Apple bags first place as top smartphone vendor (USA)

Apple Inc. has proved once again that it is still the world’s best vendor in terms of smartphones. Despite of the fact that Android phones are the new flavor of the season, Apple managed to take a decent lead with its iOS platform. It was the fourth quarter sales which changed the whole market scenario for Apple.

Apple Inc. overtook Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co. to become the top vendor of smartphones’ worldwide. Latter one managed to get a fifth position in the list behind ZTE Corp. As per market estimates, Apple sold 35.5 million smartphones to consumers in comparison to Samsung’s 34 million.

As per sources, the key reason behind the success of Apple was the increased sale of iPhone 4S and fragmentation of Android phones. Some of the credit for increase in the sale of Apple devices can be credited to its holiday sales as well.

The Android market diminished for vendors like Sony Ericsson, LG Electronics and HTC, however, new players in the market like ZTE got a place in the last few names. According to sources, Nokia trailed behind in its competition with Apple because of lack of innovation competitive with Apple’s devices. Third and fourth position in the vendor list was acquired by Nokia’s Symbian and Research in Motion (RIM) respectively.

Research unveils Mobile Industry Handbook

A research has released the ‘Worldwide Mobile Industry Handbook 2009-2014. Subscriber numbers for operators in 73 countries for the year 2007 to Q2 2009 are included in the study. It also has subscriber growth forecasts for the same countries for 2009 to 2014; quarterly mobile handset shipments 2007 to Q2 2009; and handset vendor market share 2007 to Q2 2009.

According to Portio, the handbook will enable readers to understand the value of the trillion dollar worldwide mobile industry; identify growth opportunities in key regional markets; understand the latest technology; and get a detailed insight into ARPU, churn rates, penetration and handset shipments.

The report is priced at £795 for a 1 – 5 user PDF team licence; £1,495 for a small or medium size PDF company licence; and £1,995 for a large corporate PDF unlimited licence.

Bango unveils True Cross-Platform In-App Billing Solution for Mobile App

Bango, Mobile Payment and analytics firm has unveiled an in-app billing solution that works across all mobile platforms. It offers a simple, unified way to monetize all mobile applications internationally.

App developers can collect one-time payments or start going ongoing subscriptions within their app using operator billing, credit cards or even PayPal. The aim is to provide consumers a simple and consistent application payment experience on operator networks as well as over Wi-Fi.

As per the company, developers can also sell content, virtual goods and add-ons from within their app, opening up a wide range of commercial opportunities.

In addition, the new solution makes it easy for developers to distribute trial versions of apps and later charge for an upgrade to the full version. Developers can use the solution to sell directly to their customers, without having to rely completely on app stores as their channel to market A recent Bango study found that 45% of developers plan to monetize their apps directly, in other words outside the app store.

In the opinion of Bango CEO Ray Anderson, converting browsers into buyers is the fundamental challenge for vendors trying to capture customers within app stores. Bango’s new in-app billing solution overcomes these issues by giving developers full control over the pricing and promotion of their applications.

Get Swype for Android

In a recent act, Swype is all set to make its interesting touchscreen keyboard available to select Android users in a limited beta.

Swype was created by the guys who invented T9 and it’s trying to be a new way for text input on touchscreen displays. Under this, instead of clicking on letters an individual can swipe his fingers in a continuous motion over the letter he wants.

Whatever an individual tries to write is quickly recognized by the software, even if he misspells it. If preferred traditional tapping method can also be used.

The company’s business model was originally licensing the technology to vendors, but the leaked versions have hit Android and it’s clear that there is some interest from the consumers as well. An individual can now sign up for beta and try it out for himself.  beta wont be having full features as the other one coming from an integrated handset maker but there will be limited customer support. An individual will be able to use it only if he has devices with HVGA and WVGA resolutions.

Get Swype for Android right now

In a recent act, Swype is all set to make its interesting touchscreen keyboard available to select Android users in a limited beta.

