Mobile analytics company Chitika has been keeping a running tally of just how many iPhones are running on both AT&T and Verizon. Using the data flowing across its ad network, the company has calculated that almost 1 out of every 8 iPhones in the U.S. — 12.4% — are now running on Verizon Wireless’ network. Just one month ago, Verizon only had a 3% share of U.S. iPhones. Apple’s smartphone has been available on Verizon for just over thirty five — it will be interesting to see if Verizon’s iMomentum can be sustained over the next thirty days. More →
While speaking with blog Phone Scoop, AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom acknowledged his company’s plans to support the mobile hotspot feature available in iOS 4.3. “To utilize this feature, customers will need to subscribe to the DataPro 4GB, $45 tethering data plan,” said Bloom. The $45, DataPro plan is currently required by iPhone customers looking to tether their device via USB or Bluetooth. Apple will make iOS 4.3 available to the public on March 11th. Bloom did not indicate whether the feature would be supported then, on day-one, but we can’t imagine too much lag time (especially since some iOS 4.3 beta users have it working now). How many of you AT&T users are going to shell out an extra $20 a month for some Wi-Fi hotspot action? More →
Today, RIM and Amazon.com launched Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry smartphones, giving BlackBerry smartphone users in the U.S. access to Amazon’s catalog of over 14 million songs. Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry smartphones allows users to browse, preview, download, store, and tell friends about their favorite music all at the touch of a fingertip.
Key features include:
- Download music via Wi-Fi or over the air (OTA)
- Browse by what’s new, deals, top songs, top albums, genres, and sub genres
- Check back every day for the Free Song of the Day and Daily Deal album
- Preview a 30-second sample before you buy
- Tell friends about your favorites via BBM, email, SMS, Socials Feeds, Facebook, and Twitter
- Bookmark a song and come back to it whenever you’re ready for a preview or download.
- Integrated with BlackBerry smartphone features and functions, including Universal Search and Media Library
Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry smartphones is available in beta for BlackBerry users in the U.S. on BlackBerry App World in the Test Center. For more information , please visit http://www.blackberry.com/amazonmp3. More →
A recent report filed by Reuters aims to shed some light on how online retail giant Amazon plans to commandeer market share of digital-music downloads from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The current state of music downloads in the U.S. has AmazonMP3 with a 1.3% market share, while Apple’s iTunes holds a 26.7% share. To try and narrow this market gap, Amazon is doing what it does best: deep discounting. The online retailer’s Daily Deal has been a huge success in boosting sales. Recently, the company offered Kanye West’s new album — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy — for $3.99 on its release date. Amazon reportedly sold 59,000 digital copies of the new album, while iTunes sold 163,000. The less than 3 to 1 gap in sales is notably impressive.
Not everyone thinks the strategy can succeed. A “senior major-label distribution executive” was quoted as saying, “Amazon is growing, but they are growing in millimeters,” and went on to speculate that the strategy “doesn’t seem scalable.”
Amazon does have a broader price advantage over Apple as new tracks sell for 99-cents on the company’s site; new tracks in iTunes sell for $1.29. Amazon also has 100 albums on-sale for $5 every month. What digital music store are you using?
Here’s a bit of good news for Android enthusiasts: as of December 1st, 83% of Android devices are now running OS version 2.1 or higher. The numbers, which come directly from Google’s developer analytics, show the progress the Big G is making in getting the wide-variety of handsets in market updated to newer code. As you can see from the above chart, the majority of handsets are now running Google’s latest mobile OS version, Android 2.2. While the nature of the mobile market will always be prohibitive to 100% of in-market devices on a single OS version, it is nice to see the lion’s share of handsets on a more recent, modern code — a favorite party-line of Android detractors is to call the platform “fragmented.” Hit the read link to check out the full article. More →
Analytics company ComScore has released its October search engine market share numbers and… instead of making you fire up your search-site of choice and finding the information yourself, we thought we would just put it right there for you. October’s search numbers are as follows: Google 66.3%, up from 66.1% in September; Bing 11.5%, up from 11.2% in September; Yahoo 16.5%, down from 16.7% the month prior; Ask.com 3.6% down 0.1% from the previous month; and AOL 2.1%, down from 2.3%. We are curious to see how/if the recent release of Windows Phone will help Bing’s search numbers. We’ll find out next month.
