Worldwide smartphone shipment rise

Worldwide smartphone shipments are expected to surpass the 1 billion unit mark in 2013, representing a 39.3 per cent growth over 2012. In addition, by 2017, total smartphone shipments are expected to approach 1.7 billion units, resulting in a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4 per cent from 2013 to 2017, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC).

Not surprisingly, the Asia Pacific region alone has a 52.3 per cent market share (and accounts for over half of the total smartphone shipments), followed by Europe and North America that account for only 18 and 15 per cent respectively. From a volume perspective, emerging markets including Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa (MEA) will all post market-beating growth rates from 2013 to 2017.

According to the IDC’s forecasts, by 2017, Asia Pacific’s market share will further increase to 58.3 per cent, while Europe and North America’s share will decrease to 15.5 and 11.2 per cent, respectively (see table below). Although developed markets will see market share erosion, they will nonetheless see volume increases during the same time period.


Demand for cheaper smartphones

Despite a number of mature markets nearing smartphone saturation, the demand for low-cost computing in emerging markets continues to drive the smartphone market forward. And while a number of trends co-exist in the global smartphone market, none has more of an affect on driving market growth than the steady decline in average selling prices (ASPs).

“The game has changed quite drastically due to the decline in smartphone ASPs. Just a few years back the industry was talking about the next billion people to connect, and it was assumed the majority of these people would do so by way of the feature phone. Given the trajectory of ASPs, smartphones are now a very realistic option to connect those billion users,” said Ryan Reith, program director with IDC’s worldwide quarterly mobile phone tracker.

In 2013, IDC expects smartphone ASPs to be $337 (Rs 21,049), down 12.8 per cent from $387 (Rs 24,172) in 2012. This trend will continue in the years to come and IDC expects smartphone ASPs to gradually drop to $265 (Rs 16,552) by 2017. ASPs in the emerging markets will post single-digit CAGR declines from 2013 to 2017, led by Asia/Pacific (see table below). This will enable more users to afford smartphones for the first time, and in many cases, allow users to bypass purchasing feature phones altogether and go straight to smartphones.


“The key driver behind smartphone volumes in the years ahead is the expected decrease in prices. Particularly within emerging markets, where price sensitivity and elasticity are so important, prices will come down for smartphones to move beyond the urban elite and into the hands of mass market users. Every vendor is closely eyeing how far down they can price their devices while still realising a profit,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s mobile phone team.

Smaller vendors lead the way

The Android operating system has enabled a number of new manufacturers to enter the smartphone market and many of these handset vendors have focused on low-cost devices as a way to build brand awareness.

In India, while big guys like Samsung and Nokia still dominated the market, their share has been steadily dropping, mainly driven by intense competition from local vendors. Among the local vendors, most of the larger ones (like Micromax, Karbonn, Intex and Lava, etc.) have successfully transitioned their lead in feature phones to smartphones. In fact, they accounted for over half of the total smartphone market in the second quarter of 2013.

In addition, according to a report released by CyberMedia Research (CMR), India’s overall handset shipments in the third quarter of 2013 (July-Sept 2013) crossed the 69.2 million unit mark, recording a year-on-year growth of 10.9 per cent. While the smartphones segment recorded a 152 per cent Y-o-Y growth, the feature phone segment witnessed its first ever negative Y-o-Y growth of 0.8 per cent in the Indian mobile handset market.

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

Sydney smartphone brand launches six tough devices

Australian smartphone and tablet vendor Aspera has launched a range of inexpensive water-and-shock resilient devices.

The company, whose flagship R5 smartphone will retail for $399, is looking to build reseller relationships in Australia.

Six high-visibility coloured devices were launched in all, each rated IP67 for protection against non-corrosive liquids and dust.

Four of the devices are dual-sim mobiles: two Android 4.1 smartphones and a pair of feature phones.

Rounding off Aspera's range is a 3G Android tablet and a battery power pack.

The top of the range Aspera R5 smartphone features a quad-core 1.2Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and accommodates expandable microSD memory. Its screen spans 4-inches, has a resolution of 854-by-480 and the smartphone has a rear 8MP camera, along with a 1.3MP front facing camera.

Common design features include body joins re-enforced with screws, protective seals over the charging port, toughened scratch resistant glass and rugged outer body for shock absorption.

Aspera has an exclusive distribution agreement with Scholastic Australia. 

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

Smartphone Fireball App

Researchers have designed a smartphone app that sends back information to users about their meteor sightings.

Called Fireballs in the Sky, it was developed by a team at Curtin University in Australia.

The app can return details on what created the fireball and where it came from in the Solar System.

Prof Phil Bland, who helped develop the app, said it could be used from anywhere in the world.

"If we get enough observations we can determine a trajectory and send that information back to you - for instance, you might get a message that the rock that made your fireball came from the outer asteroid belt, or that it was a chunk of a comet," he commented.

Users are asked to point at the sky where they think the fireball started and click on their phones. Then they are asked to do the same for where they think it ended.

Prof Bland told BBC News that the app used a phone's accelerometer, GPS, and compass to provide data of sufficient quality that it could be used to create a crowdsourced smartphone fireball network.

