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Monday, December 15, 2014
Gartner speaks: Apple, Android, and Xiaomi grow on the market, Samsung and Nokia plummet in Q3 2014
It seems that 20% more smartphones have been sold in Q3 2014 globally in comparison with the previous quarter. This was revealed in the latest report from Gartner, one of the more credible research agencies out there. According to it, 301 million smartphones have made their way from the manufacturers' factories straight to the end users' pockets. This has been in the expense of feature phones, the sales of which have reportedly suffered a great decline, with the main blow been given by the ever-decreasing prices of the entry-level Android troopers.
This ratio between sold smartphones and feature phones has been obviously enough to account the former with 66% of the handset market for Q3 2014. What's more, Gartner predicts that at this rate, by 2018 only 10% of all sold phones will be feature ones.
Of the 310 million smartphones sold globally during the period, 83.1% (250 million phones) ran on Android. That's an increase in comparison with Q3 2013, when Google's OS powered “merely” 205 million handsets globally. Apple's iOS can be found on 12.7% of all smartphones sold in Q3 2014 (38.1 million iPhones). Despite the fact that more Windows Phone have been sold in Q3 2014 than the year before, Microsoft's market share has taken a small hit – from 3.6% last year to 3% in the last quarter.
As far as smartphone vendors are concerned, there are little to no surprises. The global leader, Samsung, continues its downfall – from 25.7% of the mobile phone market in Q3 2013 (117 million units sold), Sammy has collapsed by roughly 5% down to 20.6% (just 94 million units shipped). Nokia, which is already part of Microsoft, suffered a blow, too – from 63 million units sold in Q3 2013 to 43 million in Q3 2014.
Apple and Xiaomi are some of the two noteworthy market share winners. Cupertino has sold 38 million iPhones in Q3 2014 (up from 30.3 million in Q3 2013), while Xiaomi has increased its sales by 336% year-over-year, selling 15.7 million units in Q3 2014. It seems that the latter has been nudged from its third spot on the smartphone market in Q3 2014 - not by Lenovo, as we had heard, but by Huawei. The battle for the third place, as we can see in the table above, is pretty tied.
We are more than curious to get treated to a report that will show us what's the current state of the smartphone market in Q4 2014. Such a report will show us if the sales of the Galaxy Note 4 have made a dent in the company's poor sales; it'll also show us if Apple has continued its record-breaking streak of iPhone 6/6 Plus sales. However, we'll have to wait a little for such a report, as the quarter is not over just yet.
Is Samsung's dominion over the smartphone market coming to an end?
What do you see when you look at that light green line up above? A massive dip in Samsung's smartphone sales volume, that's what.
This has been the story for the South Korean electronics giant's smartphone division as of late, and we know that the company won't stand idly – a near 10% drop in market share over the course of just one year is pretty worrying, after all.
From what we know so far, Samsung will be going with a two-pronged approach – first, it'll slash the absolutely ridiculous number of marginally different devices it produces by as much as 30%, and also invest in tech that competitors will have a hard (if not impossible) time mimicking or outright copying.
Right now, this means advanced display solutions, including foldable screens that the company claims it will be able to produce in small quantities (30,000 to 40,000 per month) in the latter half of 2015, but it could be working on something else entirely at the same time, too. In any case, unless it's able to come up with something in the meantime, the company might be looking at an equally depressing third quarter in 2015.
Do you think Samsung will be able to recuperate and regain its share in the short term (or ever)? Or do you think that we're looking at the end of Samsung's dominion over the smartphone market, at least in terms of market share?
WhatsApp Seems To Be Working On A Web Client Called WhatsApp Web
It seems the hints started when Telegram's founder Pavel Durov revealed in an interview that WhatsApp tried to hire his web app developer. Telegram had been capitalizing on its privacy features and desktop and web apps to differentiate itself and grow its user base. In response, WhatsApp recently made a few steps forward in the privacy field by starting to encrypt messages, but it had yet to solve the desktop issue.
That's why the guys on AndroidWorld.nl (and the team behind the WhatsAPI-Official GitHub project before them) have delved into the app's APK and uncovered some interesting strings. These seem to have been removed from recent updates but were still included in the 2.11.471 WhatsApp version. They contain several mentions of "WhatsApp Web," logging in and out of computers, and hints about tracking your status and latest activity in the web session.
