Posts Tagged ‘Android Operating System’

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A Wave of Android Smartphones Outsells Apple

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Devices that run Google’s Android software outsold the iPhone in the first quarter, helping make Verizon Wireless a smartphone powerhouse

A storefront in one of the busiest shopping districts in downtown Portland, Ore., is painted black, with “Droid Does” in large letters over the doors.

Orchestrated by carrier Verizon Wireless, aggressive promotions such as this one for Motorola’s (MOT) Droid smartphone, plus a blitz of direct mail, newspaper, and TV ads, and two-for-one deals on Android-powered handsets, lifted first-quarter sales of smartphones based on Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system above sales of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone for the first time, market researcher NPD Group reported on May 10.

Android-powered phones accounted for 28 percent of all smartphones sold in the U.S., exceeding Apple’s 21 percent share during the quarter, NPD said. Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry models led the category with a 36 percent share.

Leapfrogging Apple is an important milestone—and not just for Android, an open-source software developed by a consortium of companies led by Google. NPD’s report also shows how quickly Verizon Wireless has become a central player in the fast-growing market for the pocket computers known as smartphones. In the first quarter, Verizon customers bought 30 percent of all smartphones sold in the U.S., nearly equaling the 32 percent share of AT&T (T), which has an exclusive contract to sell the iPhone, according to the report. AT&T also sells an Android handset from Motorola and plans to carry an upcoming Android smartphone from Dell (DELL).

Verizon no longer seen as desperate

Until recently, Verizon was an also-ran in the smartphone market. It carried the BlackBerry, but didn’t have a breakthrough consumer-oriented smartphone to compete with the iPhone. Analysts were calling for Verizon to strike a deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone. Last December, Verizon said it had effected network upgrades that would enable its network to handle extra traffic should Apple decide to expand the number of carriers authorized to sell iPhones.

Last November’s launch of the Android-powered Droid improved Verizon’s fortunes in the smartphone market. The Droid, with its sleek design and ability to run many downloadable apps—and backed by a highly visible marketing campaign—is helping Verizon catch up. In the past several months, Verizon Wireless has proven that if it does get the iPhone, “it won’t be out of some pressing need,” says Tavis McCourt, an analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co. (RF), who has an “outperform” rating on Apple shares.

Rising shipments of Android phones could also spur developers to create additional apps for the platform. “Market share is a contributing factor to which operating system developers want to support,” says Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at NPD. On Apr. 15, the Android Market app store carried 38,000 applications such as games, calendars, and e-books. Apple’s App Store has more than 200,000 apps, the company says.

Android taking share from most

The smartphone market is experiencing a flurry of activity. Apple is expected to introduce a new version of the iPhone this summer. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) on Apr. 28 announced it would buy Palm (PALM) for $1.2 billion. And Microsoft (MSFT) is expected to release a new smartphone operating system called Windows Phone 7 in the second half of the year. NPD analyst Rubin says consumers aren’t likely to hold off on buying iPhones in anticipation of the new model. “We don’t tend to see a lot of purchase delay,” he says.

In the third quarter of 2009, Android phones claimed only 3 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. In the first quarter, Android phones have taken market share away from Apple, RIM, Microsoft, and Palm, according to NPD. RIM’s unit share of U.S. smartphone sales slipped a bit from 37 percent in the fourth quarter, when the Droid and several other Android phones went on sale, to 36 percent in the first quarter, according to NPD. Microsoft Windows’ share dropped from 13 percent in the fourth quarter, to 10 percent in the first quarter.

Verizon’s Android line up includes Motorola Droid and Devour phones, plus the new Droid Incredible from HTC. “There’s no question Apple’s done a great job with the iPhone,” Verizon Chief Financial Officer John Killian said during the company’s first-quarter call with investors on Apr. 22. “But look at our results.”

Resource:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2010/tc20100510_027179.htm

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Posted in Android Development | No Comments »

Google’s Android takes No 2 spot from iPhone

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc displaced iPhone maker Apple Inc to become the second most popular provider of smartphone software in the United States during the first quarter, the latest sign of the increasing competition in the fast-growing mobile market.

But Google’s success in becoming a leading mobile software player was tempered by the news on Monday that Google lost a key partner in a related effort to redefine the cell phone industry by selling phones directly to consumers through its website.

A Sprint representative said on Monday the company would no longer support the Nexus One, the sleek touchscreen smartphone developed by Google and HTC and sold directly on the Google website.

Smartphones featuring Google’s Android operating system accounted for 28 percent of U.S. smartphone unit sales in the first quarter, according to NPD Group, behind top-ranked Research in Motion Ltd, maker of the Blackberry phone, which had a 36 percent share of the market.

Smartphones, which allow consumers to surf the Web, send email and run specialized applications on wide, color screens, are increasingly replacing no-frills cell phones for many U.S. consumers.

The devices have become a prime battleground for a variety of technology companies seeking to ensure a good position in the evolving market.

