IDC – Windows Phone posts the fastest growth in 2Q13, Android leads the market at 79.3%

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Last quarter, we saw how Windows Phone marketshare finally leaped ahead of BlackBerry, and the trend seems to continue here. In the second quarter of 2013, Windows Phone has posted the fastest growth amongst the top 5 smartphone OSes with 8.7 million units shipped, according to IDC, which lines up with growth expectations from other analysts. While the growth percentage is less than what Windows Phone had last quarter(133% – Q1, 77.6% – Q2), it is certainly good news for Windows Phone’s uptake as an operating system. On the other hand, Android shows no signs of slowing down while it is the exact opposite for Apple which has its marketshare reduced from 16.6% to 13.2% while growing slower than the market at 20%.

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Apple loses marketshare as Android tablet sales surge – IDC

idc-tablet-marketshare

What started with Kindle Fire is now the leading form factor in the tablet space. Yes, thanks to the booming small tablet market, Android is surging ahead at no. 1 spot in the tablet space too, with Apple losing marketshare and not growing along with the market. IDC had released its Smartphone marketshare analysis recently, which saw Apple growing at a slower pace than the others and that seems to be the case in tablets too.

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Obama administration vetoes Apple iPhones/iPads import ban, South Korea concerned

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In a turn of events for the Samsung-Apple patent controversy, US president Barack Obama’s administration has vetoed an import and sales ban on some Apple iPhones and iPads, upending a legal upper hand for Samsung. This is reportedly the first time since 1987 that a presidential administration has vetoed a ban by the country’s own International Trade Commission. This has raised a few eyebrows in the far east, in South Korea, where the media criticized the USA for protecting Apple.

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ZTE ships 11.5 million smartphones in Q2 2013, at 5% of the total smartphone marketshare

ZTE Grand S-4

Amongst a number of highly competitive Chinese smartphone makers is ZTE. This company was recently revealed as one of the Top 5 Smartphone makers in the world, by IDC, pegging it at the fifth position. However, contrary to IDC’s claims, ZTE has posted its Q2 results with a total of 11.5 million(up from 10.1 in the report) shipments, pegging the company at an even more impressive fourth position. With this number, the company now owns a healthy 5% of the total smartphone marketshare. Several Android OEMs are finally starting to make substantial inroads into the market, is the Apple-Samsung duopoly fading fast?

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Apple CEO Tim Cook meets China Mobile head to talk cooperation: Reuters

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China Mobile, the world’s largest operator by volume of subscribers is also the only operator in China that doesn’t offer iPhones or iPads for sale. The primary reason why China Mobile doesn’t offer Apple products is due to the company’s homegrown TD-SCDMA technology for 3G, which is an exclusive standard for the operator, for which most companies produce custom radios in their phones. But this might change soon, with Reuters reporting that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is in talks with China Mobile’s Chairman Xi Guohua, for a possible cooperation between the two giants.

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Apple to implement a biometric fingerprint sensor on the new iPhone’s home button?

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Biometric fingerprint sensors have long been a popular way of implementing secure environments, even in portable devices like a laptop. While it has reached mainstream on most professional grade notebooks, it hasn’t really caught up in the mobile space, where security is of much higher importance. Companies have tried and implemented it in really niche devices, but the tech has happily avoided the mainstream. It is about to change, as seemingly true information from the iOS 7 beta 4 build points to a “Biometric Kit UI” directory that confirms that Apple is interested in implement high grade security, right on your new iPhone’s home button.

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Apple and Samsung lose marketshare as LG, Lenovo and others soar

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IDC has yet again released a marketshare analysis of all the smartphone vendors for the period of Q2 2013. Interestingly, the action is slowly shifting away from the top two, Apple and Samsung. In the event of stiff and challenging competition from other smartphone vendors such as LG and Lenovo, Apple and Samsung have lost a chunk of their smartphone and haven’t been able to keep up with the rapidly expanding smartphone market. The overall smartphone market has seen a 52.3% YoY change and Apple has lagged with only 20% growth while Samsung has almost kept up, with 43.9% growth rate. Samsung is not in a bad position though, going by their recently revealed numbers.

