Samsung receives 9 million pre-orders for Galaxy SIII (South Korea)
Samsung Electronics has received some 9 million pre-orders for its third-generation Galaxy S smartphone from more than 100 global carriers, according to a report by the Korea Economic Daily.
Samsung toppled Apple as the world’s biggest smartphone maker in the first quarter, helped by its line-up of Galaxy named devices running on Google’s free Android software. The latest version of its flagship phone, unveiled this month, will first go on sale on May 29 in Germany before being rolled out to other countries.
The newspaper, also said the company’s smartphone factory in South Korea was running at its full capacity of 5 million units per month.
Samsung is yet to make an official statement regarding the same.
Apple’s new iPhone may feature a 4 inch display screen (USA)
Rumours surrounding Apple’s new iPhone continue to do the rounds, with latest news revealing that the US giant has begun placing orders for the new displays from suppliers in South Korea and Japan, according to a report by ET.
As per the report, Apple plans to increase the size of the screen by around 30 percent, offering users a display screen of 4 inches from corner to corner. Early production of the new screens has begun at three suppliers: Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd, Sharp Corp and Japan Display Inc, a Japanese government-brokered merger combining the screen production of three companies.
A prime reason for the increased screen size is said to be a competitive response to rival Samsung, which recently launched the Galaxy SIII in London, featuring a 4.8 inch display screen.
Apple places chips contract with Elpida, Samsung loses $10 billion market value (USA, South Korea)
US giant Apple has placed huge chip orders with Japanese maker Elpida, causing Samsung shares to dip 6 percent resulting in a market value loss of $10 billion, according to a report by ET.
As per the report, Apple recently placed large mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) orders with Elpida’s 12-inch plant in Hiroshima, Japan, securing around half the facilities total chip production. Following this news Samsung’s shares, the world’s biggest DRAM maker, tumbled 6.2 per cent to a 9-week low of $1,100 – the stock’s biggest daily fall in nearly four years.
Analysts claim that this move came as Apple doesn’t want to see Samsung and hynix dominate the chip market. Apple wants to maintain its bargaining power by keeping Elpida running.
Samsung is yet to make an official statement regarding the same.
50.4% US customers use smartphones; Android accounts for 48.5% (USA)
According to a recent report by Nielsen, in March 2012 smartphones as many as by 50.4 percent of consumers in US were using smartphones over basic devices, with Android maintaining its dominant position, accounting for 48.5 percent of all smartphone handsets. Apple follows at 32 percent remaining the single-biggest smartphone handset brand.
However, the smartphone growth in US has been slow in the past three months, with a growth of only 3 percent from 47.8 percent in December 2011. The report also highlights that Asian Americans have the highest usage, at 67.3 percent, using a smartphone device.
Hispanics were in second place with 57.3 percent of the group using smartphones, with African Americans closely following with 54.4 percent. Whites had the lowest penetration of all, with 44.7 percent. A gender analysis revealed that in the U.S. 50.9 percent of females had smartphones, while among men it was 50.1 percent.
The real reason behind Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility (USA)
Google’s mobile operating software – Android – has resulted in it controlling a dominant position in the mobile phone market, beating rivals Apple and Nokia to the number one spot. The acquisition of Motorola Mobility further earned Google access to over 17,000 patents, enabling the internet giant to protect its Android software from patent infringements.
A report by CNET offers an insight into the possible opportunities offered by such a merger to users. As per the report, this deal may enable Google to be the first to offer smartphone devices that completely replace a user’s personal computer (PC).
In terms of smartphones, Apple and Samsung offer extremely competitive services. However, if Google was to make the jump towards a functioning PC on a mobile phone, Apple could find itself in a lot of trouble.
The report highlights the massive appeal such a gadget would offer business customers. Most companies are moving business apps to either the cloud or private browser-based apps. Webtop-enabled Android devices — if they are well-orchestrated — could take a big bite out of the corporate sales of Windows.
While the PC supported smartphone sounds very impressive, Google still has a long distance to cover before it achieves this feat.
