Tag Archives: 2012

Google IO 2013 vs IO 2012: How did this year’s keynote compare?

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Google IO 2013

Earlier this week Sundar Pichai warned us not to expect Google I/O 2013 to be anything like we’ve seen in the past. There would be less in the way of new products or a new operating system. Instead, the I/O 2013 Developer’s Conference would focus on, well – developers. How right he was.

I/O 2012 saw the introduction of the Nexus Q and Nexus 7. It had an exciting Google Glass skydiving demo. Then there was the announcement of Google Now and further detailing of the (then) new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Google also updated Google+ with Calendar integrations, and introduced the Google Compute Engine as an infrastructure-as-a-service that enabled customers to spin up Linux virtual machines with high-performance networking.

What did we see at I/O 2013? A very different animal.

There was no Key Lime Pie, hell there wasn’t even the rumored Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. No Nexus 7 refresh. There were no skydiving demos or anything outrageous.

Instead, we saw a major update to Google Plus’ interface. A major Google Maps update. There were new APIs introduced for Google Play and the new Google Play Games service was a pretty big deal.

Google also announced it would take on streaming companies like Spotify with its own Google Play Music All Access. Then there were several improvements to Chrome, Google Search and Google Now.

Lastly, Google unveiled its Android Studio. The new developer tool is designed to make life easier for developers, which might not affect everyday users in the short-term, but in the long-term it means better apps.

That’s a whole lot of software and services shown off at Google IO 2013, where’s the hardware?

Actually, no new hardware was announced at all – though Google did reveal that Google Play would be getting the Galaxy S4 running stock Android.

In many ways this was a calmer I/O than seen in previous years. But is that a bad thing?

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The deeper impact of Google I/O 2013

I would have loved a slightly updated Nexus 4, a new Nexus 7, the X-Phone, a smartwatch and a new version of Android. But to be honest, I was very impressed with this year’s keynote.

Last year’s I/O saw some great announcements, but I/O 2013 really hit one out of the park. Google’s keynote didn’t rely on new hardware or Android versions to excite the masses – instead it laid the groundwork for a better Google and a better future. Just about everything we saw at I/O 2013 screamed of polish and nearly every announcement will have long-term impact on both developers and everyday Google users.

I was practically on the edge of my seat when I saw the improvements to search for Google Chrome on the desktop, and started thinking about how these kinds of natural and smart voice systems could effectively change the landscape of search as we know it. Ditto for the improvements to Maps.

While I might not be a developer (my programming knowledge goes about as far as old-school versions of Basic and HTML…), I can appreciate the impact that Android Studio will have, especially when it comes to allowing developers to see how their apps will look across a variety of different devices and screen sizes.

Maybe it’s just me, but I really walked away with a sense that this is just the beginning of a bigger plan.

Most of the services announced were cross-platform when possible (Hangouts, Search, etc), and worked to give a similar experience regardless on what kind of device you are using it on, such as Google Search on iOS, desktop, Android.

I think that convergence and cross-platform interoperability will continue to be an important focus for the mobile tech industry in the years to come. It’s great to see Google getting onboard with these changes early, and unlike Microsoft with their Windows 8, the Mountain View giant seems to be making all the right moves.

Another key focus for Google seems to revolve around data, and how they will more effectively use it going forward. Obviously data has always been an important driver for Google, but what we are now seeing is a much ‘smarter’ system that can preemptively figure out what you want to search/ask about, auto-tag your social posts and more. We are just at the beginning of seeing where that can take us. Putting aside Big Brother-esque fears and privacy concerns, I think that the road to smarter data and information usage will have a positive long-term effect.

The stage is set, now we just need to see where Google takes us throughout the year, and into the future. What did you think of Google I/O 2013, compared to last year? Do you agree that this year’s focus is about laying the groundwork for a better future? Conversely, do you think Google dropped the ball this year?

