Weekdates: Mobile OS

Showing posts with label Mobile OS. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Android takes 48 percent market share in Q2

Google's Android easily dominated the worldwide smartphone OS market in the second quarter, research firm Canalys has found.

During the quarter, 107.7 million smartphones shipped worldwide, growing 73 percent year over year. According to the research firm, 39.8 million smartphone units shipped in the Asia-Pacific region, and 35 million units were released in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the Americas, 32.9 million smartphone units were shipped.

Canalys, which analyzes shipments in 56 countries around the world, said that Android led the way in 35 of them, helping it to secure 48 percent market share during the quarter. Android shipments during the period hit 51.9 million, representing 379 percent growth compared with the second quarter of 2010. Android is especially popular in South Korea, where it captured 85 percent market share. In Taiwan, the platform snagged 71 percent share.

Android's growth has been nothing short of astounding. In January, Canalys announced Android's fourth-quarter performance, saying that it captured 32.9 percent market share, thanks to shipments of 33.3 million units. At the time, the research firm said that Android shipments were up 615.1 percent.

The end of 2010 also brought Symbian to the second spot in unit shipments, nabbing 30.6 percent share on 31 million unit shipments. But in just two short quarters, Symbian is no longer hanging on to that spot. Thanks to increasingly strong iPhone sales, Apple's iOS platform scored the second-place slot during the second quarter, earning 19 percent market share on 20.3 million iPhone sales. In addition, Canalys found that Samsung moved ahead of Nokia in vendor rankings to secure the spot behind Apple. Samsung shipped 17 million smartphone units during the quarter, Canalys said.

Although things went well for some companies in the mobile market last quarter, two companies--Research In Motion and Microsoft--struggled. According to Canalys, RIM's worldwide smartphone shipments were up 11 percent in the second quarter, but in North America, they were down 33 percent, leading it to secure just 12 percent market share.

Microsoft arguably had the worst quarter, though. According to Canalys, less than 1.5 million Windows Phone 7-based smartphones shipped during the period, earning the platform just 1 percent market share. Shipments were down 52 percent year over year.

For Microsoft, earning more market share will require the help of Nokia. Earlier this year, the companies signed a pact that will see Windows Phone become the "principal" operating system in Nokia handsets. Although the companies haven't said for sure when the first smartphone will launch, Canalys expects a "mid-to-late Q4" launch. Still, Canalys said, "it will be much longer before a portfolio of Nokia Windows Phone smartphones drives volumes."

Meanwhile, Canalys sees good times ahead for Apple. With the rumored iPhone 5 launching at some point in the third quarter, Canalys said, the iPhone maker's "position will grow even stronger in the second half of the year."

AT&T doubles down on BlackBerry with three OS 7 devices

Though you can't shake a smartphone this summer without hitting someone writing a BlackBerry obituary, AT&T is not even close to attending a funeral. Today, the carrier announced that it was adding three new BlackBerry devices to its roster, starting with the BlackBerry Torch 9810 later this month. It's all very good news for worried BlackBerry fans, who could see seven new handsets from the manufacturer through the end of 2011.

The Torch 9810, aka the Torch 2 (that phone cleared the FCC last month), will be a part of AT&T's "premium" BlackBerry family, which will offer a "faster and more fluid" user experience. The design doesn't break new ground, but its top features include the new BlackBerry 7 OS and support for the carrier's "4G" HSPA+ network.

We haven't had a full hands-on with OS 7 just yet, though we expect to take it for a test drive very soon. According to AT&T, the upgrade will bring a faster and more efficient user experience, HD video recording, improved graphics, a digital compass, and augmented reality. What's more, browsing should be up to 40 percent faster than BlackBerry OS 6 smartphones (like the first Torch) and up to 100 percent faster than BlackBerry OS 5 based handsets.

Other features on the Torch 9810 are admirable. There's a 1.2GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera, and 8GB of onboard storage. The 3.2-inch touch-screen will be powered by BlackBerry Liquid Graphics, but you'll also get a slide-out keyboard.

