Nokia tops Ukraine handset market with 53% share
Estimate from Ukrainian distributor Yug-Contract shows that there were 8.7 million mobile handsets sold in Ukraine in 2010.
According to reports, Nokia leads the Ukrainian market with a 53% share, followed by Samsung with 36% and LG with 4%. Total sales of handsets reached US$1 billion in 2010, with the average price of a handset sold at US$115.54.
Cellular Communication introduces low-end handsets (Nepal)
Cellular Communication, Nepal’s handset distributor has launched three new low-end mobile handsets with long battery life.
It has launched a dual-GSM phones and a CDMA phone with internet phone and FM radio. With these handsets, the company is targeting customers who cannot afford high-end phones.
Cellular Communication is planning to launch multimedia phones as well as high-end phones with Wi-Fi and 3G support in the near future.
Mobile handset semiconductor content to approach $82 billion in 2015
A research report has unveiled that in 2010, the value of semiconductors used across all mobile handsets exceeded $55 billion and smartphones are a semiconductor manufacturer’s dream come true. These devices contain the latest semiconductor technology, shrunken-down to fit in your shirt pocket.
According to the research, it should not come as any surprise that mobile phone semiconductor component revenue will exceed $80 billion in 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 10.8%.
As per the researchers, while most handset component markets are growing in revenue, a few face significant challenges. For example, the baseband semiconductor content of non-smartphones is slowly decreasing, as all costs are being wrung out of non-smartphone chips, and volume increases are not enough to compensate for the loss per device. Bluetooth semiconductor revenue in handsets is another area that is actually shrinking, as the Bluetooth function is integrated with other functions.
The research found that
- Over 60 semiconductor companies worldwide produce semiconductor components for mobile phones
- Revenue from smartphone processors, Wi-Fi, GPS, touchscreen controllers, gyros, and pico projectors will grow much faster than the average
- Smartphones are expected to make up 45.3% of all handsets shipped by 2015
- Semiconductor revenue associated with accelerometers and/or gyros will exceed $300 million by 2014
Nokia leads in Pakistan
Nokia is considered the market leader in terms of mobile handsets being used to access the Internet in Pakistan.
According to a research, of an estimated 5 million mobile customers using GPRS/EDGE services in Pakistan, a sizeable 74% use phones based on the Finnish company’s Symbian operating system.
While Nokia is struggling to retain market share elsewhere in the world new statistics from a research company showed its Western European market share fell by six percentage points on-year to 33% in Q4 2010 its position has remained relatively solid in Pakistan; the vendor lost just two percentage points of share in the year to February 2011, despite growing competition from the likes of Apple.
Apple’s iOS is Symbian’s closest rival in Pakistan, but with a share of 8% in February it remains a long way behind. Sony Ericsson comes in third with 5% of the market.
Nokia, Alpine shake hands for in-car systems, maps
Nokia and Alpine have joined hands for bringing the strength of a smartphone to in-car systems. The technology is dubbed Terminal Mode†and it connects your Nokia handset with the car’s system via Bluetooth and USB. Though many cars can connect to phones, this enterprise will lead to deeper integration that can provide entertainment, compatibility with applications and bring Ovi Map to your vehicle.
However the question is why should one opt for this? Ovi map is a device which can compel you to ditch your personal navigation device. While the visuals will pop up on the car’s screen, the voice directions will come through the speaker of your car.
Though car navigation is almost table stakes now, it will let you use certain smartphone apps with your car. From weather, news to RSS apps everything will be on your car’s screen and you can continue with those as your leave the vehicle. Location based service are also in the pipe-line and according to Alpine this could lead to things like mobile coupons- a gas station could shoot fuel discounts for instance.
According to Vishal Chatrath, head of product development for Nokia automotive, the infotainment system of a modern car is a natural extension for the capabilities of smartphones. It will not only simplify the use of turn-by-turn voice guidance from Ovi Maps but also enable an easy access to other content on the smartphone like music, and delivering automotive specific widgets from the OVI Store.
Google: smartphones to make desktops irrelevant in three years
According to Google VP of global ad operations, John Herlihy, desktops will become irrelevant in the coming three years. In a digital landscapes conference, he made it clear how important the mobile space is to the search giant. He mentioned that smartphones will make desktops second-class citizens in three years, echoing what Eric Schmidt said last month at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona.
