Apple continues to be front runner in tablet market: Gartner
Apple Insider reported on a special report released by research group Gartner on Sept. 22. According to this report, Apple will continue to have upper hand among its rivals in the tablet market this holiday season. The research says that media tablet sales will reach to 63.6 million units this year across the world, which is a 261.4% increase from 2010.
According to the prediction of the research firm, Apple will take over 73.4% of the market this year, which is still down from 83% in 2010. Android would secure second place with 17.3% share of sales which are expected to reach 11 million this year. Gartner expects that there would be no other platform which would be able to secure a 5% share of the market in 2011.
Gartner also told in its report that Apple would be running ahead for at least Gartner several more years, however, by the end of 2015, its market share will start to slide to 46%. According to the firm’s projections, Android will near Apple with 116 million tablet sales, sufficient for 35.6% market share.
Apple insider cited a report on one presentation in which Gartner had described Apple’s iPad as an “unstoppable train” in the enterprise.
Apple Insider quoted Gartner Research Vice President as saying:
“We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014. This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen. This allowed Apple to bring the iPad out at a very competitive price and no compromise in experience among the different models that offer storage and connectivity options.”
Samsung Floats Three 3G-Enabled Mobile Phones
The Times of India reported that Samsung introduced three 3G-enabled mobile phones called Samsung Champ, Samsung Chat and Samsung Primo priced between Rs. 5,590 to 6,590. With this, handset manufacturer has expanded its 3G portfolio.
Champ 3.5G is priced at Rs 5,590, Chat 527 comes at Rs 5,930 and Primo is priced at Rs 6,590. Citing a company statement, the news paper reported that the handsets are launched across the touch, Qwerty and bar type formats.
Champ has a 7.1-cm touch, 2 mega pixel camera and a 30MB internal memory which is expandable up to 16GB.
Samsung Chat 527 is comprised of an optical track pad, a 6.1-cm display, Qwetry keypad and supports external memory upto 16GB.
Samsung Primo has a 6.1-cm display, 5 mega pixel camera, a front facing VGA camera and supports up to 16GB expandable memory.
Now, with the launch of these 3 models, Samsung has 13 models in its 3G portfolio which ranges between Rs. 3,400 and Rs. 32,890.
The news paper quoted Samsung Country Head (Mobile and IT) Ranjit Yadav as saying: “Consumers increasingly want to stay connected with friends and family through SNS, IM and messaging while being on the move. With our array of affordable 3G devices across different mobile formats, we are making the 3G experience accessible to a wider set of consumers.”
Spice Mobility Too Launches 7-inch MiTab Tablet
The Times of India reported that Spice Mobility has joined the clan of those who has recently launched low cost tablets in India. The newly launched 7-inch tablet by Spice Mobility is called MiTab tablet which is priced at Rs. 12,990.
The tablet is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 MHz Turbo Processor. It has a screen resolution of 800 x 480 and will run Android 2.2 version. The tablet supports upto 32GB expandable memory.
It also has 2 megapixel camera at the back and a VGA camera for video calling. The tablet has built-in 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. The tablet will also support HTML browsing and Adobe flash player, the news paper reported.
Samsung files an appeal against German Court’s ban on sales of Galaxy 10.1 tablets
Bloomberg reported that the battle between the two companies – Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. – got intense as the latter filed an appeal against a German Court’s ban on the sales of its Galaxy tablet computers.
Citing a Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung, the news agency reported that the appeal filed yesterday in Dusseldorf court was in response to a Sept. 9 ruling that upheld a temporary ban on sales on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across the country. This ruling was issued one month ago.
Also, Samsung filed a cross claim with the Federal Court of Australia blaming Apple that its iPhone and iPad infringed seven patents related to wireless communications standards. Citing an e-mail from Samsung, the news agency said that the company is making efforts “invalidate” and “revoke” Apple’s patents that have been asserted against Samsung’s Galaxy phones and tablets in Australia.
Intel’s Thunderbolt will be Available on Microsoft’s Windows from Next Year
Citing the plans of Intel Vice-President and General Manager of the PC Client Group, Mooly Eden, at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2011 The Economic Times reported that Intel’s high-speed interconnect technology – Thunderbolt – would be available on Microsoft’s Windows operating system from next year.
Thunderbolt was launched earlier this year, and is exclusively available to transfer data between different computing devices at high-speed on Apple’s Mac computers. At IDF, Eden showcased a prototype of the Thunderbolt technology running on Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.
Microsoft representative also displayed latest Windows 8 operating system on an Intel-based Ultrabook device. While speaking to journalists later, Eden also told that it would be upto PC manufacturers to choose operating systems of their choice on the Ultrabooks as they are not going to be limited to Microsoft’s Windows platform.
