Hasta La Gadget!

IDC is the first of the big analyst companies to come out with quarterly mobile device shipment numbers that indicate Q1 as the first quarter where smartphones have outnumbered more basic feature phones in worldwide shipments: in a total market of 418.6 million devices, 216.2 (51.6%) were smartphones. But it is was a kind of tipping point of another sort, too: it is a sign of how Apple is not the juggernaut that it once was.

(BTW… for those of you keeping track, this is not the first quarter where Android has all but dominated the top-five rankings, save Apple’s presence. That happened in Q4 2012, according to IDC’s figures.)

Samsung shipped nearly 71 million smartphones in the quarter, giving it a market share of almost one-third of the whole of the smartphone sector (32.7%). Apple, meanwhile, shipped 37 million devices — just over half as many as Samsung, for a market share of 17.3%. With all others in the top-five — LG, Huawei and ZTE — still with less than 5% market share apiece, Samsung and Apple remain a strong top-two.

But looking at the pattern of growth something else comes out: Apple only grew its volumes by 6.6% over the same quarter a year ago. In fact, in that regard, that growth puts it far behind not only Samsung (at 60.7% volume growth), but also behind LG (110.2% growth); Huawei (94.1%); and ZTE (49.2%). As a point of comparison, Samsung and Apple were more nearly level a year ago, in Q1 2012, (44 million versus 35.1 million in Q1 2012), and respectively saw growth of 267% and 89% in shipment volumes — the only two that increased:

Today:

A year ago:

As we’ve pointed out before, shipments to those who sell devices are not the same thing as sales to users, but it is an important barometer for where the wider market is going. (The most recent figures from Kantar Worldpanel, which track sales, spell out how the difference between Android-based and Apple sales is not as wide as 2:1 in every market, but is in fact significantly wider in some.)

It’s notable that Nokia, BlackBerry, and HTC whose shipments were on the decline last year but still enough to keep them in the top-five, are now out of the picture altogether. It also shows that Nokia’s sub-10 million sales of smartphones, with 5.6 million Lumias, are not big enough figures to break out of the sizeable ‘others’ category.

With Apple still shipping more than three times as many devices as its next-closest competitor, LG, even if things continue as they are today, it will likely still be some time before it gets overtaken by the others in the list. Its performance also was enough to keep it in place as the world’s third-largest mobile handset maker overall, in a list otherwise dominated by companies that make both smartphones and feature phones:

IDC notes that LG, which shipped 10.3 million smartphones in the quarter, a rise of over 110% over the year before, was helped by three factors in the last quarter. The first of these was the popularity of the Nexus 4 device it created with Google; the second was the success of its lower-priced L Series (15 million sold in this category alone since launched); and the third was its LTE line. These three point to how those Android handset makers that can create strong enough and distinctive handsets that are set apart from the rest of the Android crowd can continue to pull away from the crowd.

Apple’s iPhone brand has never been seen as anything other than premium, and true to type, it is still not playing at the same level as others smartphone industry in creating new models that aim at the “cheap smartphone” market.

CEO Tim Cook did not discuss the prospect of a new, low-cost device, on Apple’s earnings call this week — the focus remains on selling older models, namely the iPhone 4, in markets like China as a route to bringing new smartphone users on to the platform. Other handset makers like Samsung, Nokia and many “others” are building out portfolios that hit not only at high-end users but those looking for entry devices priced at closer to $100 or even less. Some handset makers, specifically in emerging markets, are targeting only this market.

On the other hand Cook also left open the possibility that whatever comes next may be something different altogether: the “really great stuff” coming out in the autumn and in 2014 could be another iPhone. Equally, it could be something else altogether, and not a handset at all.

Image: Flickr

When it comes to mirrorless cameras, Canon seems to be one of the last few manufacturers to jump aboard the bandwagon, undoubtedly ceding market share to their competitors such as Olympus and Sony who beat them to the punch. While the Canon brand is a strong one, the EOS M does not seem to be the raving success that Canon probably had in mind which is why rumors of Canon possibly relaunching the system might not seem like a stretch of the imagination.

