market for smartphones and other handheld devices such as MIDs, UMPCs, and PNDs will reach USD $5 billion in 2009.

    Shipments of touch screen-based mobile devices increased 91 per cent in 2007 compared to the previous year.

    Yet according to Kevin Burden, research director at ABI, said nearly all mobile handset manufacturers were getting into touch screens to a greater or lesser extent.

    But he added that there were strong regional differences in the uptake of touch screens.

    The Asia/Pacific market, where more than 80 per cent of the world’s touch screen-based mobile phone production was consumed over the past year, has been a major driver in the rising demand.

    “The acceptance of touch screens to date has varied by geographic region, which has been a significant factor in determining the success of individual handset vendors,” he said.

    Samsung and Motorola have been the most successful, commanding 33 per cent and 30 per cent shares of the touch screen mobile phone market respectively.

    “Samsung and Motorola lead the market for touch screen phones primarily because of their scale and significant presence in the Asian markets,” said Burden.

    “Because it’s difficult to represent even a fraction of the common Asian characters on a QWERTY-style keyboard, touch screen devices on which characters can be written with a stylus are immensely popular.”

    At 24 per cent, Sony Ericsson has the third-largest market share, while all the other handset vendors – including Apple – are essentially niche players.

    The ABI report said that a number of factors are driving further adoption of touch screen-based mobile devices.

    *Consumers are looking for more intuitive user interfaces and personalization options as device functionality increases.

    *Prices for touch components and panels continue to decrease and are falling on an average of nearly 10 per cent per annum.

  • iPhone rivals beef up camera offerings


    The launch by Samsung in the UK this week of what it claims is Europe’s first 8 megapixel camera phone is being seen as an attempt to highlight shortcomings in the iPhone.

    A number of other handset vendors are preparing to launch similar high-end camera phones in time for the Christmas period.

    Sony Ericsson is expected to launch the 8.1 megapixel C905 in the fall, while Nokia and LG are reported to be planning similar moves.
    The fact Apple’s 3G iPhone only packs a 2 megapixel camera is regarded as one of its key weakness.

    Samsung’s i8510 will be available in the UK through Carphone Warehouse and free on a £35 a month contract with Orange UK.
    The smartphone is being positioned as a genuine alternative to digital cameras.

    Mark Mitchinson, vice president for Samsung, said the cell phone industry was playing catch-up, selling only 4 and 5 megapixel camera phones.

    “But the 8 megapixel is a new milestone, I think the vast majority of consumers will see it as a credible alternative,” he said.
    “For the first time ever you will not need to carry a camera as well as a phone on your holidays.”

    The i8510 is based on Symbian’s Series 60 platform and includes HSPA connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS and FM radio functionality.

  • Microsoft Follows Apple and Google With App Store Plan


    Microsoft is to create an online software store for its Windows Mobile platform.

    The move follows similar endeavours, first by Apple with its already launched iPhone App Store and then more recently with Google’s plans to set up an App Market for its Android smartphone platform.

    Microsoft’s version of an online store for mobile software – understood to be called Skymarket – was revealed in a job listing Microsoft posted at computerjobs.com for a Senior Product Manager to oversee a marketplace service for Windows Mobile.

    The platform is a software operating system used on smartphones, version 6.1 of which was launched earlier this year.

    With an updated browser it is meant to make the experience of surfing the web on a smartphone more like that of a desktop.

    Launch planned for 2009

    Skymarket will not be commercially launched until the release of Windows Mobile 7, expected in late 2009.

    However, Microsoft is hoping to recruit someone who can handle “driving the cross group collaboration for the initial launch of the marketplace offering to the developer community this fall”.

  • Copy and Paste comes to iPhone

    Openclip framework adds Copy and Paste without violating the iPhone SDK agreement

    A college student has developed an open source framework that allows cross-application Copy and Paste on the iPhone.

    Zac White says his Open Clip framework uses a shared space on the iPhone that can be accessed by applications to enable Copy and Paste – without falling foul of the iPhone SDK agreement.

    Apple forbids applications from running in the background because it would take up too much of the iPhone’s resources.
    Also, developers are not allowed to create plug-ins that make their apps work with other apps on the iPhone.

    However, when a developer adds the OpenClip framework to an iPhone app, that app can then access the common area and write to it, and read from it, thereby enabling copy and paste between participating apps.

    In an interview with Geek Brief’s Cali Lewis, White explained that OpenClip is a way for developers to include system wide Copy and
    Paste on the iPhone.

    The Oklahoma University student has started a non-profit, open-source community project for OpenClip.
    “It’s a device that allows apps to talk to each other,” he said. “It’s a very extensible way to get data between applications.”