"Essentially, members of the public can help us track anything that's coming through the atmosphere," he said.

With enough observations the team can work out where the fireball came from and send that information back to users.

"Its wonderful to see one of these things; its even more amazing to know where the object that made your fireball came from in the Solar System," Prof Bland said.

The app was the brainchild of the Desert Fireball Network, a Curtin University project designed to track down meteorites as they fall to Earth, by capturing meteors and fireballs on camera.

The researchers have placed cameras in various remote locations throughout Australia. And capturing fireballs in images as they streak through the sky allows the team to calculate the orbit and origin of meteorites - and to determine where they have landed.

Researchers did similar analysis to track the origins of the Chelyabinsk asteroid that broke up over Central Russia earlier this year.

"Australia is a really great country for meteorite searching because it is flat and there's not much vegetation or grass around, making it easy to see a small black rock on the ground," Prof Bland, who leads the Desert Fireball Network, explained.

The free app was produced in collaboration with the software company ThoughtWorks and Curtin Geoscience Outreach.

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

Cheap Smartphones In The USA

NEW YORK (AP) — Motorola will start selling a cheap smartphone in the U.S. more than a month ahead of schedule.

The company says it was able to produce the Moto G phones faster than expected. The U.S. launch was initially planned for January. But it is going on sale Tuesday.

The phone starts at $179 without a contract requirement. That compares with $600 or more that people must typically pay for high-end phones without traditional two-year service agreements.

With the Moto G, Motorola is trying to offer a device that is closer to what's currently available on leading high-end phones, although it won't work on the faster 4G LTE networks.

The version out Tuesday will work only with GSM networks, the type used by AT&T, T-Mobile and most carriers around the world. It won't work with Verizon and Sprint, which have CDMA networks. Verizon says it will offer the CDMA version early next year. There's no immediate word on Sprint's plans.

The phone's 4.5-inch screen, measured diagonally, is capable of high-definition video, but only at 720p, not at the better, 1020p standard found in leading phones. The resolution is 329 pixels per inch, which is comparable to the 326 pixels in the latest, 4-inch iPhones but short of the 441 pixels in Samsung's 5-inch Galaxy S4.

The $179 price is for a phone with 8 gigabytes of storage, not the 16 gigabytes typical with high-end phones. A 16-gigabyte version is available for $199. The rear camera can take images at 5 megapixels, which is less than leading phones.

In the U.S., Motorola is targeting so-called prepaid accounts. Under those plans, customers pay for devices up front, but are not tied to two-year service agreements. Credit-challenged customers who don't qualify for traditional plans often sign up for prepaid accounts.

Motorola is owned by Google Inc. Moto G, however, won't get Google's latest Android operating system, Kit Kat, until early next year.

The phone launched two weeks ago. It's currently available in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Britain, Germany, France and Canada.

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

New Smartphone Porsche Design BlackBerry launched

Porsche Design and BlackBerry today announced the launch of new, all-touch Porsche Design P’9982 Smartphone from BlackBerry.

Uniquely designed and expertly crafted, the P’9982 is exquisitely fashioned from high-quality materials and features a customised version of the BlackBerry 10.2 Operating System to give customers the ultimate personal experience.

The new smartphone will be unveiled at an exclusive event in Dubai tonight (November 24).
The P’9982, which extends the Porsche Design luxury brand’s range of modern luxury smartphones, features a satin finished frame forged from the finest quality stainless steel, complemented by a hand-wrapped genuine Italian leather back door. Distinguishable by its special series of PIN numbers, owners of the P’9982 will be instantly recognizable in the exclusive world of Porsche Design smartphone owners. The smartphone carries Porsche Design’s luxurious, iconic styling uniquely through the BlackBerry 10 experience to give customers an exquisite handset purposely built to excel at mobile communications, messaging and productivity, said a statement.

“Engineered Luxury meets Powered Performance – what has been true for the first Porsche Design smartphone is even truer for the all-touch P’9882,” said Juergen Gessler, CEO of the Porsche Design Group. “Once again the collaboration with BlackBerry has led to a device that implements our Iconic Style credo without compromises. With the P’9982 we extend our range of modern luxury smartphones and establish ourselves as a market leader in this segment.”

“The new all-touch P’9982 smartphone combines a unique design from an iconic brand with the power of BlackBerry 10,” said Nick Horton, managing director of Middle East and North Africa at BlackBerry. “Every aspect of this smartphone has been purposely designed and built for a powerful premium experience.”

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

Kitkat Android Update For Your Smartphone

There is some good news in store for Motorola users. The Google owned company has announced several of its older smartphones which are in line to join the Android 4.4 Kitkat brigade. By next year users will see up to 10 smartphones getting Kitkat 4.4 update as mentioned on Motorola’s support website.

Moto X update came just three weeks after the launch of the new OS. Update for regular and developer edition and has already begun on Verizon. That makes Verizon’s Moto X the first Moto X model to be updated to KitKat. This surely is an indication that other U.S. and international Moto X versions will receive the eagerly awaited update soon.

