The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google's Motorola unit is hard at work on a secret "X-phone" that will "provide more potent competition for devices like Apple Inc.'s iPhone." However my suspicion is that the phone is less about competiting with Apple's device and more about providing a counterweight to the Samdroid juggernaut. This is what Google did successfully when it created the Nexus 7 with ASUS to compete with Amazon's Kindle Fire. Indeed, Amazon had the only non-Apple tablet that was selling in the market. However Amazon was using a "forked" version of Android that essen [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Top News

Amid multiple antitrust investigations around the world, I'm not sure he wanted to suggest that Google was the new Microsoft. But that's the analogy that Google Chairman Eric Schmidt used in his discussion of Android's growth and increasing lead over the iPhone. Quoted in a Bloomberg article Schmidt said the following: Booming demand for Android-based smartphones is helping Google add share at the expense of other software providers, Schmidt said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York . . . Customers are activating more than 1.3 million Android devices a day, [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: iPhone | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Critics | Legal: Antitrust

The  Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism released a report on the mobile news consumption habits of US young adults. If you're interested in the future of news there are some very interesting findings that have practical implications for news publishers. One of the those findings has to do with the fact that although younger consumers have largely abandoned print newspapers they still want a "print-like" experience of news on their tablets. According to the study the tablet-news audience is somewhat more likely to be male than female, although that will like [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iPad | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Online Behavior | Top News

A few years ago it wouldn't have been all that strange to see Google and Apple working closely together on something like a joint patent initiative. Then the "thermonuclear" rift happened and the cacophony of bitter lawsuits. Indeed, in the wake of the global litigation between Apple and Google surrogate Samsung and the more direct (Google owned) Motorola-Apple lawsuits, it's very unlikely to see these two companies working together. Yet BusinessWeek reports that Google and Apple have teamed up to bid $500 million for bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co.'s patent portfolio: The two companies, c [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile

Except for the lack of LTE support there's no question that the LG-made Google Nexus 4 is the best Android phone on the market. It kicks the Samsung Galaxy's proverbial posterior. And at $299 for the unlocked 8GB version it frees you from the tyranny of carrier two-year contracts at a terrific price. It's simply a great phone. Others appear to agree. The Nexus 4 is proving to be so popular Google is having a tough time keeping it in stock. The 16GB version is still available for $349 but the $299 8GB Nexus 4 is sold out again -- apparently. This is according to messages on the Google Pla [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus

According to Kantar Worldpanel Comtech research the iPhone 5 has overtaken Android in US smartphone sales. Buoyed by existing iPhone owner upgrades, which account for 62 percent of iPhone 5 sales, as well as some Android switching Kantar says that the iPhone now holds a 48.1 percent to 46.7 percent lead over Android in the US. Again, these numbers refer to recent sales and not to persistent, overall device market share (Android still leads). Kantar says the share surge is based on "strong uptake of the iPhone 5 over the past 12 weeks." In Europe Android holds a considerable lead over [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Channel: Strategy | Google: Android | Top News

Google's John Hanke told me that he has always wanted to create a multi-player game using the assets he developed with Google Earth. I remember him talking about Second Life and gaming at the initial Google Earth press conference years ago. He and his team at Google's mobile incubator Niantic Project have now done it with Ingress -- an augmented reality multi-player game (Android only for now) that uses Google's mapping and local data assets to connect the online and offline worlds in a JJ Abramsesque alternate reality. It's incredibly ambitious and global in scope. It contemplates peopl [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Google Play | Google: Mobile | Top News

Last week the Android operating system celebrated its fifth birthday. CNET offered a breakdown of the current and very impressive Android penetration numbers: Roughly 1.3 million activations per day globally More than 500 million phones sold/shipped (CNET estimates 570 million to date) Nearly 600,000 smartphone apps Nearly 600 unique Anroid devices in the market IDC simultaneously reported last week that 75 percent of global Q3 smartphone shipments were Android devices. While this is not the same as actual market share or device sales, it spectacularly underscores the fact that An [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Top News

A couple of weeks ago Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stood on stage at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium and ticked off the ways that Windows Phone 8 and Surface machines would make Microsoft competitive again against its main rivals Google and Apple. Before that we'd just been given an hour-long feature tour of Windows Phones by Microsoft VP Joe Belfiore: bold design, great camera, personalization, novel apps (e.g., "kids corner," "Data Sense") and so on. And while Windows Phones (8) do have some unique features and the UI is nicely done, none of those individual OS features is likely to lur [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Microsoft: Mobile

There are a lots of tablets in the market now and hardware-tracking firm IDC says that Android's share is gaining on Apple. However, despite the increase in "shipments" of various tablets, very few of them drive meaningful web traffic according a new study from mobile publishing platform Onswipe. Onswipe says that the iPad is responsible for a remarkable 98 percent of all tablet-based traffic to its publisher partners. All other tablets drive less than 2 percent of web traffic combined. This would be almost unbelievable if it weren't supported by other research showing similar trends. Ho [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: iPad | Apple: Safari | Channel: Content Marketing | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Top News

