You are here: Home / Archives for Tablets

Friday Grab Bag: Tablet Sales Grew 260% in 2011

January 27, 2012 by

Market research firm Strategic Analytics’ latest study of the tablet market shows that global tablet shipments reached 27 million units in the last quarter of 2011 and that Android-based systems captured a 39% share.

The 4th quarter sales represent a 150% increase over the 10.7 million units sold a year earlier. Apple is still the king of the hill with a 58% share, a number that translates into 15.4 million iPads sold.

The report notes that Microsoft has a miniscule 1.5% share of the market, although that may change when Windows 8 hits the market later this year. Overall for 2011 tablet sales reached 66.9 million units, a 260% increase and the company found that increasingly consumers are opting for a tablet rather than a notebook computer.

Onavo lands $10 million in Series B funding

Mobile app developer Onavo has raised $10 million in Series B funding in a round that was led by Horizon Ventures, the private investment arm of billionaire Li Ka-shing. The other new investor in the round was Motorola Mobility Ventures, the strategic equity arm of Motorola Mobility.

Along with the funding the company added Jason Wong from Horizon Ventures to its board. Onavo’s previous investors, Sequoia Capital and Magma Venture Partners, also participated in the round.

Onavo develops a mobile app that can run on both Apple iOS and Android mobile devices and monitors data usage and has the ability to compress data in real time by routing the data through its cloud-based servers prior to its appearing on a mobile device.

Apple loses another round in patent wars

A Dutch court has reaffirmed a lower court ruling that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet does not violate Apple’s patents and is not a copy of Apple’s iPad. Apple had been seeking to ban sales of the device in the Netherlands.

This follows a ruling in the US where a judge allowed Samsung to sell the tablet prior to the court case that will hear Apple’s arguments regarding the issue. At least Apple was not on the wrong side of one ruling-Samsung has filed its own patent suit and a court is allowing Apple to sell its iPads in the country as well.

Motorola has also gone on the offensive and has asked the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida to ban iPhone sales. It alleges that the iPhone infringe on six of its patents. It is very likely that Google gave Motorola due to terms in its pending purchase of Motorola.

Not to be deterred Apple has also filed a pair of new patent complaints in Germany against Samsung. And so it goes.

Jupiter Research sees a bright future for Ultrabooks

Market research firm Jupiter Research predicts that sales for ultrabooks, a sleek, lightweight notebook style being touted by Intel and partners, will experience very strong sales but will still trail the increasingly popular tablets.

The firm predicts that Ultrabook sales will reach 178 million in 2016, yet that will be significantly lower than the estimated 253 million tablets it expects to see sold in that year.
Ultrabooks in part will suffer simply because they will be later to market, while tablets have already seen very strong sales.

However it notes that due to the demanding engineering challenges in building an Ultrabook they will be significantly pricier than most tablets and that one of the key technologies expected to help sales, Windows 8, is not due until much later this year.

Rival social network companies tweak Google

Google has long been accused of playing favorites, with itself as the favorite. Now Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are striking back with the aptly named browser add-on called “Don’t be evil”

The name is a riff on one of Google’s unofficial mottos and the app will allow user of Google’s search engines to see how a search result page would look using Google’s pure organic search results. They claim that Google is slanting the searches to favor its one social network, Google+.

For an analysis of how search results can be different with and without the app goes to the Search Engine Land web site and read Danny Sullivan’s nicely researched piece on the differences.

Notes from earning reports…

Samsung Electronics has posted a record operating profit of $4.72 billion in its fourth quarter, driven by its surging smartphone sales. I guess those ads are working.

Motorola Mobility reported an $80 million loss for the 4th quarter with unit sales of tablets and phones down from the same period a year earlier, 10.5 million compared to 11.3 million. It shipped only 200,000 tablets in the current quarter.

Nokia on the other hand has a different story to tell. It reported that its smartphone sales dropped 27% in the fourth quarter. Expect it to accelerate the introduction of the Lumina 900, one of its new line of smartphones that run on Windows 7 operating system. However don’t cry for the company just yet, aside from still selling in excess of 20 million phones its deal with Microsoft calls for it to get a quarterly platform support payment of $250 million.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, Microsoft, Smartphone, Tablets, Twitter

Intel Patent Buy from RealNetworks Targets Smartphones and Tablets

January 26, 2012 by

Intel has entered into a deal to buy a significant number of patents and next generation video codec software from RealNetworks for $120 million. As part of the deal RealNetworks will retain select rights to continue to use the patents in current and future products.