    




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In the US 1.4 million devices were infected with real malware during 2012

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security-breaches

NQ mobile, a mobile security company, has released a report which claims that 2012 saw a 163% increase in mobile malware and that over 65,000 new pieces of malware were discovered during the year. This kind of news isn’t new and we have heard it all many times before. However when you dig through the fluff and hype there are some real figures which should at least make every Android user aware of the dangers of downloading apps from third parties.

Anti-malware companies have a propensity to exaggerate the number or severity of threats against Android because they think it is good for business. But in reality such scaremongering is just causing Android users to ignore mobile security altogether. Like the boy who cried “Wolf!”, the Android anti-virus companies are crying “malware! malware!” and everyone is getting tired of it. NQ’s latest report says that the number of new pieces of mobile malware went up by 163% and that over 32.8 million Android devices were infected with malware. 32.8 million infected devices is a serious problem.

But… 25.5% of infected mobile devices were in China, followed by India (19.4%), Russia (17.9%) and Saudi Arabia (9.6%). This means that over 70% of infections occurred in countries where piracy and (illegal) third party app stores are popular. In China for example, Google Play doesn’t offer paid-for apps, users can only download free apps. One side effect of this is that to get hold of premium apps users turn to other sources for their downloads. Unfortunately these third party app stores are often full of malware. This situation is improving, slowly. For example, Amazon just recently opened-up its app store to China.

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So leaving China and India behind what about the USA or Europe? The NQ report says that 9.8% of infected Android devices were in the USA. A quick bit of maths: 9.8% of 32.8 million is 3.2 million. That is still a serious number. But wait… According to NQ, 65% of malware discovered in 2012 were classified as Potentially Unwanted Programs. PUPs are program which aren’t malicious but could be annoying, for example those with aggressive advertising. So of all the “malware” found, only 45% of it is real malware. More maths: 45% of 3.2 million is 1.4 million. And this is the real number.

What it means is that during 2012 1.4 million Americans fell victim to malware on a mobile device. This is a problem. If each one of those devices sent a single premium rate SMS message the malware authors could have earned over $ 1 million for their efforts. Not a bad payday for a cyber criminal!

Moral of the story

Android malware is a huge problem in places like China and Russia, but so is cyber crime and malware on PCs. It is all related. But America and Europe aren’t immune. The best thing for every Android user is to install a mobile security suite (see our 2013 antivirus apps for Android roundup) and avoid suspect third party download sites. Don’t follow links to download apps that you get from unsolicited SMS messages or from emails. Stay vigilant.

    

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IDC: Q1 2013 tablet shipments surpassed first-half 2012 shipments

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The latest International Data Corporation (IDC) report mentions how worldwide tablet shipments have continued to surge. According to the numbers, that surge would translate into a 142.4 percent year-over-year growth. Looking at that growth in another way, tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2013 are sitting at 49.2 million, which is more then the entire first half of 2012. Shifting away from the overall picture of the market and into specifics such as top vendors and top operating systems and things are looking slightly familiar.

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Basically, that is to say Apple is still sitting as the top vendor and Android is still sitting as the top operating system. After Apple, the vendors move into Samsung, ASUS, Amazon and Microsoft. With these we have Apple with 19.5 million, Samsung with 8.8 million, ASUS with 2.7 million, Amazon with 1.8 million and Microsoft with 0.9 million. These are the numbers that account for the previously mentioned 49.2 million shipments for Q1 2013.

These millions of tablet shipments have Apple sitting with 39.6 percent of the overall market and Samsung with 17.9 percent of the overall market. Similar to how Samsung is a decent step down from Apple — ASUS, Amazon and Microsoft all take a significant step down from Samsung with 5.5 percent, 3.7 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. Moving away from the vendors and into the place we think the Android fans will appreciate a bit more, Android tablets currently have 56.5 percent of the market.

