Europeans Want Android Tablets

What would the average eWEEK Europe reader want for leisure time? The answer, it turns out is an Android-based tablet along the lines of the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Twenty-six percent of the people responding to eWEEK Europe’s gadget poll said they’d love an Android tablet like the Galaxy, while another 18 percent said their next personal-use gadget would be an Android phone.

Apple did poorly in the poll, even though the short list held three Apple devices, including the massively-hyped iPad, the recently re-launched iPod and the Apple TV, which is sure to spark another Apple frenzy.

eWEEK Europe Readers Want Android

Google Adds Walking Directions for Android Google Maps

Google has added "Walking Navigation", a marriage of walking directions, turn-by-turn GPS navigation and satellite imagery, to the newest version of Google Maps for Android. The Street View is visually appealing, though often I prefer the more-basic "map-like" directions.

The latest addition comes as a part of Google Maps for mobile 4.5 for Android. It takes walking directions, which takes advantage of pedestrian pathways, overpasses and other such things, and pairs them with turn-by-turn GPS directions and satellite imagery.

Android Overtakes iPhone OS Globally

Google’s Android Operating System has overtaken Apple’s iPhone OS and become the world’s third most popular OS.

Android had 17 percent market share during the second quarter.

Android also is on track to overtake RIM’s BlackBerry OS and become the world’s second biggest platform behind Nokia’s Symbian OS, Gartner says.

According to Gartner, the Android OS has already overtaken the BlackBerry OS in the US.

Android Overtakes iPhone OS

Android Grows Rapidly as Platform for Mobile Web Browsing

Android devices have gained about 17 or 18 percentage points of market share over the last year in the mobile Web browsing market, says Quantcast.

Apple's iOS has lost share.

Angry Birds Lite for Android Now Available

Angry Birds Lite is now available at Android Market. It appears to require Froyo (version 2.2).

HTC Incredible Users Significant Wi-Fi Hotspot Users

Though Apple devices continue to dominate the top 10 devices using public Wi-Fi hotspots, the HTC Droid Incredible has become the most popular Android device, followed closely by the Motorola Droid.

Both the Android and RIM platforms increased 1.2 and .07 percent respectively, while Apple's platform declined 2.3 percent in the second quarter of 2010.

Android might or might not be viewed as representing the most-successful class of "iPhone killer" devices. What seems clear is that it is seen by many users as a workable alternative, and is used in much the same way as an iPhone is.

Media Center - JiWire.com

HSPA+ is Why You Might Want the Coming T-Mobile USA G2

The main reason you might want to buy a G2 device from T-Mobile USA when it is available is simply that you might, at least for a while, be using it on the fastest mobile broadband network available in the United States.

The G2 will operate on T-Mobile USA's new HSPA+ network, which should run even faster than Clearwire's fourth generation WiMAX network.

Signs of Trouble in the Mobile Handset Business?

Trouble might be brewing in the mobile handset business, if one looks at profits in the industry. Apple is the outstanding winner, and Research in Motion isn't immediately troubled, either.

But Apple's growth seems to have come at the expense of other providers, and doesn't seem to have grown the market.

Industry profits dipped to a bit under $4 billion at the trough of the recession, and have recovered to nearly $6 billion in the holiday quarter last year. But the aggregate data hides a stunning shift of market share.

Motorola and Sony Ericsson had been losing money and only recently have reached breakeven status. LG turned negative in the second quarter of 2010.

Samsung has been consistently profitable and has gained market share.

But Apple and RIM now ern about 65 percent of all profits in the business.

asymco

Chrome to Phone Launches

Google has officially launched "Chrome to Phone" to the public. The extension allows you to push web pages, phone numbers and maps directly from your Chrome browser to your Android phone.

On the roadmap? An update that will provide push capabilities in the other direction, from phone to browser.

download the extension here

Android is Really Growing, Fast

Android sales are really growing fast, globally, according to Gartner. In the most-recent second quarter of 2010, Android notched a 17-percent market share gain.

A year ago, Android had just 1.8-percent share.

Android the Only Smartphone OS Gaining Market Share?

In the U.S. market, at least, Android devices seem to be the only class of devices, sorted by operating system, that has gained market share over the last six months, Nielsen reports.

