Android

Gartner: more than half of mobile apps will be HTML5/native hybrids by 2016

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

A convergence of mobile trends is setting the stage for a day when more than half of the applications will support both HTML5 and native iOS/Android environments. That's the word from research giant Gartner, who predicts companies must support multiple platforms as well as native features, such as mapping, cameras and location-based services. Additionally, the researcher forecasts brand-name smartphone makers could be pushed out of the low-cost market as countries such as China and India produce home-grown alternatives priced as low as $50...

Android market share falls 13 percent amid Apple increase

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

We have long believed that many Android devices wind up in desk drawers, gathering dust, while Apple gadgets go bopping around on the web. That suspicion was confirmed Friday morning by new browser data showing Android usage is down 13 percent while iOS use is up. The figures by Net Applications once more illustrate the many ways to pick winners and losers.

According to Net Applications, an Internet measurement firm that tracks browser usage, the percent of mobile browser using Android has fallen 13 percent after peaking at 28 percent in November 2012. By contrast, browsers on iOS rose since October 2012 following Apple introducing the iPhone 5 and iPad mini...

FTC issues app privacy guidelines, proposes ‘Do Not Track’ for mobile

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated November 9, 2023

A patchwork of online privacy measures should be standardized to form a 'Do Not Track' list for mobile app users. In guidelines issued Friday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission says mobile devices such as Apple's iPhone "facilitate unprecedented amounts of data collection."

Both devices and app developers should obtain users' consent before obtaining personal information such as location, photos or contacts. The set of guidelines accompanied Path's $800,000 settlement with the FTC over grabbing iOS users' personal address books without their consent...

iPad sales up 8M units in Q4, market share down 8 percent

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

New research shows number one tablet maker Apple shipped more iPads while also losing market share during the 2012 holiday fourth quarter. The company shipped nearly 23 million tablets during the period, a dramatic increase from the same time in 2011, when 15.1 million Apple tablets shipped.

At the same time, Apple's overall share of the tablet market fell for the second quarter in a row, slipping to 43.6 percent from 46.4 percent during the third quarter of last year - and down from 51.7 percent a year ago, according to IDC.

Apple ended the year with 48.1 percent year-over-year growth while number two tablet rival Samsung saw its growth more than double. A combination of Android and Windows-based tablet sales helped push the South Korean firm's share of the tablet market to 15.1 percent, up from 7.3 percent in 2011...

App Store income 3.5x Google Play’s in December

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 31, 2013

Examples keep appearing of how Apple is able to squeeze more revenue from its iPhone and iPad than rival Android. The latest data shows Apple's App Store earned 3.5 times more than Android's Google Play in December. Did I mention this happened despite Google Play doubling its quarterly revenue? The reason, according to App Annie, is the iPhone 5 and iPad mini - both popular holiday gifts and natural driver of App Store sales...

Adoption rate: iOS (60%) vs Android Jelly Bean (10%)

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2013

I just stumbled upon a nice post by Doug Hamlin highlighting how Android fragmentation seriously derails Google's ability to deploy the latest and greatest version of its mobile operating system to as many devices as possible, especially compared to Apple's iOS software. At the time of this writing, and based on Google's own numbers, Jelly Bean (both Android version 4.1 and 4.2) powers a total of 10.2 percent of devices in the wild. By contrast, 300 million Apple devices (out of 500 million) upgraded to iOS 6 and above in just five months...

Most iPhone owners pay over $100 a month to carriers

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

The next time you visit your local carrier asking for an iPhone, don't freak-out too much if the salesperson doesn't respond right away - it could be that loud 'ca-ching!' sound.

Nearly 60 percent of iPhone owners pay more than $100 per month to carriers - 10 percent paying more than $200 each month, according to a new survey released Wednesday.

By comparison, 55 percent of Android smartphone owners, 40 percent of BlackBerry owners and 56 percent of Windows Phone users have smartphone bills more than $100 per month, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners...

Microsoft’s cloud-based Office 365 hits Mac and Windows without iOS/Android support

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Microsoft is at last getting into game, offering its well-known Office suite of products for consumers increasingly turning to the cloud. Office 365 Home Premium provides all the familiar Office applications - including Word, Excel and PowerPoint - along with online storage and a free hour of Skype each month. At $99 per year ($80 for students and educators) the cloud-based application suite will work on up to 5 Macs, PCs and Windows tablets. Five years after Google launched rival Google Docs (now Google Drive), Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer proclaims Office 365 a key component in a "fundamental shift" for the company.

After making billions as a software company, Ballmer is rebranding Microsoft as a devices and services firm, a move some may view as too little and too late for Redmond...

Is Asia tiring of the iPhone?

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 28, 2013

Are iPhone owners going through the Asian version of the 7-year-itch? Once head over heels in love with Apple's iPhone, many consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong are straying, increasingly adopting Android devices. The iPhone could be a victim of its own success as some Asian Apple fans increasingly turn to Samsung as a way to show they are different from the crowd.

From Hello Kitty to crazy game shows, the West traditionally turns to the East for cutting-edge trends. The latest import could be a wave of anti-iPhone sentiment sweeping the Pacific Rim. One Asian nation has gone from one of the world's largest iOS markets to a doubling of Android devices. Are we witnessing the beginnings of 'iPhone fatigue?'...

Talk about duopoly: Apple, Android ship 92 percent of all smartphones

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 28, 2013

We've said it before, and yet another analyst confirms it: the smartphone market is a duopoly of Apple and Android. The two firms control 92 percent of the market, according to Strategy Analytics researchers. What does this mean? Of the 217 million smartphones shipped during the final quarter of 2012, 200 million were powered either by iOS or Android.

The concentration of the smartphone market in two hands is just the latest indication of an industry-wide consolidation. After mobile consumers in North America and Western Europe spent 2011 shifting from simple handsets to more capable phones, global smartphone growth in 2012 slowed to 43 percent from 64 percent...

The iPhone is now one-fourth of the world’s smartphone market

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Lost in all of the talk of Apple's declining profits was that the iPhone now accounts for a quarter of all smartphones shipped globally in 2012.

Although Samsung's triple-digit yearly growth-rate blinded many observers, Apple last year did eek out 47 percent growth.

It was enough to make Apple the only smartphone maker beside the South Korean firm to show any growth at all in 2012. Apple shipped 136.8 million iPhones in 2012, up from 93.1 million units in 2011, according to technology researcher IDC. Wednesday, Apple announced it shipped 47.8 million iPhones during the fourth quarter of last year...

Google contemplating making own smartwatch

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 24, 2013

Yesterday, Pebble Technology started shipping the first round of watches to its Kickstarter backers (a companion iOS app went live this morning). We also spotted a number of promising smartwatches at CES, like the iOS-friendly Cookoo, Casio's G-Shock and lots more. Even Apple is rumored to be collaborating with Intel on an iWatch and now Google is apparently considering making one as well...