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Apple reports Q3 2013 revenues at $35.3 billion, iPhone sales touch 31.2 million

Apple has been relatively dormant in Q3 2013 and has chosen to announce only a select few products. That would explain the giant’s Q3 2013 results which show that revenues are down to $35.3 billion compared to $43.6 billion in the previous quarter. This was a fairly major fall due to the lack of any significant new product shipments.

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Apple reportedly testing a 13-inch iPad and a larger iPhone

Apple is testing a new iPad with a larger display that is slightly less than 13 inches and a iPhone with a screen larger than 4-inches diagonally, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal. There were rumors about a 12.9-inch iPad and a 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch iPhones. Apple has stuck with 9.7‑inch display since the first iPad. The 3rd generation iPad featured a 2048 by 1536 resolution retina display, but the size remained the same. Continue reading “Apple reportedly testing a 13-inch iPad and a larger iPhone”

Apple files for iWatch trademark in Japan, Russia & Mexico

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Bloomberg reports that Apple is aiming to trademark the name iWatch. The company filed for a patent at the Japanese Patent Office on 3rd June. It has long been rumored that the Cupertino based company is all set to enter the wearables market with a smart watch. It is believed that the company has about 100 designers working on its latest product. Tavis McCourt, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc. has upgraded Apple’s shares to a buy with a $600 target price. To compete with Apple’s upcoming device, Samsung is known to be working on its own smart watch. Sony too has announced its second generation SmartWatch that runs Android. The wearable could work in tandem with Apple’s iPhone and iPad to offer notifications and voice based navigation through Siri. Continue reading “Apple files for iWatch trademark in Japan, Russia & Mexico”

Pegatron CEO: Budget iPhone won’t be cheap

Pegatron’s CEO recently revealed to shareholders that the widely rumored budget iPhone won’t be cheap. The company has been charged with production responsibilities for the handset if rumors are to be believed and will be manufacturing the lower cost phone in a myriad of colors.

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Apple to launch bigger 4.7, 5.7 inch iPhones with colours?

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Get your daily dozes of salts ready, the Internet is quoting anonymous sources for cheaper, colourful and bigger Apple iPhones again. No, seriously, the cheaper iPhone especially has been a long time coming, right since the iPhone 4S, but it didn’t materialize because it never made business sense for Apple. But we are now seeing Apple lose its dominance and coolness, with the latest iOS 7 re-haul being the latest effort to being cool again. Apple also knows that there is a huge demand for big screened phones, popularized by Samsung and colours, popularized by Nokia.

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Apple announces iTunes Radio with customized music streams, to be available later this year

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At the World Web Developers Conference, Apple just announced the long rumored iTunes Radio service. To be a  part of the music player application, it will provide users access to about 200 curated stations. The service will also allow users to create custom radio stations based on music in their iTunes library. The service will learn based on your usage and will offer increasingly personalized music playlists. In addition, iTunes Radio will also let users listen to tracks from popular artists ahead of launch and will integrate with Siri. Interestingly, it will also be possible to tag and buy anything you hear which should put it in direct competition with the likes of Soundhound.  Continue reading “Apple announces iTunes Radio with customized music streams, to be available later this year”

Watch the Apple WWDC Live Video Stream on iOS , Mac or Apple TV

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If you would like to follow Apple’s WWDC developer conference happening in San Francisco , USA right now. just tune in to Apple’s live video stream of the event from the link below. Apple CEO Tim Cook along with other Apple executives such as Jonathan Ive are expected to address the audience during the keynote. WWDC is Apple’s annual World Wide Developer conference and sees a lot of new announcements from Apple.

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Samsung beats Apple’s US Smartphone marketshare says Canaccord Genuity

Investment research firm, Canaccord Genuity, has surveyed retail stores of all the four major US carriers and has come to the conclusion that Samsung’s trio of Galaxy S3, S4 and the Note II outsold Apple’s handset in May.

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