<string name="can_not_start_voip_call_in_phone_call">"You cannot place a WhatsApp call if you're already on a phone call."</string>
<string name="confirmation_delete_all_qr">Are you sure you want to log out from all computers?</string>
<string name="currently_logged_into">Logged in computers</string>
<string name="delete_all_qr">Log out from all computers</string>
<string name="location_not_available">Location is not available</string>
<string name="log_out">Log out</string>
<string name="menuitem_whatsapp_web">WhatsApp Web</string>
<string name="qr_code_hint_2">Visit %s on your computer</string>
<string name="voip_call_bluetooth_toggle_description">Toggle Bluetooth</string>
<string name="web_session_active">Online</string>
<string name="web_session_description_place_browser_os">"Started in %1$s %2$s"</string>
<string name="web_session_last_date">Last active %s</string>
<string name="web_session_last_today_at">Last active today at %s</string>
<string name="web_session_last_yesterday_at">Last active yesterday at %s</string>
<string name="whatsapp_web">WhatsApp Web</string>
Despite being owned by Facebook and having that as an option to solve the login issue on the web, WhatsApp's implementation seems to avoid broaching the topic, thankfully — Facebook login would certainly irk a lot of users. Instead, it seems to employ a similar method to Telegram's by using your phone to verify your identity, but with QR codes instead of messages. As for the address, it could be web.whatsapp.com, which is now a private subdomain locked with a Google account login.
Keep in mind that there's nothing certain yet and no timeline on the release. All we have are sparse clues that WhatsApp has some form of a web service in development. But if you're like me, you'll see this as a glass half-full type of deal: clues are better than no clue, and it's nice to know that this may be happening in the future.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Google Play Books update adds offline dictionary support
In the past 6 months, Google has certainly been quite busy with its Play Books app. In addition to a recent Material Design update, the application also expanded its reach to many new countries, making Google’s intent on competing with Amazon’s very popular Kindle service very clear.
While this recent update doesn’t come with all the aesthetic bells and whistles of the Material design update, it does bring a feature that those who often read books on their phone and tablet are sure to appreciate: an offline dictionary.
The Google Play Books update (while hasn’t rolled out officially to the Play Store) brings the app to version 3.3.9, and adds a prompt to download the dictionary when long pressing on any word to get the definition. Here is a screenshot I grabbed after installing the apk on my Nexus 7:
You can also access the option of downloading the dictionary from the bottom of the settings menu:
Be advised that the black prompt boxes are only black for me because of a theme I have installed (in case you wonder why yours looks different after installing the app), and will be white or brown on most devices.
Google also added some minor tweaks to the slide out menu from the left side, which added a larger background image and a visible avatar.
While there’s no ETA on when exactly Google will push the update, you can download and install it for your device now if you don’t feel like waiting. Just make sure you go into Settings-Security, and tick the “Unknown sources” box so that you can install the apk. You can grab the Google Play Books update from GappsEarly via this link.
Yahoo Requesting Users Upgrade to Mozilla Firefox
Everyone who uses the Internet on a regular basis have found themselves the perfect Internet browser, whether it be Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, or Mozilla Firefox. We all use one, and everyone can be quite fanatical about their choice, as some may be better than another, or offer better features or add-ons. However, Yahoo has a completely different opinion, as the host of websites is currently requesting anyone using their websites to upgrade to the new version of Mozilla Firefox. A small link within their websites in the upper right corner is requesting everyone to do so, including at websites like Flickr, reports Venture Beat.
When a user decided to click upon the Mozilla Firefox download page, they are promptly shown a message, which reads: “Choose Independent. Choose Firefox.” The download page will appear whether you’re using Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Opera browser. However, for those making use of Safari, the prompt will not appear to upgrade to Firefox on the Yahoo websites.
Mozilla and Yahoo have previously announced a five-year partnership, beginning on November 19, where Yahoo will become Firefox’s default search engine within their browser – replacing Google entirely on the host of websites. We’re curious to know how Google feels about being pushed out of this, as they were once the top search engine for many websites, including the Yahoo stock.
Firefox users are said to be introduced to a “new enhanced Yahoo Search experience” beginning this December, according to both companies. It will be interesting to see the users’ overall experience with this, as Google Chrome remains the top search engine for most individuals currently. Being forced to use Firefox may not sit well with many of the people who use Yahoo on a regular basis.
Firefox has seen an increasing decline in its user numbers in the past few years, and Yahoo searches are slowing down far behind Microsoft Bing and Google Search. This partnership between the two companies should allow both to generate some new growth, hopefully.
BlackBerry sells out its pre-order inventory of the BlackBerry Classic in North America
Unlike the Passport, which is obviously made for the enterprise with its wide screen and unique touch-enabled QWERTY, the BlackBerry Classic is built for those yearning for the old fashioned BlackBerry hardware, infused with the latest BlackBerry OS. Returning to the handset is the optical touchpad, and the familiar function keys such as send/end, back, and menu. And of course, there is that popular BlackBerry QWERTY that many call the best physical keyboard ever to grace a smartphone.
Priced at $449 directly from BlackBerry, this variant of the device works in the U.S. on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks. Carrier-specific versions will be announced later. Those who were able to pre-order the device should see it ship very soon. Those who missed out on pre-ordering the handset, will be happy to know that inventory of the BlackBerry Classic is expected to be replenished sometime early next month.
Meanwhile, the BlackBerry Classic is still listed as being available on BlackBerry's online store in the U.K., France and Germany.
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