    A key element is for as many apps to implement the OpenClip framework – since the wider the participation, the more apps users can Copy and Paste between.

    White suggests iPhone users email app developers about the advantages of OpenClip and asks app developers to show their participation by placing the OpenClip badge on their websites.

    He stressed that the framework created is not on a jailbreak phone and fully complied with Apple’s SDK agreement.

    In the interview with Geek Brief, White explains how he met iPhone App Store developer Juviwhale (creator of the MagicPad app) at iPhone Dev Camp, where the OpenClip framework was developed as a “weekend hack”.

    He effectively gave MagicPad’s localized cut/copy/paste cross-application functionality with the open-source OpenClip framework.
    It uses the API used by Apple on OS X to allow developers to easily implement OpenClip with the minimum of coding.

    Zac White

    White explains that the biggest factor was making it easy for developers to integrate it into their  apps, including having the documentation written for the API on Apple.com.

    Another element he considered was ease of transition for developers and users when Apple, finally, implements its own Copy and Paste. By adopting the API used on OS X, White expects a future transition to be “very easy”.

    He does admit that OpenClip has some limitations. “It is completely possible that apps that use this wouldn’t get on the App Store. Not for any real reason other than it will eventually step on Apple’s toes,” he said.

    “It is also conceivable that the technology this is built on will break in the future. The hope is that the update that breaks this also brings copy and paste support.

    Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple’s head of iPod and iPhone marketing has previously stated that cut, copy, and paste is on the future feature list.

    But his view that the function is not a “priority” is not shared by many users.
    Please let us know what you think about the OpenClip development and how – if at all – Apple will respond to it.

  • T-Mobile to launch first Android smartphone

    Google’s Android operating system to be offered on HTC phone

    T-Mobile is to be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone powered by Google’s Android software.

    The phone will be made by HTC, one of the largest makers of mobile phones in the world, and is expected to go on sale in the United States before Christmas, according to reports.

    Google is making the Android operating system software available free to an alliance of companies, including mobile phone carriers and manufacturers who have agreed to provide devices which, like personal computers, allow users to decide which applications run on them.

    Google thinks that many consumers will want to personalise their mobile phones with unique applications and services.

    The mobile Web is seen as vital to the long-term growth of Google’s digital advertising business.

    Flagged as a worthy rival to Apple’s 3G iPhone, the HTC smartphone will have a touch screen.
    But the screen can slide out to expose a full five-row keyboard.

    While other carriers and manufacturers have plans to offer phones based on Google’s software, the T-Mobile-HTC phone is expected to be the only Android phone available in the US this year.

    Some makers of mobile software programs have complained that creating applications for Android has been difficult.
    They claim Google has continued to make changes to the operating system and at times has been too busy to provide support to developers.

  • Garmin delays smartphone launch

    The GPS maker Garmin has delayed plans to launch its Nuvifone smartphone in the fourth quarter of 2008 until the first half of 2009.
    Obstacles in dealing with the various individual needs of each cell phone carrier were cited as the reason for the delay.

    Shortly before announcing its decision on the Nuvifon, Garmin posted weak second-quarter results and slashed its outlook for 2008.
    The company has been hurt by slower growth in the personal navigation device (PND) market.
    It results and the delayed launch of its smartphone sent its shares down more than 22 per cent.
    The biggest US maker of navigation devices said the PND market, which it dominates with Dutch rival TomTom, has not been growing as fast as expected.
    It said consumers were being more cost-conscious.

    The outlook cut follows a difficult year for Garmin, as macroeconomic difficulties, competition and several new entrants have affected its prices and margins.
    The stock has lost 70 per cent of its value since last October.
    Garmin has not yet disclosed pricing and carrier details for the Nuvifone, which will compete against Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Pearl 8110, Nokia’s N95 and N82 multimedia phones and Apple’s iPhone.

  • iPhone breathes life into mobile gaming market

    Touchscreen handset could have a potentially revolutionary impact on mobile gaming, according to a report by Screen Digest.
    In particular, Apple’s iPhone 3G is expected to drive the growth of the North American market raising it to the leading global market by revenue next year.

    The media analyst’s study says that the world’s top four games publishers are taking an ever bigger share of the market for mobile games.
    EA Mobile, Gameloft, Glu and THQ Wireless have seen their global market shares increase from 11 per cent to 22 per cent in 2007 and the figure is rising, particularly in Western Europe.