These rumors were sent to the folks at Canon Rumors indicating that the Japanese company had plans to “relaunch” the EOS M system in the coming months with possibly two new camera models. One of them is expected to completely replace the current EOS M, while the other is expected to be a higher-end model. The rumors have also suggested that the new systems will be getting up to three new lenses in 2013 which will certainly give users more options to choose from, and perhaps make it more competitive against the likes of the mirrorless systems from Sony and Nikon.

Take this with a grain of salt for now and be sure to check out our review of the EOS M to decide if Canon’s mirrorless offerings would be suitable for you.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony NEX-7n Might Be The Only NEX Or A-Mount Camera Announced For 2013 [Rumor], Olympus Rumored To Announce E-P5 And E-PL6 Mirrorless Cameras ,

A trial of Google’s attempts to avoid European Union censure around anti-competitive search behaviors looks set to struggle to gain necessary agreement from rivals, with the concessions in testing insufficient to satisfy the complaints. The EC announced yesterday that it would begin a month-long test of Google’s proposed methods to dilute the over-dominance of the European search market that it has been accused of, including giving three rival services positions on its results page right next to its own. However, the concessions are already failing to win over critics.

First out the gate is European consumer association the BEUC, which took issue with Google’s offer to flag up – with a border or some other method – results that had been prioritized from its own services, such as Google Shopping. “We do not think [Google’s] proposals can credible achieve these targets” the agency says, pointing out that the highlighting system might perversely work in Google’s favor.

“Labelling results will do little or indeed nothing to prevent Google from manipulating search results and discriminating against competing services” the BEUC argues. “It may even shepherd consumers towards clicking on Google services now highlighted in a frame.”

“Infringements of competition rules call for strong and rigorous structural remedies where needed, going beyond the halfway house of consumer information. Labelling an infringement of competition law doesn’t prevent it being an infringement” BEUC

Meanwhile, Fairsearch Europe – a group made up of Microsoft, Nokia, Trip Advisor, and others – has also weighed in, similarly unimpressed, and promising “empirical evidence” as to why Google’s proposed salves simple won’t do.

We have always said that the best remedy for consumers and innovation would be to require Google to apply the same policy to search results for its own products as it does to all others. “Google’s proposed commitments appear to fall short of ending the preferential treatment at the heart of the Commission’s case based on formal complaints from 17 companies” Fairsearch argues, and alleges that in fact Google is still demanding preferential treatment.

“Google’s own screen shots in its proposal shows it seeks approval to continue preferential treatment for its own products” Fairsearch Europe

The BEUC also takes issue with the idea of Google self-governing its modifications, a route which it claims will lead only to another type of dominance in European search. “The proposal to display links to three rival specialised services raises the natural question of who decides the promotional criteria” BEUC points out. “If that is Google, it leaves too much discretion in their lap while most importantly, not solving the problem of non-discriminatory choices for consumers.”

The EC had proposed installing an “independent Monitoring Trustee” if the month-long trial went well, who would be responsible for making sure Google stuck to its agreements for the full length of the five-year concessions.

However, the BEUC has more stringent suggestions [pdf link] for how the matter should be resolved, including Google giving no highlighted placement to any of its own products, and instead “crawl, index, and rank its own services in exactly the same way it does everybody else.” The organization also wants tougher penalties should Google not comply, though the EC can currently fine the company up to 10-percent of its global revenues under existing rules.

[via Guardian]

Google’s Euro search concessions already facing rival rejection is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Toshiba will launch its Exceria Pro series of CompactFlash cards into the Japanese market tomorrow with 160MB/s read speeds and 150MB/s write speeds. The company claims the 32GB and 64GB models are the fastest CF cards you can get now, thanks to the UDMA7 protocol combined with its own NAND flash memory and custom firmware. As such, it’s certified them to the “video performance guarantee profile 2” (VPG-65) standard, meaning they’re guaranteed to sustain 65MB/s, which Toshiba says will support many CF-equipped 4K cameras on the market. Obviously, HD and RAW still shooters using pro DSLR models like Canon’s 5D Mark III and the Nikon D800 won’t have to sweat the frames-per-second, either. There’s no word on US availability or pricing, but we should know more when they hit Japanese shops on April 27th.

Filed under: Cameras, Storage

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