Herlihy is of an opinion that Google’s number one concern is the mobile market now. Google has versions of its programs and apps for nearly every mobile platform, its Android operating system is gaining traction and it began selling its own hardware with the Nexus One.
He mentioned that mobile makes the world’s information universally accessible. Search will become more important because there is more information and it will be hard to shift through it. This step will create new opportunities for entrepreneurs to create new business models.
Samsung SCH-W890 dual-DMB: a phone for Korean TV addicts
Samsung is all set to launch a new device in its domestic market. The name of the model is SCH-W890 and it will be sold through SK Telecom. The device will be in the shape of a clamshell and will come with specs that will include a 2.8-inch WQVGA display, 2-megapixel camera along with front-facing camera for video calls, Bluetooth, text-to-speech capability, SOS function, Subway Maps and media player.
The SCH-W890 rocs support for both satellite and terrestrial DMBs for South Korean mobile TV viewers. In other words an individual will have his mobile phone even in places where terrestrial signals can’t reach him. Mobile TV is a big thing in South Korea and Japan and efforts have been made to push such a service in the U.S. and Europe but so far there has been no success.
Droid Eris gets Sense 2.1 through leaked ROM
If you are a Droid Eris owner who had been waiting impatiently for the updated Sense UI running on top of Android 2.1, you have a reason to cheer up. A recent leaked ROM found its way on the XDA forums. The official update though will come very soon.
It so happened that right after the ROM was released onto the XDA forums many users reported that the update was not functioning. Though the zip file contained the update but it seemed to be corrupted. Soon after that the devs got after it, patched the file and then it started working.
Some things have been left out of the 2.1 update, most notably, live wallpapers since this is the update for s first-generation device. The reason behind not implementing live wallpapers into this update was that the Eris was only running on a 528 MHz processor, so in case live wallpapers were implemented into this update, it would have blogged the device down.
Not having live wallpapers is not a big deal as they serve no purpose other than looking cool and draining the battery.
Verizon has confirmed that the Eris will be receiving the Android 2.1 update at some point in the first quarter of the year. It the month of March, thus there is little time to wait for the official update. All an individual can do is hope that it doesn’t erase the entire device this time.
Samsung targets 30% of the European market this year
Samsung, the world’s second-largest handset maker after Nokia has set up ambitious plans for the European market. The company is looking forward to grab at least 30% market share in Europe this year.
According to the Senior Executive Vice President of the company Sang Heung Shin, the company would like to break 30 percent market share this year. It will sell more handsets in Europe in 2010. They expect two digit growth both in revenue and sales value.
The company has planned to get an extra boost from high-end margin smartphones.
The company is all set to aggressively market the Wave, which relies on their own bada platform. The new device along with the platform which was officially unveiled at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona though failed to impress many.
However the company is expecting to hear more from its other products such as Symbian, Android and Windows Mobile smartphones.
According to the last years data the Korean giant managed to move 54 million handsets in Europe, representing 25% of the market. Altogether Samsung sold 227 million in the year 2009 and is still looking forward to expand he figure to 270 million this year.
HTC Incredible to be launched soon
First there were the photos and then a video of the HTC Incredible. The device is right around the corner and is all set to be launched.
Wrapped in black and red, this device is bound for Verizon at some point. Though initially, as per the rumors the Incredible was slated to be launched on March 23rd, now it can be expected to be launched sometime in May. The hardware will be sporting the same AMOLED screen found in Nexus One and Desire. It is being anticipated that because of this, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) may have delayed its release to May following the problems surrounding the Nexus One’s multi-touch capabilities.
Though the exact launch of Nexus One in a CDMA flavor is expected to be near future, the incredible has few tricks up its sleeve to eclipse it. The handset will be available for try before you buy unlike the Nexus One’s ‘buy first and see if you like it’ approach. However the biggest difference between the two devices is that the Incredible will have HTC’s custom Sense UI on board, besting the look and feel of the Nexus One.
Unless and until you want a keyboard the HTC Incredible is all set to decimate the Motorola Droid.