Swype was created by the guys who invented T9 and it’s trying to be a new way for text input on touchscreen displays. Under this, instead of clicking on letters an individual can swipe his fingers in a continuous motion over the letter he wants.

Whatever an individual tries to write is quickly recognized by the software, even if he misspells it. If preferred traditional tapping method can also be used.

The company’s business model was originally licensing the technology to vendors, but the leaked versions have hit Android and it’s clear that some interest from the consumers as well. An individual can now sign up for beta and try it out for himself. beta wont be having full features as the other one coming from an integrated handset maker but ther will be limited customer support. An individual will be able to use it only if he has devices with HVGA and WVGA resolutions.

India’s Mobile Market Subscribers to Top 350 Million by 2010, Says The Diffusion Group

The number of mobile subscribers in India is expected to grow from just over 100 million today to more than 350 million by 2010, an addition of 250 million subscribers in just four years, according to The Diffusion Group. The analysts predict that the evolving mobile markets in China and India will reshape the global telecommunications and technology landscape and realign market share among today’s mobile market leaders.

According to The Diffusion Group, China market is widely heralded as the most immediate and largest market opportunity for mobile vendors. India’s growth rate will be equally explosive. When combined, China and India — what TDG calls “New Asia” — have a population of approximately 2.5 billion people and comprise the single largest opportunity for mobile vendors in the history of mobile telecom.”While India’s mobile market growth will in many ways follow China, the reasons for its growth are very different,” noted Michael Greeson, founder of The Diffusion Group. “India continues to experience a level of poverty far deeper than China and has little in the way of fixed-line infrastructure to support telecommunications. More than half of India’s 700 million rural inhabitants have no access to residential electricity and must rely on community pay phones. It is because of this unique confluence of factors that mobile technologies make so much sense to both India’s government and to operators.”

As Greeson notes, modern mobile telecommunications technology offers developing nations a way to cover expansive ‘greenfield’ territories — in this case, areas bereft of home or personal telecommunications — in a faster and less expensive way than traditional fixed telecom infrastructure. Combined with the world’s lowest per-minute charges, inexpensive handsets, and the social status of mobile phone ownership, India’s mobile operators are preparing to exploit this opportunity.

Other key findings from TDG’s study of India’s mobile markets include the following:

  • Despite 12 years of deregulation, the number of fixed-line telecom subscribers has increased less than 15% in the last three years: from 41.5 million to 47.5 million, most of which has been confined to urban areas.
  • In India, the cost of installing new fixed lines is roughly three times the price of installing a mobile line.
  • As of early 2006, about half of all the towns and villages in India could receive a mobile signal. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has set a goal to reach 90% coverage by the end of 2006 – a very ambitious goal, but one that could be within reach given the steps that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Indian government have taken to enable competition and increase foreign investment.
  • Despite the fact that government taxes on mobile phone revenues are amongst the highest in the world, TDG expects that taxes, levies, and spectrum fees will be reduced to cover only the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund and administrative costs.
  • Given the rapid pace of growth, upgrading current infrastructure has taken a backseat to network expansion and quality of service in most areas is extremely poor.
  • Total mobile service revenue will increase over 170% from 2006 through 2010, which translates to a compound annual growth rate of 22.1%.

While India offers tremendous opportunity for mobile telecom vendors, exploiting these opportunities requires understanding India’s regulatory and business environment, as well as comprehending India’s unique social and demographic landscape.

About the market research report

TDG’s 65-page report, “India’s Mobile Markets – Analysis & Forecasts” (July 2006) by Thomas Wolf and Kambam Deepak with Michael Greeson, presents an in-depth analysis of the social, political, technological, and market forces that are shaping India’s telecom evolution and pushing mobile subscriptions to record levels. The report provides forecasts for total subscriber demand, an analysis of 3G subscriber growth, market share analysis among India’s mobile operators, and forecasts for mobile ARPU through 2010.

Source- http://www.tekrati.com

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