In a response to a question whether Ultrabooks can have Android as their operating system and whether it may affect their association with Microsoft, the news paper quoted him as saying : “Our cooperation with Microsoft is great. But they are free to work with any of our rivals. Similarly, we (Intel) also work with different players. It finally depends on the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to decide on the operating system.”
Sony to float new PlayStation Vita hand-held games device in Japan
Citing Sony Corp’s head of Japanese games unit Hiroshi Kawano, Reuters reported that it will launch its new PlayStation Vita in Japan on December 17.
While talking to reporters a day ahead of the annual Tokyo Game Show, Kawano said that there will be no discount on this hand-held games device. The analysts see this as “flop” of competitor Nintendo’s 3Ds portable games gadget.
Last month, the company said that there was no need to reduce PS Vista’s price from the already declared price of 24,980 yen ($325)for a Wi-fi only model and 29,980 yen ($390)for a 3G plus Wi-fi version.
However, it reduced the price of its PlayStation 3 gaming console by a fifth. This is deemed as an effort to gain lost ground against rival Microsoft, which makes Xbox, the news agency reported.
Microsoft to Introduce Windows 8 to Regain Lost Battle Against Apple
Mashable reported that Microsoft will launch its next generation operating system Windows 8 at Microsoft Build conference on Sept. 13. According to the portal, this launching is the company’s effort to take back its lost status as the world’s most valuable company from Apple.
Mashable reported that it is the growing popularity of iPad that is bugging for Microsoft executives than the MacBook or Mac OS X Lion.
Microsoft’s Windows 8 is also built to work on tablets. Citing the sources familiar with the matter, the portal reported that the company may launch first Window’s 8 tablet which will be manufactured by Samsung. However, the device is designed “meticulously” by Microsoft as an effort to create the iPad alternative.
The Mobile Indian reported that Motorola is now ready to introduce Android 2.3 based touch and Qwetry phone on Sept. 12 in India. The phone is priced at Rs. 9,000. Citing a company spokesperson’s confirmation, the Mobile Indian stated that the phone would be called Motorola Fire.
This smart phone is already available on on line merchants like Letsbuy.com and Flipkart.com. The phone has a full Qwerty keypad and a 2.8 inch touchscreen. According to the portal, for a phone with keypad in a bar phone design, this is one of the largest touch screens.
Motorola also has two other touch and Qwetry phones to be launched – Charm and Flipout which are based on Android 2.1 version.
The latest version 2.3 on which Motorola Fire is based is optimized to give better user interface experience as well as support for Indian languages like Hindi. The phone has 600 MHz processor, 3G of upto 7.2 Mbps, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. Apart from these, it has a 3 mega pixel snapper without flash, external memory of upto 32 GB, external memory of up to 32 GB, a 1420 mAH battery which gives 2G talk time of up to 7 hours in “ideal conditions,” the portal reported.
According to Nokia’s official blog, both the mobile phone manufacturer and Microsoft are going to launch Symbian software updates called Microsoft Apps. The blog informed that these updates aim to add “some serious business productivity” tools for those who want to buy a new Symbian Belle device. They will also be accessible to those who want to upgrade from Symbian Anna to Symbian Belle.
The fourth quarter of 2011 will see this update rolling and it will be available in the consumer’s phones. Following are free applications that will be available:
- Microsoft® Lync™ 2010 Mobile – for cost efficient IM, presence, audio and web meetings on the move
- Microsoft® PowerPoint® Broadcast – quick broadcast of presentations directly from PC to mobile
- Microsoft® OneNote™ – rich note taking with images. Syncs with Microsoft® SkyDrive®
- Microsoft® Document Connection – single view to documents stored on mobile, including email attachments as well as documents on Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010 sites.
According to the blog, the second update would release in early 2012 and it will have Microsoft OneNote sync with SharePoint in addition to SkyDrive. It will also have Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint as native applications for the first time outside the Windows platform.
Philips bounces back with six new phones in Indian mobile handset market
The Times of India reported that the Phillips brand bought by Sang Fei Consumer Communications in 2007 bounced back into the Indian mobile handset market after with six models priced between Rs.1,700 to 8,200.
According to Moneycontrol, the six phones are X806, X518, X523, X116 and X121. The news paper reported that the phones are dual-sim handsets and they are based on energy-conserving Xenium technology. With this technology, the phones can be run for weeks without a recharge. Citing the company, the TOI stated that this feature and the brand name are likely to take the sales upto 1 million units by March next year.
The Times of India quoted the company’s chief executive Tan Jok Tin as saying: “We are seriously considering a local manufacturing facility (and) research and development unit. Once India sales hit 3 million a year, it will be appropriate for the company to set up a local manufacturing facility.”
Sang Fei is a subsidiary of China Electronics Corporation (CEC) and SED Group.
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