Together, Android and iOS make up a staggering 92.3 percent of all smartphone shipments for Q1 2013, at least according to IDC's latest worldwide quarterly mobile phone tracker.
The global PC market contracted 13.9 percent in the first quarter of 2013 and Europe seems to have taken the worst hit. Sales of PCs in Western Europe fell off a cliff in the first three months of the year and they are down 20.5 percent year-on-year.
Smartphone wars are becoming rather predictable. Every quarter sales notch up and every quarter Samsung emerges as the big winner. The last quarter was no exception. However, growth is slowing as the market matures, although there is still plenty of room for growth in emerging markets.
The French government is seriously considering a new tax on smartphones and tablets. The one percent tax would be imposed on a range of “internet compatible devices” and it could yield about 86 million euro per year.
Although mobile commerce is still experiencing teething problems in most markets, a growing number of consumers are turning to smartphones to improve their shopping experience. Even when they are not making actual transactions, they are using their smartphones to learn more about products and services.
The DRAM supply shortage isn’t getting better and memory maker Inotera now believes it will drag on until the end of the year. Strong demand for smartphones and tablets is to blame, and prices are going up as well.
PC churner Lenovo is getting serious about the smartphone market, so serious in fact that it is planning to sell 60 million smartphones over the next 12 months.
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global tablet shipments hit 40.6 million units in Q1 2013. Apple still dominates the market, but Android is gaining ground. In addition, the first Windows 8 tablets went on sale in Q1, but they haven’t been a runaway success, to say the least.
Sales of oversized smartphones and tablets are strong, and according to Transparency Market Research, the trend is set to continue over the next five years.
As the smartphone juggernaut rumbles on, vendors are increasingly turning their efforts to emerging markets, with less disposable income and a much lower smartphone penetration rate.
NASA has put three more smartphones into orbit on board of an Antares rocket. The tiny satellites were built in a standard cubesat frame and they were built using off-the-shelf components. They may very well be the cheapest satellites ever launched, Gizmag reckons.
Opinion In his departing notes to shareholders last night, Intel CEO Paul Otellini was remarkably upbeat about a boat that is increasingly beginning to resemble the now famous Itanic.