Last month, Hewlett-Packard Co said it would pay $1.2 billion to acquire Palm Inc, which sells two smartphone models based on its WebOS operating system. Microsoft Corp, whose Windows operating system is used in the majority of the world’s PCs, unveiled a pair of smartphones last month and recently launched a revamped version of its mobile operating system.

Apple has sold more than 51 million iPhones since it launched the device to wide acclaim in 2007 and the company says more than 200,000 apps are available for the phone.

In the first quarter, Apple’s iPhone, which is available exclusively on the AT&T wireless network in the United States, dropped to third place as its share of the smartphone operating system market remained flat quarter-over-quarter at 21 percent.

Unlike Apple, Google offers its Android software to other phone-makers. In April, Google said a dozen vendors currently offer 34 different devices that feature the Android software.

NPD analyst Ross Rubin said the strong showing of Android phones during the first quarter owed to promotions by Verizon Wireless, which he said has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer. Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.

“As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share,” Rubin said in a statement.

While the Android operating system is gaining momentum in the market, Google has had less luck with its Nexus One phone, the Android-based device it designed in close collaboration with HTC. Google sells directly to consumers from its website.

Sprint said the Nexus One would not be available on its wireless network because of the upcoming availability of the HTC EVO 4G phone, which also runs Google’s Android software and is compatible with the next-generation high-speed networks Sprint offers in certain markets.

Sprint’s decision to drop support for the Nexus One comes a few weeks after Google acknowledged a version of the phone that runs on the Verizon Wireless network was being scrapped. Google initially promised a version of the Nexus One for Verizon Wireless in the Spring.

In a report earlier this year, analytics firm Flurry estimated Google sold roughly 135,000 Nexus One phones in its first 74 days on the market, compared with the 1 million iPhones Apple sold in the same time frame when it released the device in 2007.

Resource:
Yahoo News

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Android Devices Crave Google’s Attention

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Android’s smartphone army is at least 20 phones strong, plus a ragtag rear guard of e-book readers, tablets and set-top boxes.

But those oddball devices bringing up the rear are running into an unexpected challenge: neglect by Google.

Android had been created by Google as an operating system for all mobile devices, not just smartphones. The Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of companies that support Android, includes gadget makers that are not just focused on making smartphones. Yet, the search giant has been treating other gadgets running Android as second-class citizens, denying them their own centralized app store and dragging its feet on putting in place a framework that would allow developers to easily create apps for these devices.

“Today Google is 100 percent focused on smartphones,” says Kevin Kitagawa, the director of strategic marketing for MIPS Technologies, whose processor architectures are used for home-entertainment and networking devices. “Their compatibility tests only allow certification for these type of devices but we hope soon that Google will extend its support to other Android devices.”

Though Android is free and open source, Google exercises control over what devices can access the Android Market’s applications and receive extensive developer support. And, currently, only smartphones running Android qualify.

That leaves other devices out in the cold. Take Spring Design’s Alex e-reader: The Alex runs Android and will start shipping next month, but the device hasn’t been certified by Google, and so it will have no access to the Android Market.

Spring CEO Priscilla Lu says she’s confident Google will certify the Alex once the e-reader has gone through a few changes. “We will get the certification as soon as the cellular connection is enabled,” says Lu. “The difficulty is in getting the cellular module approved by the FCC.”

“The Alex is really a smartphone with E Ink,” says Lu.

Not so fast.

Google requires “all hardware components have the same software APIs as defined in their SDK to be compatible,” says Kitagawa. “This provides consistency to third-party developers that access these components,” he says.

That means devices always need to have some key components, such as touchscreens with a specified minimum resolution, a certain number of navigation keys, Wi-Fi, camera and accelerometer. Devices such as the Alex e-reader or a digital picture frame don’t conform to these requirements.

“What Google has is a set of hardware requirements, down to the number of buttons and resolution of the screens,” says Al Sutton, who runs a company called FunkyAndroid that offers app stores for Android devices that are not supported by Google. “Anyone can put Android on their device but at this point, if it’s not a smartphone they can’t pass the certification test that will let them into the app store.

In late 2007, Google unveiled the Android as a Linux-based, free, open source operating system for mobile devices that can be adopted by any hardware manufacturer. The announcement opened the doors for many major electronics manufacturers that were looking to create new devices but wanted an operating system that would go beyond the traditional Linux or Windows. Among those are Dell, whose upcoming tablet, the Mini 5 will run Android.

Separately, Google announced Chrome OS, another Linux-based operating system targeted at netbooks, PCs and other devices. Both Android and Chrome OS would allow developers to create apps for the platform but Google has never made it clear what kind of devices should run which operating system, Chris Hazelton, research director, mobile and wireless with the 451 Group.

That means many consumer electronics makers rushed to put Android on their devices, largely because Android came out long before Chrome was even on the radar screen.

“At this point, I am not clear where Android ends and Chrome OS begins,” says Hazelton. “I hope Google is having conversations with device vendors and they are mapping out where each OS has the advantage and how they are going to build an ecosystem of developers to create apps for both.”

MIPS and other companies say Google is trying to do that, but its attention has been divided and progress has been slow. So far, Google has offered certification tests to ensure compatibility only for Android-based smartphones and Google’s Android Market app store remains limited to smartphones.

