Android Market YoY Growth Hits 861%, iPhone App Store Still Tops

IHS has just published some research on much revenue was made through the Android Market, iPhone App Store, Nokia Ovi Store, and BlackBerry App World in 2010. Predictably, the iPhone App Store is still the king of the hill with $1.7 billion in revenue, but they’ve lost some market share since 2009 (82% vs. 92%). The study projected that half of the App Store’s revenues would be coming from the iPad by 2014, which seems likely enough. The BlackBerry App World was in second place, claiming a 7.7% share and $165 million, Nokia’s Ovi Store sat at 4.9% and $105 million, leaving the Android Market at 4.7% and $102 million. The study also said games counted for about 52% of revenue in 2010, and 24% of apps in North America used the freemium model, with 50% projected for 2014.


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Is Cheaper iPhone a Good Bet for Apple?

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is expected to release a new cheaper version of the iPhone during 2011 to deal with growing smartphone competition. Apple may be working on a new low-end line of iPhones along with the existing line for about half the price of the standard iPhone line, according to various media reports.

The new device would get software service overhauls and would be about half the size of the iPhone 4, which would put the device more in-line with other mass-market phones, the Wall Street Journal said in a recent report.

Cupertino, California-based Apple primarily competes with Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM), Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI), and Nokia Corporation (NOK) in the mobile phone market.

Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android OS-based smartphones have seen tremendous adoption growth over the past year, and the recent partnership between Nokia and Microsoft (MSFT) could pose another long-term threat to Apple.

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Android, Video Games Dominate Mobile World Congress

BARCELONA, Spain – Mobile World Congress 2011 served as the official coming out party for the next generation of Google Android smartphones and tablets as 60,000 professionals from 200 countries gathered in Barcelona. Android had a massive, two-floor booth at the annual convention that was packed with all of the new smartphones and tablets shipping in the coming months running off the various Android platforms, including Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play phone, which operates on Gingerbread, and LG's Optimus Pad tablet, which is powered by Honeycomb.
The Android booth featured a huge arcade section where developers from around the world showcased the next generation of mobile games. While graphics and gameplay have improved in the mobile space over the years, the new wave of smartphones and tablets will push the capabilities of these devices to the level of PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 – and beyond even the best iPhone 4 and iPad games that are
currently on the market.

"Video games drive the mobile business because they're the best showcase of what these new devices can really do," said Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of publishing at Gameloft, one of the largest mobile game companies in the world. "Our experience in the console market is helping us deliver quality titles to these new devices for the mobile market."

Gameloft, which previously supported Apple's launch of iPhone and iPad with games, had franchises like Asphalt 6, Let's Golf and NOVA running in autostereoscopic (glasses free) 3D at LG's booth on the new Optimus 3D phone. The company also will support the March launch of Xperia Play with 10 titles, including Star Battalion. And the publisher has recently started developing new games to run on NVIDIA's Tegra 2 dual-core technology.

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Apple won't be Releasing a cheaper iPhone nano

Smaller doesn’t mean less expensive

MAKER OF SHINY TOYS Apple won't be bringing out a smaller, less expensive version of the Iphone any time soon, but it is working on ways of making future devices cheaper.

A report at the New York Times poured cold water on rumours that Apple is developing a smaller Iphone, citing a source who said that making it smaller doesn't necessarily make it less expensive to develop. Apps might also have to be redeveloped with a smaller screen, which the cappuccino company obviously would want to avoid.

But the evidence indicates that Apple is working on making ways to make headway in markets where Android has started to gain market share. A cheaper version of the Iphone will come through less expensive components, but you should consider that Apple already does this by dropping the price of older Iphone models once a new one hits the market.

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Android Apps May Overtake Iphones In A Year

By Athima Chansanchai

No matter what bravado Apple puts up, the company must be breaking a little sweat, looking in its rearview mirror at Google's Android. After all, Android not only overtook the iPhone platform in sales, but went on to dethrone Nokia's Symbian as the world's most popular smart phone platform. Android devices are coming out faster than can be counted. And now it looks as if there will be more Android apps than iPhone apps by 2012.

The jolly green robot's Android Market has sprouted up 127 percent since August, putting it at three times the growth of the Apple App Store (44 percent), according to the second report released by mobile security company Lookout and its App Genome Project, which has analyzed more than 500,000 Android and iOS applications since the project commenced last summer.

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Tablets at Mobile World Congress 2011

It's not just handsets and smartphones at this year's Mobile World Congress; tablets made their way to Barcelona, Spain, as well, despite some people's opinion that tablets aren't really mobile. As an echo to CES this year, Mobile World Congress proved once again that 2011 is the year of the tablet, with the introduction of at least five new models, and the promise of more to come.

LG Optimus Pad/T-Mobile G-Slate
LG showed up in Barcelona with the LG Optimus Pad, which will be branded in the U.S. as the T-Mobile G-Slate. We already saw a glimpse of it at CES, but this is the first time we got to play around with it.
The display has a 1,280x768-pixel WXGA resolution in wide screen, and a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor is found inside. You also get 1080p HD video decoding, and HDMI support will let you share your 3D video with TVs. Unlike the Optimus 3D, though, you do need glasses to watch 3D video on the tablet.
And as part of the Optimus Pad announcement, LG has a established a partnership with YouTube, which will let Optimus Pad owners quickly upload 3D videos for sharing.


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