Gartner: smartphones carton, and Windows Phone takes third place

Windows Phone has taken the third place in the mobile operating systems front BlackBerry in the second quarter of 2013. The figures come from Gartner, which analyzes phone sales worldwide as each quarter in a document sent to editors.

The Microsoft System is even Honourable growing globally, with an increase of its market share of 0.7 points, from 2.6 per cent in the second quarter 2012 to 3.3%. It therefore sold 7.4 million Windows Phone devices in the second quarter, compared to 4 million a year earlier.

BlackBerry in distress?

The loser is obvious l'ex-troisieme, BlackBerry, which faces, in addition to questions about the company's future, a steady decline of its sales to its relative market share. 5.2% In the second quarter of 2012, BlackBerry Roundup more than 2.7% of the global market share. A decline of 2.5 points which cannot but accentuate the pressure on the leadership of the Canadian group.

BlackBerry developing rapid decomposition? -Image Matthew Hurst CC BY - SA 2.0

In volume of sales also, BlackBerry is the step. Last year, in the same quarter, it sold 8 million devices. A year later, it is more than 7.4 million, despite the launch Meanwhile a new OS and promising devices on paper.

The other, certainly most anticipated decline is iOS. 18.8% In the second quarter of 2012, Apple's operating system dropped to group now 14.2 per cent of market share. A score which remains Honourable face of Android, hardly comparable car used by from many manufacturers, but continuous Apple so its recession at the global level.

iOS is however still above lot, with 31.9 million units sold compared to 28.9 million in the second quarter of 2012, but these sales are no longer the same order as those of Android smartphones.

A monster: Android

Far in the lead, covering many more segments of the market and competition, devices running on the operating system developed by Google show once more net domination. And share less and less with the competition: 64.2% of the market last year, they arrogate now 79% of the global market for smartphones.

Symbian and Bada flow, but are no longer in the heart of the strategies of manufacturers - Image Gartner

It sold, in the second quarter of 2013, 177.9 million smartphones Android, compared with 98.7 million in the second quarter of 2012. The coming year will now have to answer a question: new entrants - Ubuntu, Firefox OS, Tizen - can shake this Behemoth of the smartphone has become Android?

But the second quarter of this year was marked by another event, according to Gartner. For the first time, provides the analysis firm, it sold more smartphones than conventional phones. 225 million smartphones were sold, an increase of 46.5 percent over the previous year.

At the same time, conventional phones are passed to 210 million units, thus experiencing a drop of 21%. The main region supporting this shift remains the Asia-Pacific, with a sales growth of smartphones from 74.1% over one year. Followed by Latin America (55.7%) and Eastern Europe (31.6%).

The race to the "dynamic markets" is on

These trends have not escaped editors operating systems, or manufacturers of smartphones. While Firefox OS is still the "dynamic markets" and that Android is already well settled, particularly in Asia, Apple is about to unveil a 'low cost' iPhone. Eternal rumor... But the figures give reason to this strategy. At the Apple to succeed its moulting without losing what remains its main asset against the competition: its brand.

Whatever it is, the long fall of conventional phones continues: "smartphones represent 51.8% of the sales of mobile phones in the second quarter of 2013, surpassing for the first time conventional phones," concludes Gartner. All devices combined, it sold 435 million units in the second quarter, an increase of 3.6% on a slippery year.

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Key figures: sales of mobile and smartphones

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Patent war: Apple Gets a new ban from Samsung in the United States

Apple finally got a victory in court against Samsung in the United States: the International Trade Commission, the watchdog of the trade, issued late last week its decision to ban American territory the import of older models of smartphones and tablets Galaxy.

Reason: these devices violate Apple's intellectual property on several patents related to scrolling and the audio connectors. Among the devices concerned, The Verge is the Galaxy S 4 G - and not the Galaxy S4! -the Galaxy Fascinate, Galaxy Captivate, Galaxy Tab and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Other smartphones and tablets marketed in 2010 and 2011 are affected by the ban.

Step... but victory still

This Apple victory, confirming the previous decision of a US judge is however tempered by the dismissal of four other charges of infringement of intellectual property made by Apple. Unlike j. Pender, the ITC believes that these other four patents can be the source of a ban, as it does not see in the patents submitted by Samsung a ground of inadmissibility of Apple devices.

For Samsung, it's obviously disappointment. "However, Apple was dismissed in his attempt to use his patent design, too general, to ensure a monopoly on rectangles and rounded corners. "The right strategy for the smartphone industry is not the global war before the courts, but a competition just on the market."

No Obama veto in sight

Global has yet - war like Apple - powered Samsung chaining cases submitted to courts of the United States and other countries. With a ratio of force generally favorable to Apple, according to it: "With today's decision, the ITC has joined the courts of the world, in the Japan, in Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and California in their defense of innovation and the rejection of flagrant copying of products Apple by Samsung."