New estimates released Thursday by Japanese market research firm BCN place the Samsung Galaxy S at the top of Japan’s smartphone charts. The powerhouse it displaces is none other than Apple’s 32GB iPhone 4 — a handset that took Japan by storm when it launched earlier this year. For 18 weeks straight, the iPhone 4 had been Japan’s top seller. In its debut week, however, the Galaxy S managed to take the top spot, though only when considering the 32GB and 16GB iPhone models individually. Whether or not the Android 2.2-powered smartphone can maintain pace remains to be seen, but Samsung should certainly be pleased that it has a hit on its hands in Japan.
[Via 9 to 5 Mac] More →
As is customary at every Apple event, the company provided a recap of where its business is before letting the world know where it is going. Steve Jobs handed the stage to CFO Tim Cook to provide that information on the Mac platform. Here are the highlights:
- Mac makes up 33% of Apple’s revenue ($22 billion in FY 2009)
- If Mac sales were made into their own company it would be #110 on Fortune 500 list
- 13.7 million Macs were sold in FY 2010 (three times greater than those sold in 2005)
- Mac OS X install-base is just shy of 50 million users
- Last quarter Mac sales grew 27% year-over-year (market grew at 11%)
- Mac U.S. consumer market share is 20.7%
- 600,000 registered Mac developers, growing at 30,000 per month
It certainly was a good day for Cupertino-based electronics company, Apple Inc. The company’s stock hit an all-time high of $301.96 per share — before closing at a more modest $300.14 per share — and, according to Gartner research, Apple now holds 10.4% of U.S. computer sales.
Market analytic firm Gartner is reporting that U.S. PC sales grew by roughly 2.2% from Q3 in 2009 to Q3 in 2010. In that same time period, Apple PC shipments increased by 13.7% to total 1.83 million units. Apple is now positioned fourth in shipments amongst U.S. PC manufacturers, trailing third-place Acer by roughly 17,000 units. HP and Dell hold the number one and two spots respectively and collectively account for over 50% of U.S. PC sales.
Gartner’s study isn’t all flowers and lollipops for Apple. The iCompany did not manage to break into the top six vendors in worldwide PC shipments for Q3; the top six companies are (in order): HP, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Toshiba. The worldwide PC market grew 7.6% year-over-year.
If the lack of international mojo has the folks in Cupertino feeling a bit inadequate, just remember this: your market capitalization is currently $274.2 billion… that’s just over a quarter of a trillion dollars and more than double the market caps of HP and Dell combined. More →
If you’re an Android fan with a complex, and need to be reassured that your smartphone OS doesn’t suck, listen up. The Nielsen Company has just released a study indicating that Android was the most popular smartphone operating system purchased in the U.S. over the past six months. Android gobbled up 32% of new smartphone purchasers, followed by RIM at 26% and Apple at 25%. Android still ranks third in over-all system share with 19%; RIM has 31% and Apple has 28%. Huzzah Android fans! Keep the gloating to a minimum in the comments. More →
Electronics research firm Gartner is predicting that: “The worldwide mobile operating system market will be dominated by Symbian and Android, as the two OSs will account for 59.8 percent of mobile OS sales by 2014.” The study goes onto predict that Android will oust BlackBerry maker Research In Motion from the number two spot at some point this year and will contest Nokia’s mobile OS — Symbian — for the top spot in 2014. Gartner writes:
Gartner predicts that by 2014, open-source platforms will continue to dominate more than 60 percent of the market for smartphones. Single-source platforms, such as Apple’s iOS and Research In Motion’s OS, will increase in unit terms, but their growth rate will be below market average and not enough to sustain share increase. Windows Phone will be relegated to sixth place behind MeeGo in Gartner’s worldwide OS ranking by 2014.
We’ve got the full article linked up for you. Let us know what you think. More →
Quantacast has released their mobile web consumption numbers for August 2010, and Android continues to perform extremely well. The study shows that the Android web market-share grew 2.0% from July to August and has grown 5.5% on the quarter. The jump gives Android a 25% share of all mobile web consumption. Apple’s iOS dropped 0.3% from July to August, however, iOS is still the front-runner with 56% of all mobile web consumption. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion registered 10% of the mobile web pie; a pie that will continue to grow as more and more people adopt and use smartphones.
[Via MobileBurn] More →
Net Applications has released their report on global browsing usage numbers for iOS, Android, and Linux. The numbers show that from October of 2009 to August of 2010, both Android and iOS steadily increased their browser usage share, while Linux was mostly stagnant or declining. As of August 2010, iOS held 1.13% of global browser usage, Android held 0.20%, and Linux held 0.85%. To be frank, the fact that iOS holds a larger global browser share than Linux is a bit surprising. Hit the read link to see the detailed numbers with month by month breakdown.
[Via 9to5Mac] More →