The deal includes the sale of the approximately 190 patents and 170 patent applications and next generation video codec software. In addition the two have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on future support and development of the next-generation video codec software and related products

RealNetworks said that the sale will not materially alter its expectations for future sales and that it would use the funds from the deal to invest in new businesses and markets while also retaining its existing markets.

It is pretty obvious where Intel sees this technology going-it has been working feverishly to get its technology adopted in the smartphone and tablet space, and is seeking to enhance its notebook presence by working with partners to develop a new very slim category that it calls ultrabooks.

Renee James, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Software and Services Group said in a release that “We believe this agreement enhances our ability to continue to offer richer experiences and innovative solutions to end users across a wide spectrum of devices, including through Ultrabook devices, smartphones and digital media.”

Intel has always been a strong advocate of investing in technology in good times and bad. During the Dot.Com bust it continued to heavily fund its massive research and development efforts, one of the biggest in the world.

It currently spends in excess of $6 billion annually in R&D and has labs around the world doing research not just in semiconductors but a surprising range of other activities as well including studying the habits of tech users to see how and why they use products.

But the company has also used its strong financial position to use cash as a form of R&D, purchasing companies and technologies that it sees as either important to it as a key competency or as an investment that can enable it to participate in new markets if they emerge.

Buying technology and even developing new technology is only one step. The seamless integration of that technology into core products, or passing it on to others to us in conjunction with Intel developed products is the next step.

It had once gone on a huge buying spree in the communications market only to sell off assets at pennies on the dollar. I expect that Intel has learned quite a bit from that experience a decade ago and will put that to good use.
Also in favor of a smooth integration of the acquired technology is the fact that RealNetworks is not just some startup that has ‘gee whiz’ technology but an established player with technology that Intel is no doubt very familiar with.

Filed Under: Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Fujitsu Contest Shows Flexible Design Concepts for All-in-One Device Combos

January 26, 2012 by

Want a quick glimpse of the future of high tech gear? Maybe these products will not see the light of day but a recent concept contest by Fujitsu has shown some great product ideas for a range of technologies.

Naturally a number caught my eye but one combo product really had me thinking that it would be interesting to own. The product was a combination notebook computer, tablet, smartphone and digital camera-but not as an all-in-one solution but rather as removable parts of a whole.

The concept design, which is on the short list in the Fujitsu Design Competition 2011 was created by designer Prashant Chandra which he named “Lifebook 2013”. It is designed to both provide a user with all of the tech tools that they might be carrying and put them into one slim, highly integrated package.

The drive behind the design is not just a gimmicky form factor that enables users to have a convenient place to keep all of their devices together. As additional devices are added their functions and capabilities are added as well.
Add the camera and get a high end digital imaging device as part of your notebook.

Add your phone you have communications, possibly your MP3 collection and other features. A tablet could serve as a second display or as a keyboard, helping to keep the weight down. Syncing all of a users devices should be a snap under a design like this.

But a key differentiator would be that the processors that are stored in the individual devices could also be tasked with some of the laptop’s functions as well.

If this device did manage to come to market in some form in the near future Fujitsu would have to exercise absolute control over both software and hardware design. Code would need to be written to enable programs to take advantage of the different processors, and to adapt when some processors or hardware are not present.

It would also have to be aware of what is and is not present so that it can alter its abilities in real time. A user would not want to constantly change settings when using a phone.

One hidden advantage is that a user might be able to use their smartphone as the communications device for the notebook and tablet without getting contracts for those devices. If nothing else it might serve to push telcos to offer better bundles so that a person can reasonably afford to have cellular capabilities on multiple devices with a reasonable contract covering them all. Ah to dream.

Filed Under: Fujitsu, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Apple has Record Quarter, iPhones, iPad Sales Soar

January 25, 2012 by

Apple continues to see strong sales for its mobile products as iPhones and iPads witnessed record sales, as did its Macintosh computers, in its fiscal first quarter that ended December 31, 2011. The company had quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and a quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion.

It is interesting to note that in its product lineup Apple’s computers come in a far third place in terms of unit sales with only its iPod platform showing a decline, most likely because its iPhones, with their large storage capacity can easily double as a dedicated music player.