Verizon users on contracts can rejoice. Motorola’s website states that Verison’s Droid RAZR HD (both regular and developer edition) Droid RAZR MAXX HD, Droid RAZR M (regular and developer edition), DROID Ultra, DROID Maxx, DROID Mini,  will all be getting an Android 4.4 KitKat upgrade very soon.

It doesn’t stop here. Surprisingly, Motorola’s Electrify M for US Cellular and Atrix HD for AT&T will also get Android 4.4 Kitkat. The developer edition of Atrix HD will have to be content with Jelly Bean as of now. Since the developer version of Atrix HD isn’t getting a 4.4 update we can’t rule out that this is a mistake.

Although there hasn’t been any official communication on the actual release of the software upgrades, we believe the detailed timelines will soon be made official by the company.

It doesn’t come as a surprise to see Google pushing the new OS to older devices of Motorola as Kitkat has been especially optimized to work on older models to reduce fragmentation.

Motorola has also announced a Trade Up program for users who own old Motorola devices. All you have to do is return your old Motorola device and get a rebate of $100 on a Moto handset (Jelly Bean) which would be updated to Kitkat soon.

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

Shares In Sharp Soare

TOKYO: Shares in Japanese electronics maker Sharp soared more than eight percent Friday on reports it was boosting production of smartphone screens bound for China, after ending part of a troubled alliance with Taiwan's Hon Hai.

Investors cheered news that the display maker was going to ramp up output of its energy-efficient IGZO panels to go in smartphones produced by Chinese telecom giant ZTE.

 The volatile stock soared 8.08 percent to 321 yen in the morning session at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, far outpacing the Nikkei index, which added a healthy 1.23 percent.

China's smartphone market is the world's largest after it overtook the United States last year. 

It is crowded with major foreign brands such as Samsung Electronics and Apple as well as powerful homegrown players such as Lenovo.

Sharp's rise Friday came after the leading Nikkei business daily said it would use a Japanese plant that has been pumping out screens for Apple to also supply ZTE.

Separate reports Thursday said Sharp and Apple-supplier Hon Hai Precision agreed to end a plan to make and sell smartphones under the Sharp brand in China, which had been part of a wider tie-up announced last year.

The decision was based on concerns about the pair's prospects in the busy Chinese market.

Japanese brands also took a hit after a Tokyo-Beijing territorial dispute sparked riots in China last year and a boycott of Japanese goods.

In March last year, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou agreed to invest in Sharp's most advanced Japanese LCD panel factory, which mainly makes large television panels. 

At the time, Hon Hai had also planned to buy a 10 percent stake in Sharp, but that deal stalled after the Japanese firm's shares plunged and Hon Hai decided not to buy the stake.

Sharp has been undergoing a huge restructuring to pare losses largely tied to its ailing electronics business. (AFP)

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

New Samsung High Resolution Smartphones Next Year

While the Galaxy S4's display was impressive, it looks as thoughSamsung isn't content just yet and could release smartphones with higher resolutions next year. It is being reported by O l E D who cited Samsung Display CEO Kinam Kim, that the smartphone manufacturer is set to make displays with 560ppi for 5-inch screens.

This would mean that Samsung's future smartphones would pack a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440, which is pretty spectacular. To put it in perspective, the Galaxy S4 has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 and 441ppi, while the iPhone 5s has a resolution of 1,136 x 640 and 326ppi. 

No specific handset has been linked to these high-quality displays, but one would expect the Galaxy S5 to be towards the top of the list of handsets to feature them. Of course, we are at a stage where additional pixels per inch don't actually mean anything to the human eye. But it certainly looks good when releasing press releases and advertising campaigns.

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk

Problems With Vodafone UK Systems

It seems apparent that Vodafone for some time now have been having huge problems with there computer systems that run the Vodafone network.

I am on Vodafone the first problem i encountered was when i ordered an internet pack, i waited and waited for my internet to arrive and run my Smartphone applications but hours later still no internet.

I then rung up Vodafone to ask why they had not put my internet on, this is what i was told, "we are having problems with our systems we have a system wide fault"

The next problem was one of my trusted friends who tried there I.O.U because he was miles away in the middle of no where, but when he tried to make a call the Vodafone system said he had no call credit.

I will give Vodafone there dues they did give him some free call credit, till they fixed the problem, same with me i got £20 pounds free for the inconvenience.

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.com

New Samsung High Resolution Smartphones Next Year

While the Galaxy S4's display was impressive, it looks as thoughSamsung isn't content just yet and could release smartphones with higher resolutions next year. It is being reported by O l E D who cited Samsung Display CEO Kinam Kim, that the smartphone manufacturer is set to make displays with 560ppi for 5-inch screens.

This would mean that Samsung's future smartphones would pack a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440, which is pretty spectacular. To put it in perspective, the Galaxy S4 has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 and 441ppi, while the iPhone 5s has a resolution of 1,136 x 640 and 326ppi. 

No specific handset has been linked to these high-quality displays, but one would expect the Galaxy S5 to be towards the top of the list of handsets to feature them. Of course, we are at a stage where additional pixels per inch don't actually mean anything to the human eye. But it certainly looks good when releasing press releases and advertising campaigns.

Posted by www.anymobilesmartphone.co.uk