BlackBerry Bold 9900

Later in the year, you'll be able pick even more BlackBerry goodness when AT&T unveils the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Torch 9860. The touch-screen 9900 doesn't come as a big shock given that we've heard so much about the phone since its unveiling three months ago at BlackBerry World (check out the hands-on from CNET Australia's Joseph Hanlon who was at the show).

Inside a thin design you should find OS 7, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel camera, HSPA+ support, 8GB of internal memory, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS. T-Mobile has committed to carrying the 9900 already, though rumors of a delay have persisted.

We know less about the Torch 9860 except that it also will support HSPA+ and it will be AT&T's first all-touch BlackBerry smartphone (OS 7 as well). Otherwise, we imagine that its other features will compare favorably to its siblings.

Pricing and exact availability for the devices wasn't available at the time of this writing, but we'll fill in the details as we get them. And we'll do our best to get a hands-on as soon as we can.

Android users twice as likely to see malware than six months ago

This chart shows the growth of malware-infected apps from 80 at the beginning of the year to more than 400 six months later.

LAS VEGAS--If you've got an Android you are 2.5 times more likely to encounter malware on the device today than six months ago, while mobile users have a 30 percent likelihood of clicking on a malicious link, according to a report released today from mobile security firm Lookout.

Those figures are based on detection rates from Lookout users on Android, but not the iPhone, however the rates are presumed to be about the same, according to Lookout.

"This number is likely so high because users on mobile devices often encounter threats targeting PCs--people read email, Facebook messages, text messages, and tweets on their phones just as they do on their PCs," the company says in its report, released on the eve of the Black Hat security conference here. However, many Web-based threats such as phishing attacks do not discriminate based on platform, while others, such as Websites containing browser exploits, are targeted at a specific operating system.

An estimated 500,000 people were affected by Android malware in the first half of this year, a period when apps infected with malware rose from 80 in January to more than 400 in June, according to the report, which focuses on Android and Apple's iOS. Lookout collects data from more than 700,000 Android and iPhone apps and 10 million Android devices around the globe, and offers free and fee-based versions of a security service for the open source Android platform, but not for iOS. While Apple vets every app before allowing it to be sold on the Apple App Store, the Android Market allows any app to be published but provides detailed information about what permissions the app has on a device.

Two of the most prevalent Android threats were DroidDream, which prompted Google to remove malware-infected apps that drop a Trojan on devices from the Android market in March and again in July, and GGTracker, according to the Lookout Mobile Threat Report. Authors of DroidDream released more than 80 unique apps with different malware variations that were designed to take control of a device. Typically, the malware distributors take legitimate apps and repackage them in the hopes that people will confuse them with the legitimate apps.

GGTracker is believed to be the first threat designed to steal money from Android users in the U.S. It signs up for premium text message subscription services without the user's knowledge and they are charged $10 per service and as much as $50 for multiple services. GGTracker also used new techniques to distribute the malware, including "malvertising" in which mobile ads direct users to a malicious site that automatically downloads malware when visited.

The report warns of another new type of attack that can happen when a legitimate application is published and updated to include malware once there is a large user base. Everyone who downloaded the app, which initially was benign, is infected when the app gets updated.

To stay safe, mobile users should only download apps from trusted sources, pay attention to the address of URLs they click on, and be on alert for unusual phone behavior that could signal an infection.

Google offers workshops to lure Android developers

Google is launching a series of workshops designed to grab developers who can create high-quality Android apps.

Set up by the folks at Google's Android Developer Relations, the Android Developer Labs (ADLs) will try to show developers how they can optimize their apps for Android tablets, according to an Android developers blog
.
Dubbed "Optimizing Honeycomb Tablet Applications," the ADLs will cover how to develop apps for the screen size and user interface of Honeycomb tablets and how to migrate apps from mobile phones to tablets.
The sessions are for experienced developers only, specifically those who have already published apps to Google's Android Market.