The company sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Those figures are all time highs for the company. It only sold 15.4 million iPods, a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

Another fact that stands out from the results is that Apple admitted that its tablets are cannibalizing sales of its Macintosh computers, even when it has a record setting quarter for the computer.

It will be interesting to see how this phenomenon carries over to the Intel-based PC space. Will the ultrabooks stave off declining sales? If not Intel had better ramp up its push to establish its Atom processor in the tablet and smartphone space.

Apple also reported that it did not believe that the Kindle Fire, and other smaller form factor ebook readers that also had very strong holiday sales, had any material impact on its iPad sales.

While analysts had expected a strong quarter from the company some admitted that they were staggered by the results and predict that the company will be able to maintain its momentum going forward, at least in the near term, as it has just started to expand into the Chinese market. It is also expected to release at least one new generation of iPads as well as a new iPhone later this year, moves that should also help see a surge in demand for its products.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Barnes & Noble, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Apple to Own iBook Rights?

January 23, 2012 by

Has Google lost control of Android? A piece in the Guardian is suggesting that the OS has gotten beyond the company’s control and that fragmentation will continue to loosen its grip — but it is not going so far as to say that this will harm its widespread adoption due to an uneven user experience.

The post makes some interesting observations about the difference between the Android space and Apple’s iOS market, noting that since Apple has always been fanatical about control it has a relatively minor problem in this space.

It claims that Android is suffering fragmentation in 5 specific areas: user interface, device, operating system, market place and service, and that the fragmentation is severe. However Google, not surprisingly, takes a very different view.


Does Apple own book rights to iBook creations?

That is the position that Ed Bott over at ZDNet, among others, is taking after doing what almost everyone fails to do on a regular basis — read the license agreement that appears at the bottom of the page that you must click prior to using the software.

According to his post Apple’s iBooks Author program’s End User License Agreement (EULA) gives Apple not only the usual rights to the software, but also to the output that has been created by the software, in other words all of the text books that are created using the program!

The document says that you can give a work created with the software for free but that Apple has the right to accept a book or reject any book for sale and that the author must enter an agreement with the company prior to publishing. If you go look at the blog entry, and I recommend that you do, read the responses as well.

Mobile Apps vs. Web Usage — Times are changing

Web analytic company Flurry Analytics’ latest blog post shows some very interesting changes in how people access the Internet, how much time they spend, on average, browsing, and how this relates to mobile app usage.

Using data from the last 18 months there is a growing trend to using mobile apps and away from browsing on both mobile and desktop devices. At the start of the period the average user spent an average of 64 minutes a day browsing and 43 minutes a day using apps on their devices.

Both activities have seen a strong increase, with browsing growing to 72 minutes a day, although that is down from 74 minutes just six months ago. Use of smartphones and tablet mobile apps has jumped to 94 minutes a day, with the six month ago numbers logging in at 81 minutes. I want to know how people keep their average numbers so low!

Are Windows Phones poised for huge growth?

Despite a market share that is currently miniscule at the moment, a market research firm is claiming that phones based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS will see huge growth and over take Apple’s iPhones by 2015.

Computerworld has a good piece using research from iSuppli that shows the analyst firm expects Microsoft’s share to grow from 1.9% of the market in 2011 to 16.7% in 2015, a share that will be good enough to bump iOS to third while both will trail the huge Android market that will encompass 58.1% of the market.

The growth will be primarily driven by new devices such as the Nokia Lumina 900, Nokia’s first 4G device and one that will sold by both AT&T and possibly more importantly, by Microsoft’s extensive sales channel.

Apple vs Motorola Patent update

A judge has narrowed the number of patents that are in dispute between Motorola and Apple. He invalidated two and said that a third was not infringed upon. He did say that five patents had issues the required a trial.

Apple has already lost a US ruling where it had accused Motorola of infringing on three of Apple’s patents and the company has suits against Motorola and others ongoing elsewhere around the globe.

Chevrolet wants you to use a tablet during the Super Bowl

General Motor’s Chevrolet division is one of many advertisers that has purchased multimillion dollar spots that will air during the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 5th, but plans a more interactive effort than any have done in the past.

The division is releasing an app for use with Android and iOS devices and available at their respective stores as well as at chevy.com/gametime it will have a wide range of activities including trivia contests that will enable users to win prizes.