Classic statements in such legal battles... However, one question remains: Barack Obama has 60 days to veto the decision of the ITC. Will do, as he did recently to defend Apple face Samsung it? Quite unlikely, given that the Californian company is victorious again, and that patent rejected by the ITC are deemed "non-essential".

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Smartphones : Sony a retrouvé la voie du succès

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AppId is over the quota
Business : La nouvelle stratégie du japonais est payante avec près de 10 millions de smartphones vendus au deuxième trimestre contre 8 millions trois mois plus tôt.

En se séparant d'Ericsson pour la conception et la fabrication de smartphones, et en revenant à ses fondamentaux, à savoir le premium et le design, Sony est parvenu à rebondir dans le marché hautement difficile des smartphones.

Les chiffres sont là. Après avoir enchaîné des trimestres de ventes en forte baisse, le groupe renoue avec la croissance depuis la mise en place de cette stratégie, illustrée par le Xperia Z, le modèle haut de gamme du nippon.

Retour dans le vert

Au deuxième trimestre, Sony a écoulé 9,6 millions de smartphones, contre 8,1 millions trois mois plus tôt, un chiffre déjà en augmentation de 82% sur un an. Bien sûr, le géant est encore à des années lumière d'un Samsung et n'est toujours pas parvenu à retrouver le Top5 mondial des vendeurs. Mais une chose est sûre : l'appétence des consommateurs est de retour.

En termes financiers, Sony Mobile revient dans le vert avec un chiffre d'affaires de 3,9 milliards de dollars, et un revenu net de 60 millions de dollars, contre une perte trois mois plus tôt.

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Chiffres clés : les ventes de mobiles et de smartphones

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Le Moto X officiellement dévoilé

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AppId is over the quota
Technologie : Motorola a dévoilé hier le Moto X que de nombreuses fuites avaient largement éventé. Le smartphone Android 4,7 pouces sera disponible aux États-Unis fin août-début septembre pour 199 dollars avec un abonnement téléphonique de deux ans.

Le Motorola Moto X a finalement été présenté hier, confirmant pour l’essentiel les fuites incessantes de ces dernières semaines. Le smartphone est donc bien équipé d’un écran 4,7 pouces AMOLED 1280 x 720 pixels dont la densité est de 316 points par pouce.

Le SoC (System on a Chip) X8 Mobile Computing System qui l'équipe, conçu par Motorola, est basé sur un processeur Snapdragon S4 Pro double cœur 1,7 GHz avec 2 Go de mémoire vive.

'Moto Maker'

La partie photo est assurée par un capteur 10 mégapixels et une caméra frontale 1,2 mégapixels, avec la possibilité d’enregistrer la vidéo en full HD. Le système de commande vocale actif en permanence est bien présent, de même que la possibilité d’activer l’appareil photo en secouant le poignet.

 

Comme Motorola l’avait indiqué, le Moto X pourra être personnalisé au moment de la commande sur le site dédié Moto Maker avec notamment un choix de seize coques arrière, 16 ou 32 Go de stockage ou un message personnel gravé au dos de l’appareil.

Le Moto X sera vendu par les principaux opérateurs américains à 199 dollars avec deux ans d’abonnement. Il sera aussi distribué au Canada et en Amérique latine, mais a priori pas en Europe.

Google a aussi confirmé la sortie d’une édition « Google Play » de ce modèle, c’est-à-dire équipé d’une version « pure » d’Android. Mais ni la date ni le prix n’ont été communiqués. (Eureka Presse)

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Chiffres clés : les ventes de mobiles et de smartphones

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Android 4.3 : une fonctionnalité cachée pour contrôler les permissions des apps

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Open Source : La fonctionnalité s'appelle App Ops, et permet de vérifier ont été données aux applications pour l'accès aux différents outils physiques et logiciels de l'appareil.

La dernière version d'Android Jelly Bean, la 4.3, apporte dans ses fonctionnalités masquées une nouveauté intéressante pour les utilisateurs : la possibilité de surveiller finement les permissions laissées aux applications installées sur l'appareil, rapporte Android Police.

A l'installation aussi

Alors qu'il fallait jusqu'à maintenant faire un choix radical - autoriser toutes les permissions ou ne pas installer l'application - App Ops est un nouveau menu regroupant toutes les permissions des logiciels tiers installés. Quelle application peut accéder au GPS, lire vos contacts ou connaître vos rendez-vous... App Ops donne en quasi-temps réel les accès réalisés.