That is up from 39.4 percent of the market during the first quarter of 2012. Android had 27.8 million shipments in Q1 2013 and 8.0 million shipments in Q1 2012, which accounts for a year-over-year growth of 247.5 percent. Apple (iOS) on the other hand has seen a 65.3 percent year-over-year growth, which had them going from 11.8 million shipments in Q1 2012 up to 19.5 million shipments in Q1 2013. On the flip side, given the growth of Android tablets, the iOS tablet market share has dropped from 58.1 percent in Q1 2012 to 39.6 percent for Q1 2013. Rounding out the top five for operating systems and we see Windows with 3.3 percent, Windows RT with 0.4 percent and ‘others’ with 0.2 percent of the market share for the quarter.

[via IDC]

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Sony revises its 2012 earnings forecast, doubles expected net profits

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Just like last year, we’re reporting on a revision Sony’s making to its expectations for last year’s profits, but this time around there’s some positive news. According to Sony, selling some of the buildings it owns and a weakening yen have doubled its expected net profit from 20 billion yen announced in February to 40 billion yen ($ 403 million). The complete results will be announced May 9th, and despite Sony managing its first profit since 2008 investors are hoping to hear how it plans to keep the streak going with business gains next year. The PlayStation 4 is expected to headline CEO Kaz Hirai’s plans for future products, we should hear just how optimistic Sony is about those prospects in a couple of weeks.

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Via: Bloomberg

Source: Sony (PDF)

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Samsung dominated Indian smartphone market in 2012

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Samsung has jumped to the number one slot in most major markets around the world, so it’s no surprise that the company is at the top in an emerging market like India as well. The company’s dominance is evident in the latest market share numbers released by CMR (Cyber Media Research) as a part of their India Mobile Handsets Market Review 2012.

Around 221.6 million mobile handsets were shipped in India in 2012, registering an overall growth of 20.8% from the previous year. Of course, while that number is very impressive, 206.4 million devices out of that are feature phones, which are still extremely popular in a budget-oriented market like India.

That being said, in the past year, smartphone shipments have seen a growth of 35.7% to 15.2 million smartphones compared to 2011, and a whopping 75.2% growth in the second half of the year compared to H1 2012. This stunning growth is, in part, because of the increasing number of smartphones that fall in the $ 100-$ 350 available from local manufacturers such as Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, and more.

As expected, out of the 15.2 million, 43.1% of the devices were from Samsung, with Nokia a very distant second with 13.3%. With its very popular low-end to mid-range offerings that the company released in India in 2012, Sony managed to push out Blackberry for the third spot, with an 8.2% share of the market.

It’s also important to note that these numbers don’t include any smartphone with a display size bigger than 5 inches, which CMR considers to fall in the “phablet” category, which leaves out the very popular Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 2 from consideration. While the distinction can be made for devices shipped in 2012, a  year in which the “phablet” was still a niche category, things will certainly have to change in 2013, with every device manufacturer, whether internationally-renowned or local, release smartphones with display sizes larger than 5 inches.

With smartphones becoming more and more budget-friendly, the report also states that there could possibly be a 100% growth in smartphone shipments this year, and while feature phones would still dominate, the numbers would fall significantly. With the standard of devices rising, and the competition between manufacturers heating up, 2013 is going to be a great year for the smartphone scene in India!

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Samsung loads up, receives the most mobile patents in 2012

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The folks at Samsung went big in 2012 and loaded up on patents, most notably mobile patents. As we’re sure many of you know Samsung didn’t have too great of a year in court regarding patents, and we have a feeling they’ll be trying hard to protect themselves in the future now that they’ve acquired so many this past year. Samsung was granted more patents than any other mobile company over the past 12 months.

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As TechCrunch stated, it looks like they are loading up and building an arsenal. This way if they have to go to battle again they’ll have some return firepower for next time they meet someone like Apple in court. Last year they lost huge in the courtroom, and are hoping this will save them from the same trouble in the future.

Not only did Samsung receive the most patent grants in 2012, but according to the report they now have more than any other mobile company in the world. They have the largest amount of mobile patents, beating out Nokia and Microsoft, and from 1996 to now have been filing like crazy. Although many of those sure didn’t help them last year against Apple.

