Hasta La Gadget!

This week the folks at the analysis group Strategy Analytics have released a report on Wireless Smartphone Strategies which let it be known that while Android still dominates the domestic market, it’s certainly slipped over the past year. And where Android has slipped, Apple’s own iOS mobile operating system has grown rather rapidly. While Android currently (in the second quarter of 2012) shows a market share of 56.3% of the Smartphone Operating System market in the USA, it had a significantly larger 60.6% share of the market in the second quarter of 2011.

While Android’s change over the year ended up being over 4 percent in total, Apple’s iOS grew from 23.2% of the market in Q2 of 2011 to 33.2% in Q2 of 2012. That’s a 10% increase, and that’s massive. BlackBerry OS was the only other operating system large enough for the group to categorize on its own with 10.5% of the market last year and 6.5% of the market this year during the same Q2 period. The rest of the market is just 4%, and just 5.7% last year – that includes Windows Phone, too.

The growth the entire market showed year over year was undeniably giant – but not in the way you’d think. Where the growth year-over-year last year (comparing to the year before that, of course) was a massive 70.1% change in the positive direction, this year’s comparison to last is a negative 5.4%. These numbers come from the total number of shipments of units (smartphones) in the United States.

Last year in the second quarter of the year, there were 25.2 million smartphones shipped – and this year that number is just 23.8 million. Of that, 13.4 million belongs to Android, 7.9 million to iOS (on the iPhone exclusively), 1.6 million to BlackBerry OS, and the rest is just 1 million for everyone else. These numbers are not exact, of course, all of them coming from the study done by Strategy Analytics, each to be considered an accurate sampling which shows the greater bulk of the situation with tried and true testing techniques.

Check out more studies by Strategy Analytics in the timeline below, and don’t forget to note the changes between the years – lots of mobile!

[via Strategy Analytics]

iPhone gains where Android loses in Q2 Strategy Analytics report is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

For a device that’s not even been formally confirmed to exist by its manufacturer, Apple’s next iPhone is certainly making a splash in ChangeWave‘s most recent report. Asking 4,042 citizens of “mostly” North America this June, ChangeWave found that 14 percent were “very likely” to purchase whatever phone Apple released next for themselves or for someone else. This device is referred to as the iPhone 5 in the study and has already trumped demand for the iPhone 4S according to studies the group did in advance of that device.

Demand for the next iPhone far outweighs what ChangeWave has recorded as demand for the Samsung Galaxy S III, a device that’s already out on the market on all major carriers in the USA. The Samsung Galaxy S III had just 2 percent of respondents saying they’re very likely to purchase the device, with 7 percent saying they’re somewhat likely. There is a “huge surge of momentum” coming from Samsung, on the other hand, with ChangeWave still saying it’s nothing compared to Apple’s next device release anticipation.

Paul Carton, vice president of research at ChangeWave, noted the following on the subject:

“Advance demand for the ‘iPhone 5′ is strikingly higher than we’ve seen for any previous iPhone model. … Overall smartphone sales should spike to an all-time high this fall, and of course Apple is going to be the number one beneficiary, but besides Apple, and to a lesser degree Samsung, no other manufacturer is likely to benefit from this coming wave of demand.” – Carton

Have a peek at the timeline below to see recent reports on the goings-on with the next generation iPhone, and prepare yourself for this Autumn when we’re likely to see it!

[via 451Research]

Next iPhone sees “unprecedented demand” in advance of reveal is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

According to the analytical firm Strategy Analytics, there will be more than 123 million smartphones sold across the USA this year, 4 percent of these running Microsoft’s mobile operating system. Windows Phone 7 (soon to be 8) is being shown as gaining just one percent market share over their 2011 market share in 2011, running now here in 2012 on 5 million smartphones in the USA. Last year the same firm showed Windows Phone to be running on 3.5 million phones in the USA, this a relatively big bump for the still fledgeling smartphone OS.

With Microsoft’s strategy shifting to Windows Phone 8 tying in with Windows 8 and Windows RT later this year for tablets, we expect these numbers to continue to grow. Windows Phone may be tiny compared to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS for the iPhone and iPad, but manufacturers do still appear dedicated to Microsoft’s vision. As Strategy Analytics senior analyst Scott Bicheno said today in a statement:

“Nokia, HTC and Samsung have some of the biggest Microsoft smartphone portfolios at present and they will be three main hardware vendors driving growth this year.” – Bicheno

The overall number of smartphone sold in the USA is up this year 21 percent according to this same study, last year’s numbers equalling out to be just over 101 million in all. Stay tuned as Windows Phone gains speed here in 2012 and, according to IDC, through 2015 as well – big things coming up!

Windows Phone grabs a whopping 4 percent smartphone share in USA is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week its been calculated by the analysts at Asymco that in the world of recorded sales for PCs vs Apple‘s Mac computers, the ratio of the former’s sales to the latter is at its lowest since 1997. What we’re to understand from this situation is that there are around 16 PC computers sold- that’s every other kind of computer you can think of for the home or business, essentially – for every one Mac sold. Those are current day numbers. Compare that to 2004 when that number was closer to 50 to 1 and you’ll see the big difference right away – did you see this coming?

Breaking this chart down to the United States, it’s a lot closer to an amazing 3 to 1 ratio as Apple’s main focus strikes true in its home country. What’s most interesting though is Asymco’s several charts in one, one of them also including the iPad in with the Macs. If the iPad is considered part of Apple’s computer sales, you’ve got a whole lot smaller a gap between PC and Apple computer sales without a doubt.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple sold 4.9 million laptops and desktops. In Q4 of 2010 Apple sold 3.9 million laptops and desktops, and in Q4 of 2009 they sold 3 million. Of course these numbers can be attributed not only to struggling PC makers in general, but to Apple’s massively successful launch of several products in the past few years such as the iPhone, the iPad, and the MacBook Air.

Even when the mobile products aren’t counted in the big chart, Asymco shows plainly that Apple is not only ramping up, they’re pushing the PC world down as they do it. Check the timeline below for more Asymco analysis action!

[via Asymco]

PC to Mac sales ratio plummets is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.