Les utilisateurs pourront également refuser d'accorder certaines permissions, et ce beaucoup plus facilement qu'avec les solutions déjà disponibles. Dans une mise-à-jour de son article, le site rapporte même qu'il est possible de gérer ces permissions au moment de l'installation d'une application.

Il semble que la fonctionnalité sera accessible à tous dans le futur, et qu'elle n'est masquée que parce qu'elle n'est pas tout à fait prête. Il faut donc passer par un chemin un peu détourné, en lançant une application capable de démarrer une "Activité", à l'instar du launcher tiers Nova par exemple.

Dans le menu "Settings", App Ops apparaît, et peut être lancé avec un raccourci. Cependant, une autre solution existe pour ceux qui auraient déjà installé Android 4.3 : il s'agit de l'application tierce "Permission Manager", disponible sur le Google Play.

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Firefox OS: ZTE Open soon for sale on eBay in the US

Strategy: Already marketed in Spain, the Venezuela and Colombia, the ZTE Open Firefox OS will be offered on eBay US and UK, in unlocked version, $ respectively 80 and 60 pounds.

The Chinese manufacturer ZTE announced yesterday that he had "soon" propose its Open smartphone in the United Kingdom and the United States via its online store at eBay. This mobile Firefox OS will be offered at a rate of 60 pounds (about 70 euros) and $ 80 (approximately 60 euros) and sold unlocked in order to be used with any operator. It will be further adorned with an exclusive orange color.

In a blog post commenting on the news, Mozilla says that this version of the ZTE Open will be proposed without applications or services located as is the case for models marketed by operators. On the other hand, the Chinese group does not state whether it intends to expand the concept of sale by eBay to countries other than the United Kingdom and the United States. (Eureka press)

 

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Key figures: sales of mobile and smartphones

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Ubuntu Edge : même s'il n'atteint pas les 32 millions de dollars, Canonical a gagné

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Note: this article was originally published on ZDNet.com, where you can find it in the original version.

Canonical, the company which publishes the distribution GNU / Linux Ubuntu, makes a bet. It has relied on the fact that there were enough visionaries to raise 32 million dollars in crowdfunding and manufacture the first device combining smartphone and PC based on Linux, Ubuntu Edge. It seems that the company will miss his bet, but in the long term, I think that Canonical will leave the winner game table.

Canonical will be winning, even if it is unable to raise the funds for the Ubuntu Edge. -Image Canonical

First, even with the investment of $ 80,000 by Bloomberg in the (English) project, indicators show that Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding campaign will miss its goal. Even when it decided to lower the price of the device at 695 dollars on August 8, Canonical has been unable to raise donations. This 12 August, ten days away from the date of the fundraiser on Indiegogo campaign, the company only received pledges $ 9.6 million.

Huge pledges

From what I know, it is the largest fund raising carried out by a commercial enterprise in a limited time. But it is still not enough.

Some hope that Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical and Ubuntu, will save the project by investing at the last minute. This seems unlikely. Questioned by the British newspaper The Guardian, he clearly said that "if we do not reach our goal, there not Ubuntu Edge".

Shuttleworth did not lose sleep. It has already announced at CNET that "multiply by three the record of crowdfunding is a super-ambitieux project". But "it is also clear that this project is auxiliary in the mission, which is to bring Ubuntu on the market".

Exactly.

Ubuntu is perhaps the biggest fish in the distributions of GNU / Linux on the desktop, but on smartphone and in the technological world in general, it is small fry. Project Ubuntu Edge has already managed to attract the attention of companies like Bloomberg, who would have otherwise than barely noticed Canonical.

For Mark Shuttleworth, the question is not that of a Ubuntu phone. "It comes to change the dynamics of innovation," according to him, and it is both a truth and a key point.

Thinker of the computer of the future

Canonical is far from being the first company to speak of a hybrid device all-in-one. From what I know, this is the first to bring both an operating system, Ubuntu, and an interface, Unity, which can turn on both smartphone and Tablet-PC.

As Jason Perlow, ZDNet, recently noted, "Shuttleworth vision become a reality, you need a unified platform. "In other words, Smartphone, Tablet and the workstation OS must be the same operating system, the same objective, developer and in the end, the same device."

I think that this is exactly the direction taken by the technology. Even if there is never Ubuntu edge, Canonical is positioned as a visionary company in this new form of computing.

Someone, will soon start to manufacture these all-in-one devices. I suspect strongly that Canonical will be involved in these projects, even if it does not run. At this time, when hybridization smartphone / PC invade both consumer electronics and professional computing, Canonical will affect dividends from its early advances.

It WINS, loses or makes shutout with the Edge Ubuntu, Canonical is now positioned to the Linux community, the general public and potential partners as a company that thinks big the future of computing. This is a good place to occupy.

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