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Overall the report goes on to mention roughly 25% of all patents last year were mobile based, and that number is only getting higher as the mobile generation continues to take over. I have one thing to say to Samsung. It’s not about having the most, it’s about having the right patents. We have a feeling they know that. More details and graphs detailing the mobile patent outlook for 2012 can be found from the link below. Hopefully their GALAXY S 4 is protected with a few of these newly granted patents.

[via TechCrunch]

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Samsung and Apple almost equal in total number of smart connected devices sold in Q4 2012

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Samsung Apple

The Apple – Samsung war shows no real signs of slowing down. The two manufacturers are almost equal in terms of unit shipment share in Q4 2012, according to IDC’s Smart Connected Device Tracker.

In Q4, Apple has gained market share, getting to 20.3% unit shipment share (it was at 15.1% in Q3,) while Samsung reached 21.2% (very close to the 21.8% it had in Q3). In terms of revenue basis, Apple is leading, with 30.7% compared to Samsung’s 20.4%.

The two companies continue their domination of the global connected device market and they both have quite a few strengths working for them.

Samsung is expected to grow, considering its recent Galaxy S4 launch, which should give it a boost (and, believe it or not, the smartphone has already been cloned). The company has a large number of products on the market, both in the smartphone and tablet areas, and is an important player in the growth of Android tablet sales.

Apple, on the other hand, has always had a strong following of very faithful users, very distinctive products and can always bounce back, like it did with the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini (IDC says the recent success is owed to this combination). Near future results depend, though, on the way the company will follow up on these products.

Getting back to the Smart Device Tracker, it must be said that it measures total market size for combined shipments of personal computers including notebooks and desktops, smartphones and tablets and can be a pretty interesting indicator of the way things stand on a general level.

One interesting prediction says that tablet shipments will surpass desktop PC shipments this year and portable PCs next year (see image below). Furthermore, the tablet market is expected to get to a new high, no less than 190 million units, or up 48.7%, as part of its ongoing growth in the next few years.

idc smart connected devices forecast q4 2012

Another interesting prediction is the one pertaining to smartphones. IDC says that the smartphone market’s growth will be 27.2%, reaching 918.5 million units. IDC had already predicted that smartphones will outsell feature phones this year, which sounded pretty obvious to me.

What do you think of these figures? Who do you think will win the war?

The post Samsung and Apple almost equal in total number of smart connected devices sold in Q4 2012 appeared first on Android Authority.

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Samsung the number one smartphone manufacturer in China in 2012

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Samsung Logo aa 600px 2

Samsung enjoyed a brilliant 2012 courtesy of the amazing sales numbers of the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, along with its numerous mid-range and entry-level offerings. Samsung become the leading device manufacturer in the US, with Apple a not-so-distant second, and the Korean company has run away with the market share in the world’s largest smartphone market, China.

According to numbers released recently by Strategy Analytics and published via Yonhap, Samsung sold around 30.6 million smartphones in 2012, nearly tripling its sales figures from the year before, resulting in a 17.7% market share. The jump of 5.3% from 2011 has led to Samsung being the top selling smartphone manufacturer in the country for the first time since it entered the market in 2009. Chinese smartphone manufacturer Lenovo took the second spot with 13.2%, followed by Apple at 11%, and Huawei (9.9%) and Coolpad (9.7%) rounding out the top 5.

It’s not really unexpected that Android smartphone manufacturers are seeing huge gains in market share numbers in China, considering the fact that the Android OS dominates the Chinese smartphone market. The biggest casualty in the recent Android surge has been Nokia, which led the market in 2011. The company has seen its numbers fall from a massive 29.9% share to a meager 3.7% in 2012, leading to a fall to seventh place in the list.

Of course, these numbers may see a change this year, with local Chinese manufacturers the market with budget-friendly yet highly spec’d Android smartphones. While Android’s dominance of the market will likely continue, it may be difficult for companies like Samsung to compete effectively in such markets.