Ad network Chitika provided us with some interesting data comparing click through rates (CTRs) and query lengths on the various desktop and mobile browsers based on millions of impressions on its network. It found that Opera (PC) browser users clicked-through more often than other browser users. Opera users are generally regarded as less mainstream and more tech-savvy than other browser users (e.g., Explorer) so it's curious that Opera's CTR would be highest. Next in line after Opera but ahead of all other browsers, PC or mobile, is mobile Safari with a 1.54 percent CTR. Chitika told me [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iPhone | Apple: Safari | Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Microsoft: Mobile | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Online Behavior | Top News

It's getting very boring to write about the US smartphone market, which is a two horse race. Notwithstanding all the investment, splash and marketing surrounding Windows Phones US consumers aren't buying it/them. And RIM has effectively "gone dark." Metrics firm comScore reported that in September Android grew its dominant market share to 52.5 percent. Powered by the iPhone 5, Apple grew more on a percentage basis (1.9 percent) to achieve a market share of 34.3 percent. The largest handset maker in the US remains Samsung, followed by LG. Apple is a close third with a 17.5 percent sha [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: iPhone | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Microsoft: Mobile | Microsoft: Windows | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing

Nexus smartphones are not unlike concept cars at an auto show. They're ogled and admired but rarely owned. Typically cutting edge in design and software integration, they're models intended to showcase the "next generation" experience rather than necessarily become mainstream bestsellers. So it has been with nearly every Nexus handset to date. The new Nexus 4, built by LG, is in every way (but one) the best Nexus handset so far. I own the Galaxy Nexus, from Samsung, the previous "Android flagship." And it's amazing how this phone handily trounces the Samsung "Next Big Thing." The Nexus 4 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus | Top News

I've been testing Google's new Nexus 10 tablet for the past few days, and there's plenty to love. It's fast, has a great screen and nice sound. There are plenty of the key apps I like. It offers content galore through Google Play. But at the same price as the basic iPad and only $100 less than the iPad Retina, it'll face a challenge to woo customers away. The Nexus 7: Price Is Compelling Google is growing its Nexus line of tablets up from the Nexus 7 to the Nexus 10 right at the same time Apple's growing its iPad line of tablets down from the iPad to the iPad Mini. Big or small, both ha [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iPad | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Nexus | Top News | Uncategorized

Yesterday at the Apple iPad Mini launch event I had a chance to play with the smaller Apple tablet for about 10 minutes. It initially did look and feel to me, contrary to the statements of Apple SVP Phil Schiller, like a "shrunken iPad." However it was also immediately clear, as has been pointed out several times in other "hands on" reviews, that this is the best small tablet now on the market. Apple may have built the best-quality 7-inch category tablet but the ultimate success of the Mini is far from certain. Why? Its price. I have been harping on this for several months. Yesterday Dan [...]

Related Topics: Amazon | Apple: iOS | Apple: iPad | Channel: Retail | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Mobile Marketing

As expected, Apple announced its new iPad Mini today. One of the key areas being watched was pricing. For the seriously price conscious, the iPad Mini doesn't look to be a game changer. Comparative prices below, along with technical specs pitting the iPad Mini against its rivals. Much was made during the event about how the experience of using the iPad beats Android tablets. The Nexus 7 was even used as a comparison of this. The Nexus 7 name was never said, but it was shown side-by-side with the iPad Mini. No doubt, many will choose the iPad over the Nexus 7 or other mini-tablets just f [...]

Related Topics: Amazon | Apple: iPad | Channel: Retail | Google: Android | Top News

According to Chitika more than 60 percent of North American iOS devices/iPhones showing up on its network have iOS 6 installed. This stands in marked contrast to the Android ecosystem, where only 1.8 percent of devices are running the latest "Jelly Bean" version of the operating system. Only one quarter of Android handsets are running Android 4.0 ("Ice Cream Sandwich") or above. Most however are still on "Gingerbread," which is three generations old. This failure to update however is not about Android users; it's mostly about carrier control over Android. Within a week of its release [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android

Hold on to your wallets folks, a new crop of mobile devices is imminent. Just in time for the ramp up to holiday shopping, Apple is expected to announce its long-anticipated 7-inch iPad Mini (or whatever it will be called) tomorrow. That event is also rumored to include an interim refresh of the flagship 10-inch iPad in addition to other a couple of other PC-related hardware announcements. Right on the heels of Apple's tablet unveiling Google and Microsoft are holding dueling press events a week from now. Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 event will be held in San Francisco and Google's Android m [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Mobile | Microsoft: Surface | Top News

A year ago Google said it had a "mobile [advertising] run rate" of $2.5 billion. That was impressive. But yesterday on the Google Q3 earnings call CEO Larry Page announced a much larger number -- $8 billion: This time last year, I announced that our run-rate for mobile advertising hit $2.5 billion. That seemed like a pretty big number even for Google. But now we have built up additional mobile revenue from users paying for content and apps in Google Play. Including these new sources grossed up, I can announce our new run-rate for mobile is now over $8 billion. That’s quite a business. CFO [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Top News

Hey Microsoft. That Windows Phone 8 event you have planned for Oct. 29 in San Francisco? Google wants in on that day, having just announced a rival event in New York City, perhaps to announce its next Nexus phone. Invites were just emailed by Google to members of the press about an Android event, as shown above What will be announced? Who knows, but the invitation starts out, "The playground is open," which suggests the event will be related to Google Play, Google's content store for Android users. Then again, it might be related to the next version of Google's "Nexus" line of sma [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android