    From the perspective of both games developers and mobile users, touchscreen phoness have the potential to be the number one device for mobile gaming.
    The Screen Digest report says this is supported by recently released retail sales figures that show 10 million applications were downloaded from the Apple online store in the three days after the iPhone 3G went on sale on July 11.
    However, it cautions that the handset presents technical challenges for developers, limiting the sophistication of the games on offer which in turn restricts audience retention.

    Ronan de Renesse, senior mobile analyst, said:

    “Whilst the current demand for games that can be played on the iPhone is giving the mobile gaming industry a much needed boost, there are a number of issues that will need to be addressed by games developers"
    “They need to overcome technical challenges to deliver more enticing games to a wider audience of gamers – and they need to do this fast"
    “So whilst in the short term the iPhone is boosting sales of mobile games, the favour won’t be returned until the iPhone can support a major blockbuster title – or two.”

    Screen Digest anticipates that the mobile games market will generate an extra US€1bn in the next five years to reach a total value of US€2.6bn by 2012.

    Historically, Asia has been the biggest market in terms of industry revenues with over 37 per cent market share in 2007, but Screen Digest predicts that from 2009 onwards, North America will become the largest market.

    North America has been experiencing continued growth, generating an average of US€125m every year for the past four years.
    The report forecasts this this revenue growth to continue and double the market value to just over US€1.1bn by 2012.

  • Touchscreens to become more than just smartphone feature

    Touchscreen–equipped mobile handset shipments are to exceed 230 Million by 2012 as technology spreads to feature phones

    The popularity of touchscreens in smartphones and their influence in driving data revenues will cause the technology to rapidly spread to other handsets.

    A report from IMS Research credits the original iPhone for sparking interest in touchscreen phones.
    But its says what is currently a steady growth in sales of touchscreen-equipped mobile handsets will become even stronger.

    The report forecasts that while fewer than 30 million touchscreen phones were sold in 2007, this will surge to over 230 million by 2012.

    It cites numerous signs that show touchscreens are poised to significantly increase their presence in the mobile handset market.

    Among them are recent announcements from the three largest mobile phone manufacturers which have highlighted a trend in the increased production of phones using touch technology.

    In July, LG revealed that it had sold 7 million touchscreen handsets. This announcement came just five quarters after LG launched its very first touchscreen mobile phone.

    Showing similar success, Samsung recently released the Instinct, a full touchscreen handset, through Sprint.
    Just one week after the launch, Sprint announced that the Instinct had already become the best selling EV-DO device in the carrier’s history.

    Not to be outdone, Apple reported selling 1 million of the new 3G iPhone handsets in just the first three days of its release.

    Femi Omoni , IMS Research analyst and report author, said the original iPhone was the catalyst that created this huge market interest in touchscreen phones.

    “The fact that it was not only popular with consumers, but also helped drive data revenues proved how important touchscreen handsets can be,” he said. “Now all of the network operators and handset manufacturers want a piece of the pie.”

    The impressive growth that IMS Research is predicting will not be driven solely by the smartphone segment either.

    According to the report Touchscreens & Input Technologies for Mobile Handsets, touchscreens will increasingly penetrate the much larger feature phone segment.
    In fact, Nokia just announced that its initial foray into the touchscreen market will be targeted at the “volume market” because that segment of the population is the largest consumer of mobile phones.

  • US iPhone 3G launch sales double first version

    Stocks of iPhone 3G still scarce as more than 500,000 sold in first week by AT&T

    A fortnight after the iPhone 3G was launched many Apple retail stores have no handsets in stock and lengthy queues form outside those that do.

    Now AT&T has provided frustrated buyers with further evidence that Apple’s latest handset is popular – the carrier has sold twice as many Apple iPhone 3G units upon launch as they did a year ago with the first generation iPhone.

    The company also noted that it had more than doubled its smartphone users year-on-year since June 2007, from 8 per cent to 18 per cent.

    Although official numbers have never been published by AT&T, it is generally estimated that 270,000 first generation iPhones were sold in the opening weekend after launch.

    Based on AT&T’s latest comments suggest at least 500,000 iPhone 3G units have been sold in the US by AT&T.
    That will be little consolation to many potential purchasers who have so far not been able to buy a 3G iPhone.

    AT&T also reported that they added 1.3 million new subscribers, pushing its user base to 72.9 million, making it the largest carrier in the US over Verizon.

    Apple will continue its iPhone 3G roll-out next month by releasing the touchscreen smartphone in 20 more countries.

    The second-generation iPhone has so far been launched in 22, with an estimated 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold globally in the first weekend after its release.

    With another 20 markets opening next month, Apple to take its tally up to 70 countries by the end of the year – with the goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.