The company said that there will be thousands of prizes, from both Chevy but also from as Bridgestone, Motorola, the NFL and NFLShop.com, Papa John’s Pizza and Sirius XM Radio. This is certainly an interesting method designed to maximize the millions the company will have spent to advertise during the game.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, Motorola, Tablets

Friday Grab Bag: People buy Kindles to read Books, Who Knew?

January 20, 2012 by

How do people use Kindle- let me count the ways
With all of the great sales news for Amazon’s Kindle platform in recent weeks one might wonder what all of these customers are using the tablets for. Well wonder no more as a survey by RBC Capital, as reported in Business Insider, comes away with a number of details on users needs

Not a huge surprise is that its primary use is as an ebook reader. That seems to show that it is hitting its target market, and by doing so will help Amazon, which reportedly is losing money on actual Kindle sales, make a net profit due to app, ebook and other add-on sales.

The second is that it is not used too much to surf the web. Many reports have shown that rival products such as the iPad are used to surf the web, often while watching television.

Panorama Sports viewing coming to a TV near you-hopefully
Every time I watch an NFL game, or for that matter many different sporting events, I often want to see something that is not in the camera-it could be following a specific receiver run their route or how the defense is lined up.

Well a company named Technicolor is working hard to rectify this issue with a technology it calls Personalized Content Rendering that it publicly showed at CES.

Using a system of six cameras at the sporting venue it can create a moving panorama view of the stadium that enables a user to personalize their viewing experience.

The company has a software program that combines the video feed from all six cameras that when used in conjunction with something like a Microsoft Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360 tracking your eyes and head movement to allow you to look around the field and even zoom in on specific spots. However it is still some time before we see a commercial offering from the company.

ZTE set to focus on US and China markets to grow smartphone sales
ZTE, one of the top handset makers in the world is looking at two of the largest markets for smartphones, the United States and China, as key targets in its efforts to continue its growth as a premium phone provider.

The company has been evolving in the consumer electronics market and this looks like the latest step as it said it will increase its sales efforts to establish its smartphone models such as the Blade and the Skate in these countries.

With a stated goal of doubling sales in 2012 it could lead to an interesting price war if the company bears down and gets serious. It is estimated that ZTE shipped 12 million smartphones last year.

Kupa breaks out its Windows Tablet
Kupa has unveiled the Kupa X11 Lux Tablet, a dual input device that can use either touch or a stylus as its primary input device. It runs Windows 7 OS and is capable of operating for 10 hours on batter power. It comes in two models, one with a 64GB solid state drive (SSD) and the other with a 128GB SSD.

Using its Pen + Touch technology with pen is sensitive to to different pressure levels which can result in different outcomes. It features Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, USB and mini HDMI connectivity, and has a 2MP front camera and a 3MP rear facing camera.

Recon adds two new partners to lineup
Recon Instruments has expanded its partnerships for its Micro Optics Display (MOD) technology with the addition of official partnerships with Smith Optics and SCOTT Sports.

The two are the latest that have signed with the company to develop ski goggles that incorporate OD technology or are MOD compatible. MOD provides a variety of projected video feedback information for skiers including GPS and an altimeter. MOD Live boasts additional smartphone connectivity and advanced onboard apps.

Apple’s iOS to have integrated Facebook feature?
Reports are starting to surface that when Apple releases the iPad 3, expected in March, it will have an integrated version of Facebook as part of its core feature set according to iMore. The site reported that in iOS 5.1 beta release 3 that there is references to Facebook, but notes that this has happened in the past but apparently the two companies could not come to an agreement to include it.

Windows 8 tablets to have minimum hardware requirements
If you are planning on building a tablet that will run Microsoft’s Windows 9 operating system you will be required to meet some minimum standards for hardware, according to a report from eWeek. Not terrible breaking news since developers of Windows Phones also have to meet minimum requirements.

The reasoning behind this is to ensure that all of the hardware is there for the OS to operate properly. Microsoft wants to avoid an issue that has arisen in the Android space where a user might have very different experiences, and the devices different capabilities, even when running the same operating system.

Among the features that will be required to be included are a both Bluetooth 4.0 and Long Term Evolution (LTE), 10GB of storage, a minimum 1,366 x 768 resolution display and a 720p camera.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, iPad, Kindle, Microsoft, Tablets
« Previous Page
Next Page »