Digital Lifescapes

Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems (OS) worldwide, combined for 92.3 percent of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13) -- as Windows Phone slowly crept past BlackBerry for third place. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), Google Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, that's up by 59.1 percent from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12. "Underpinning the worldwide smartphone market is the constantly shifting operating system landscape," noted Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC . Android and iOS accounted for more than the lion's share of smartphones in the first quarter, but a closer examination of the other platforms reveals turnaround and demand for alternatives. Windows Phone has benefited from Nokia's participation, and BlackBerry's new BB10 devices have already hit a ...

At Mobile World Congress this week, new attempts to create competing mobile device software ecosystems were announced. What are they up against? Google Android and Apple iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems (OS) worldwide, combined account for 91.1 percent of all smartphone shipments during the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12). According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 207.6 million units worldwide during 4Q12 -- that's up by 70.2 percent from the 122.0 million units shipped during 4Q11. For calendar year 2012, Android and iOS combined for 87.6 percent of the 722.4 million smartphones shipped worldwide -- that's up from 68.1 percent of the 494.5 million units shipped during calendar year 2011. "The dominance of Android and Apple reached a new watermark in the fourth quarter," said Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC . Android boasted a...

According to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media, almost two-thirds of the mobile phone handsets sold in China this year are powered by the Google Android operating system (OS). Did you know that China is the largest single market -- a third of all the Android devices sold in 2012 were to mobile network service subscribers in China? The U.S. is now the second-largest market for Android -- with an 11 percent share of the global market. Informa predicts that at least one in every two mobile phones sold in America in 2013 will be powered by the Android platform. "Despite the economic downturn, the global smartphone market is enjoying healthy growth and consumers are actually spending more to acquire more technologically-advanced devices," said explains Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media . It's estimated that around 786 million smartphone devices were sold in 2012 (including the devices powered by non-certified variants ...

Smartphones powered by the Google Android and Apple iOS mobile device operating system (OS) accounted for more than eight out of ten smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12). According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), these mobile OS leaders held shares of 59.0 percent and 23.0 percent respectively of the 152.3 million smartphones shipped in 1Q12. During the first quarter of 2011, the two operating systems held a combined share of 54.4 percent. The share gains mean that the Android and iOS mobile ecosystems have successfully distanced themselves from previous market leaders Symbian and BlackBerry, as well as Linux and Windows Phone 7 or Windows Mobile. "The popularity of Android and iOS stems from a combination of factors that the competition has struggled to keep up with," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC. "Neither Android nor iOS were the first to market with some of these features, but the way they...

As more consumers transition to smartphones that are intended for internet access, their device performance expectations evolve -- sometimes in ways that were not anticipated by device manufacturers or mobile network service providers. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , the rapid adoption and growth of smartphones -- and of other mobile computing devices -- have pushed the expectation needle for the ideal feature set to new levels. As a result, most handsets today already include a multitude of features like a digital camera, GPS, email capability, touchscreen, and speakerphone, among others. In-Stat's latest study of U.S. mobile phone service subscribers provides some insight into what features are included in respondents’ ideal phone. Surprisingly, 75 percent of the surveyed respondents included 4G in that category. It appears that the perceived need for greater broadband speed is apparent to most users. “Although 4G is an important feature for ...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its second quarter (2Q11) mobile broadband devices and subscribers report -- which tracks the market performance of smartphones, mobile broadband PC cards, embedded mobile broadband cards and devices, mobile broadband routers, and mobile broadband subscribers. "The clear synergy between smartphones and tablets, with their shared touchscreen features and common application environments, make them by far the hottest segments of the mobile broadband device market," said Richard Webb, Infonetics Research directing analyst for microwave and small cells. Just as Apple iPhone users are more likely to buy an iPad as their tablet, so too are Android users more likely to buy Android-based tablets. It is increasingly important for vendors to have a strong portfolio in both market segments to leverage this synergy. Highlights from Infonetics latest market study include: A total of $31.4 billion was spent on smartphones in 2Q11,...