As a result, last year, a group of 40 companies, mostly manufacturers from Japan, created the Open Embedded Software Foundation. The Foundation aims to create standardized development platforms for Android in consumer devices beyond the mobile phone, which would allow for proliferation of apps for set-top boxes and TVs.

“You are going to to see applications that are really tailored for the living room,” says Kitagawa. “We are talking of apps that can be accessed through a remote control and optimized for large screens.”

A few app developers such as Home Jinni, an app for set-top boxes and TVs that run Android, are trying to pass Google’s compatibility tests, anyway. Home Jinni is a media-center software based on open standards that collects content from different sources such as the web and peer-to-peer networks and offers support for voice applications.

Shidan Gouran, CEO of Home Jinni, says though the Android Market in its current form doesn’t have a place for his app, he is confident Google won’t keep the doors shut on gadgets other than smartphones for too long.

For now, Gouran is inking deals individually with companies like MIPS to put the Home Jinni app on devices. Meanwhile, he’s also created a version of the Home Jinni app for the Android Market so it can reach more users.

“The Android app store is not there yet for apps created for TVs, but I am pretty confident Google wants a piece of that market so it will make a place for us soon,” says Gouran.

Google declined to comment for this story.

Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/android-devices-crave-googles-attention/#ixzz0jYb1Pteg

Resource:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/android-devices-crave-googles-attention/

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Posted in Mobile Application Devlopment | 2 Comments »

New smartphone allows video conferencing

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Smartphones keep getting smarter and more useful. Now they’re turning into mobile TV broadcasting stations.

Sprint last week announced the HTC Evo 4G. It’s the first phone to run on Sprint’s next-generation 4G high-speed mobile broadband network. Sprint offers 4G service in 27 markets with plans to roll it out to more markets (including the Bay Area) later this year. The phone is expected to be available this summer.

One thing interesting about this phone is that it has two cameras. Like most smartphones, there’s one on the back that the user controls from the front of the camera to take pictures or video of others. The back-facing camera on the Evo has an exceptionally high-resolution 8 megapixels and the ability to capture high definition video.

But the phone also has a 1.3-megapixel camera on its front, so it can easily take a picture or video of the phone’s user. Aside from being able to take vanity pictures of yourself, that feature — when combined with the phone’s high-speed network — allows live video conferencing. You could also use the camera in the back to broadcast whatever is around you.

I have a feeling that this phone is going to appeal to kids who love to interact with their friends via photos and video. Like other camera phones, it raises some privacy and safety issues. I hope Sprint provides kids and parents with some basic education on the safe use of this very cool technology.

The phone will ship with the same Android 2.1 operating system and 1 GHz Snapdragon processor as Google’s Nexus One. It, of course, will have the usual Android features, including GPS, Bluetooth and the ability to connect via Wi-Fi.

The phone will also enable users to create their own Wi-Fi hotspot. For example, commuters who carpool could share the signal to connect laptops or other devices for up to eight passengers. The phone will have an HDMI output for sending high-definition (720p) video and photos to a TV set.

But you don’t have to wait until summer to check out an HTC phone with the physical look and feel of the Evo 4G. The HTC HD2, which runs the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, hit T-Mobile stores last week. It has the same 4.3 inch screen as the Evo and uses the same fast processor. It doesn’t have the front camera but it does have a 5-megapixel camera on the back, which is pretty much the standard for new high-end smartphones.

The HD2 is all about entertainment and comes pre-loaded with two movies: “Transformers” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” These are not my favorite flicks but they do demonstrate the quality of the screen and the fact that viewing movies on a smartphone can be a reasonably OK experience, thanks in part to that 4.3-inch high-resolution screen, which T-Mobile says is the largest of any smartphone sold in the United States. A mobile version of the “Guitar Hero” game is also pre-loaded. And the phone comes with a GPS and turn-by-turn navigation from Telenav.

To its credit, HTC layered its “Sense” user interface over Windows Mobile 6.5, which makes it more user-friendly than most Windows mobile phones. Also, the faster processor makes up for the otherwise sluggish performance I’ve experienced on other Windows phones. However, Windows did raise its ugly head twice during my test of the phone.

When I tried to rent a movie from Blockbuster, I got a long error message that ended with, “make sure the clocks are synchronized or use the timeTolerenceInSeconds element in the microsoft.web.services3.”

Because I couldn’t watch a movie, I figured I’d read a book. But when I tried using Barnes & Nobel’s book reader, I got the message “Error opening the shortcut or locating the target filename.” Fortunately, I was able to use the phone to make calls.

Microsoft last month unveiled an entirely new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 Series, which was rewritten from the ground up. The new Windows mobile won’t run existing applications, so anyone who buys a Windows phone today is buying into a dying ecosphere.

Windows Phone 7 won’t be available until late this year. But even then, it won’t be possible to upgrade the HD2 to the new operating system.

If I were buying a smartphone today, I’d stick with Blackberry, iPhone or a phone running Google’s Android operating system.

Resource:

http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_14759703

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