"The goal is to bring your app to the ADL, and leave equipped to make it into one that makes Android tablet users smile," according to the blog.

The first workshop kicked off yesterday in Bangalore, India. The next two workshops will run in Seattle on August 15 and on August 16. Those will be followed by two workshops in New York City, one on August 23 and another on August 24. The series will wrap up with a final session in Los Angeles on September 2.
Anyone with the necessary qualifications can register, according to Google, but only a small number of people will be chosen to attend based on the quality of their existing Android apps.

Trying to drum up developer interest in Android is of course only one of many factors that could push more business toward Android tablet makers. But even that may be difficult. A recent study from mobile analytics firm Flurry found that mobile developers are inching back toward Apple, the iPad, and iOS following earlier excitement over Android.

Despite the flood of Android tablets that have hit the market this year, Apple's iPad still holds its dominant market share. CEOs at such companies as Dell and Nvidia said they believe Android tablets could eventually outsell the iPad. Some reports have pointed to the iPad already losing customers to the combined might of all the Android tablets on the market.

But most analysts agree that Google and its tablet partners face a tough time trying to take a huge enough bite out of Apple's sales. Speaking with CNET on Monday, IHS iSuppli analyst Wayne Lam said that Google is unlikely to catch up with the iPad and iOS anytime soon. Lam feels that Android's makers still can't match the design of the iPad since, among other reasons, Apple controls both the operating system and the hardware.

Developers believe Google+ can beat Facebook

Available since just more than a month ago and still only in a testing mode, the Google+ social network has already convinced some developers that it will eventually catch up with rival Facebook.

The new quarterly survey of mobile application developers by Web development tool maker by Appcelerator and market research firm IDC found that two-thirds of the 1,621 respondents to the question "Can Google+ catch up to Facebook?" replied yes. The reason: more than 68 percent of the respondents believe Google's other assets--search, YouTube, and maps, among others--trump Facebook's social graph lead.

Of course, Google+, which remains a "project" for the Web giant that only lets users in via invitations, has 20 million users, a far cry from Facebook's 750 million users. It's traffic may already be dipping as tech fashionistas look for the next big thing. But developers, cognizant of disruptive changes that trip up market leaders, are always keen to latch onto the next breakthrough. The survey suggests that many believe Google+ could be it.

"Developers are constantly going back and forth on the current real market need and on what's coming up," said Scott Schwarzhoff, Appcelerator's vice president of marketing and one of the surveys co-authors. "Google+ poses an interesting opportunity that catches their eye."

Never mind that Google+ hasn't given developers a set of application programming interfaces to write to yet. The developers in the Appcelerator survey are already keen to write programs for the new service.
The survey found that 72 percent of the respondents plan to write to Google+ APIs in the next 12 to 18 months. That's just one percentage point behind the number that plan to use Twitter's APIs, and only 11 percentage points behind Facebook.

Why so much enthusiasm for a brand-spanking-new service that doesn't even offer APIs yet? The respondents were bullish on Google's innovation with Google+, noting the Circles feature that lets users segment their friends into different groups, such as family, co-workers, or soccer team, and direct updates specifically to those groups. What's more, these are mobile developers and they believe that Google will bake Google+ into its Android mobile operating system, making it easy for them to create programs for devices.
Schwarzhoff believes that mobile developers will predominantly add Google+ features to existing applications, rather than gin up new programs made specifically for the service. But those programs will take advantage of features such as Circles that, the respondents believe, will improve customer loyalty by enabling more targeted use of their applications.

"What you want to do is drive reuse of applications," Schwarzhoff said. "Any feature that helps me do that stands tall."

Appcelerator and IDC conducted the survey June 20 to June 22. The companies surveyed 2,012 developers who use Appcelerator's Titanium application development platform. Appcelerator said that 30 percent of the respondents classified themselves as independent developers and the other 70 percent came from business. And 43 percent of the respondents live in North America, 33 percent live in Europe, the remaining 24 percent are scattered throughout the rest of the world.