What are your thoughts? Are you surprised that Samsung is the market leader in China? Do you think Samsung will be able to continue its dominance, or are we looking at a shake up of the numbers this year? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Samsung the number one smartphone manufacturer in China in 2012 appeared first on Android Authority.

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Huawei’s 2013 flagship phone, the P2, is official; why does it have 2012 specs?

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P2_anand Image Credit: AnandTech

Huawei has just announced their latest creation, the ultra slim Ascend P2. We’re a bit confused by the device since it doesn’t exactly have “bleeding edge” specifications. We’re looking at a quad core 1.5 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 13 megapixel camera, and a massive 2,420 mAh battery. It’ll run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with version 1.5 of Huawei’s Emotion UI on top.

Here’s where things get weird. The P2 will have a 4.7 inch 720p screen. That’s just … weird. We used to think that the P series was considered a sort of flagship line, but it looks like that’s no longer the case. It’s not as if Huawei doesn’t have a flagship, they announced the Ascend D2 at CES last month, and that thing has a 5 inch 1080p screen. So does that mean the P2 is a “midrange” device?

We need to get some hands-on time with this phone and ask Huawei a few questions, but here’s some more information that’s been made official: The P2 will launch in France by the end of the second quarter (June). It’ll cost 399 EUR, which sounds like a steal, but we have a feeling that Samsung’s Galaxy S3 will come down to 400 EUR during roughly the same time.

Think about it for a second, Samsung is going to announce the GS4 in March, ship it in April, and then they’ll heavily discount the S3 in order to move excess inventory. Hell, Samsung will probably even announce a GS3 Plus in 2014 just to milk the design language a bit further.

This writer hates to sound cynical, but he was expecting a bit more from Huawei. The company needs to step up their design game, they need to stop announcing phones that aren’t going to ship for another four to five months, and they need to figure out a way to make themselves stand out from the other Chinese players like Lenovo and ZTE.

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IDC: Samsung takes top honors for 2012 “Smart Connected Device” shipments

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The latest Q4 2012 IDC report has been published. This one deals with “Smart Connected Devices” and in addition to giving a look at the fourth quarter also talks about the year as a whole. According to IDC, the Smart Connected Devices category consists of everything from smartphones and tablets to portable and desktop PCs. Needless to say, the PC side showed some decline and Samsung took top honors in terms of devices shipped for both Q4 and the year.

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Looking the the smart connected devices category as a whole and we saw growth. In fact, the report is showing a total of 367.7 million devices being shipped in Q4, which is up 28.3 percent from the same quarter in the previous year. This increase comes despite the PC side declining a bit. The desktop market dropped 4.1 percent and the portable side dropped 3.4 percent. On that note, Ryan Reith, program manager, Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers at IDC has said that “smartphones and tablets are growing at a pace that PCs can’t realistically keep up.” The reasoning here, Reith believes this is because of “device prices and to some extent disposability.”

As mentioned earlier, Samsung took top honors with 250 million devices shipped for the year and 77.9 million devices shipped for the fourth quarter. This is a 119.3 percent increase for the year and an 86 percent increase for the quarter as compared to 2011. In terms of the fourth quarter; Samsung was followed by Apple with 74.8 million, Lenovo with 24.3 million, HP with 15.1 million and Sony with 11.1 million. Looking at the year as a whole and the top 5 is close to the Q4. The year as a whole had Samsung followed by Apple with 218.7 million, Lenovo with 78.3 million, HP with 58.2 million and Dell with 38.8 million.

Stepping back from the smart connected device category as a whole we have unit shipment numbers for the year. The report is showing smartphone shipments as 722.4 million, tablet shipments at 128.3 million, portable PCs at 202.0 million and desktop PCs at 148.4 million for a grand total of 1201.1 million for the year. Finally, for those curious, that is a 29.1 percent year-over-year increase which had 930.4 million shipments in 2011.

[via IDC]

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