Apple’s journey towards wireless services (USA)
Recent rumours doing the rounds show strong indication of US giant Apple moving towards offering wireless services to its iPad and iPhone users. According to a report by Gigaom, Apple will provide wireless service directly to its iPad and iPhone customers. First, Apple will sell data packages bundled with iPads. Then it will sell data and international roaming plans to iPhone customers through the iTunes Store. And in time Apple will strike wholesale deals with several mobile operators so that Apple can provide wireless service directly to its customers, as Apple Mobile.
With Apple’s increasing dominance in the smartphone arena, mobile operators are less likely to disagree with the company. As per the report, operators are less likely to refuse a deal offered by the iPhone maker out of fear that the same may be sold to a rival.
As revealed in the report, Apple filed a patent for “Dynamic Carrier Selection” on October 10, 2006, just a few months before Apple announced the first iPhone. The diagram in the patent application portrayed Apple as the wireless service provider connecting to multiple carriers. This would allow Apple to make wholesale cellular agreements with and connect to multiple carriers so it could offer its customers choices in carriers, plans and services. Apple has clearly put a lot of thought into its dynamic carrier selection architecture.
Further, Apple recently has been fighting with other handset vendors, including Nokia, over a new, smaller-sized SIM card for GSM and LTE handsets. According to some, such a SIM would allow Apple to bypass carriers entirely, and activate a new customer through the iTunes Store. Whether it uses the NanoSIM, virtual SIM or other variant, Apple could have the ability to activate and sell voice, data, messaging and roaming subscription plans before the ink dries on a carrier wholesale agreement.
Apple has all of the pieces necessary to offer wireless service directly to customers. They have the world’s leading brand, a loyal following who will pay a premium for Apple’s products and services, and 363 retail stores around the world, growing to 400 by the end of the year. And with iTunes, it has the digital content and billing platform to offer service with one-click simplicity. The infrastructure is in place today, with the patented architecture ready for Apple’s next big move.
iPhone customers typically spend as much as twice or more the U.S. national average monthly wireless bill, which was about $44 in the last year. So these are high value customers. And they buy apps and content – music, videos, TV shows and movies – through Apple today. By offering mobile service with iPhones and iPads, the company could provide the full Apple experience to its users.
BlackBerry removes physical keyboard from its new phone (Canada)
Canada based handset maker, Research In Motion (RIM), showcased the first look of its new phone on the BlackBerry 10 platform, at the annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando. According to reports, the device unveiled by CEO Thorsten Heins, excluded BlackBerry’s trademark feature of a physical keyboard and was a sleek touch screen device instead.
Heins said that they wanted a user paradigm that is easy and fast, adding that it is all about making things flow. Industry analysts reason that this may be an attempt by RIM to compete with smartphone giants Apple and Samsung, which have rapidly been dominating the global smartphone arena. However, the company plans to continue with phones including a physical keyboard as well.
However, reports reveal that the prototype unveiled failed to attract the investors. The shares for the company declined 5.7 percent during trading.
Apple may be looking to launch its own mobile data service (USA)
US giant Apple may be planning another surprise for its iPhone and iPad users. According to a report by Slashgear, Apple may be planning to offer mobile data services across the USA for the likes of the iPhone and iPad.
As per the report, Apple currently has more than a massive 250 million credit card numbers on file through iTunes, and iTunes has the ability to take payments just as easily as any mobile carrier in the United States today. The difference is that groups like Verizon and T-Mobile own their own spectrum. Apple would have to either have plans in place to purchase spectrum or would have had to already have purchased spectrum to make this work inside 2012 – and that’s not news you can easily keep under wraps.
Nokia Windows phone receives support from carriers (USA)
With the increasing dominance of iPhones and Android powered smartphones in the handset arena, wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless have been looking at phones from Nokia and Microsoft as alternatives, according to a report by BN.
As per the report, both carriers praised Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, which powers the new Nokia Lumia phone, when they reported quarterly results this month. AT&T began offering the Lumia 900 for $99.99 on April 8, and Verizon is preparing to add a new Nokia model to its lineup soon.
The operators are hoping that these handsets act as an alternative for users as devices such as iPhone can be more costly to subsidize. The companies also face the risk that an Apple-Google duopoly will erode carriers’ ability to distinguish themselves and will further squeeze their profit margins.
AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens told BN in an interview that they want the Lumia to succeed — they love to have competition in the handset market. It’s always better to have more choices for the customers.