Android and iPhone Users Seem More Loyal Than BlackBerry Users

Users of iPhone and Android devices seem to be more loyal than BlackBerry users, a new analysis by Nielsen suggests.

Based on "next desired smartphone" responses, existing iPhone and Android users are more likely than BlackBerry users to want to stick with the same operating system when they buy their next devices.

Is Mobile Phone Market Bifurcating?

One feature of market structure in many highly-competitive markets is a bifurcated distribution of firms, measured by size (revenue, typically).

What one has tended to see in retailing and communications is a concentration of firms that are very large, a squeezing of the number of phones in the middle ranges, and then relatively lots of firms that are small.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank think that is happening in the mobile phone business as well, favoring devices that are high-end smartphones or low end devices.

In part, the new competitive pressures are the result of Apple's entry into the market, Deutsche Bank says.

"Hardware has become a commodity with heavy pressure on margins" while "software is the only way for vendors to differentiate their products." At the moment, that is favoring Apple and Android. 

The result is that the best software platforms at the high end are taking share from smartphones. The other trend is that "feature phones" in the middle are losing share to smartphones. The result might be called a barbell, with high volumes at the low end of the market and high end, but little in between.

One might also note a Pareto distribution, where a few market-leading firms are able to get the majority of share or profits. Deutsche Bank analysts note that Apple and RIM sell 10 percent of devices, but get 66 percent of the profit.

Apple and RIM Still Sucking Profits from the Smartphone Industry

Netflix for Android

Netflix is working on a streaming video application for smartphones running Google’s Android operating system, a Netflix employee and online job listing have each confirmed.

Netflix has posted two job listings on its website so far this summer, both seeking Android developers. The current listing is titled “Android Video Playback Expert,” and begins, “Netflix is looking for a great engineer to help us build Instant Streaming client implementations on Android devices.

Netflix Streaming Is Coming to Your Android Phone

Android Making a Breakout Move?

Android devices collectively have done something significant in the smartphone market. Since March 2010, Research in Motion market share has dropped and Android share has exploded.

As RIM supports a family of devices, sold across carriers, as does Android, the comparison is instructive.

Whatever else the results may be, they indicate a fairly-dramatic shift in end user demand from QWERTY keyboards and email centric behavior to touch screens and web activity.

Android Pays For Itself in Additional Search Revenue

Android is helping Google drive more than enough incremental search revenue to pay for its development, and then some, Google CEO Eric Schmidt says.

“Trust me that revenue is large enough to pay for all of the Android activities and a whole bunch more," says Schmidt.

Google Android Revenue

200,000 Android Activations a Day; 1.4 Million a Week; 5.6 Million a Month

You bet Android devices in use are growing fast. Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, says 200,000 Android devices are activated every day. Do the math: that's 5.6 million a month. If you are a platform supplier, or building a business on a platform, those are big numbers.

Android. iPhone, BlackBerry: Growth is Not the Same As Installed Base

NPD Group has found Research in Motion remains the smartphone leader, at 36 percent market share for the second quarter of 3010. Android devices had 28 percent share of quarterly sales, and the iPhone OS was third at 21 percent.

Quarterly share reports, though, do not describe the installed base, equally important. Looked at that way, RIM, the iPhone and even Windows Mobile and Palm had higher installed base percentages in December 2009, for example.

http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100804.html

Android 2.2 is Coming

Who Ever Thought Verizon Would Not Need the iPhone?

Make no mistake, Apple's iPhone has been a huge success for AT&T. Other carriers, and the most often mentioned candidate, Verizon Wireless, would likely not spurn the chance to sell the iPhone.

But it is just possible that Android devices now are getting enough traction that Verizon Wireless, though it might want to sell the iPhone, does not actually need to sell the iPhone.

That is a big shift. Android's growth, fueled by Verizon exclusives such as the Droid X and Droid Incredible, might finally be reaching the point where the issue no longer is so critical.

The Android-powered HTC devices might be reaching such critical mass that going too far out of the way to get an iPhone deal is less important. Apple has a carefully-cultivated and faithful following. But most people are not Apple addicts. If the Android can demonstrate it is as easy to use, supports the same apps, costs the same and works the same, most people are likely to give it a look.

Right now HTC seems to have captured most of those qualities.

What Android's Impressive Growth Means for You