Hasta La Gadget!

It would appear that the same forecast that we’ve been seeing for some time now with a variety of analysis groups remains true here with IDC, they showing 2012 through 2016 to be sustaining Android on top and iOS in second place across the planet. IDC’s 2012 report also shows that not only has the smartphone segment of the mobile phone market at large been continuing to leap forward and up, but the entire mobile market has – surprise – taken a bit of a downturn. In 2012 the worldwide phone market has been forecast to grow just 1.4% year-over-year, this being what IDC calls the lowest annual growth rate in three years.

In 2012 the International Data Corporation (aka IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker has shown that vendors will ship more than 1.7 billion mobile phones throughout 2012. In the year 2016, IDC forecasts that this number will be up to a lovely 2.2 billion. Senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker Kevin Restivo had the following to say about this year through 2016:

“Sluggish economic conditions worldwide have cast a pall over the mobile phone market this year. However, the fourth quarter will be relatively bright due in part to sales of high-profile smartphones, such as the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S3, in addition to lower-cost Androidpowered smartphones shipped to China and other high-growth emerging markets.” – Restivo

Inside the Android universe, IDC notes that Samsung is likely to remain the leader in the smartphone segment, though “LG Electronics and Sony, both of which cracked the top five smartphone vendors during 3Q12, are not to be overlooked.” They also make clear that they believe that RIM’s BlackBerry won’t die out, nor will it grow in a very giant way, sustaining itself instead with BlackBerry 10 through 2016 at least.

As for the 2012 market share, Android beat up the charts with a massive 68.3% while iOS was in a clear second with 18.8%, the rest of the entries getting less than 5% to their name. What’s interesting here between 2012 and 2016 is the forecast for Windows Phone, it growing from a mere 2.6% to 11.4%, far and away the largest growth of any of the mobile operating systems on the chart. Meanwhile BlackBerry OS remains essentially the same, dropping just 0.6% and iOS grows 0.3% with Android going down 4.5% in 4 years. That’s a 71.3% growth for Windows Phone while none of the other top hitters change more than 20% – imagine it!

IDC also notes that the iPhone will remain a big seller but that Apple may have to consider lower-priced options for emerging markets in the years to come or face losing potential sales to lower-priced Android phones that will inevitably be available. Windows Phone growth is also forecast to be continuing to be driven by Nokia first and foremost followed by HTC which is “solidly jumping back into the race.”

[via IDC]

IDC: Android wins through 2016 with iOS a clear second is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The speakers are very good

While those living in countries like the US are lucky that carriers offer heavily subsidized devices on contract, there are countries where subsidized devices aren’t available – possibly due to the type of market the carriers are operating in, or simply because it is illegal. Apparently the latter holds true in countries like South Korea to the point where the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has issued a warning to carriers (via Korea Times), telling them to avoid “excessive subsidies”. In a statement released by the KCC, “The KCC will start a thorough investigation of the carriers from Dec. 7 ? the date Apple’s latest iPhone comes onto the market ? as we believes chances are high that the carriers will offer illegal subsidies to attract more customers. That’s against the law…”

Apparently it is illegal to subsidize phones on a carrier level in an effort to steal customers from competing companies, and while the current price of a 16GB iPhone 5 is sitting at 814,000 Won, roughly $751 when converted, some carriers are promising customers the phone at almost half the price but require them to sign a commitment to their network. Word has it that pre-orders of the iPhone 5 should be hitting the 700,000 mark by the end of this week, and we expect those numbers to rise, especially if carriers ignore the warnings of the KCC.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: China Unicom claims over 100,000 iPhone 5 pre-orders on the first day of pre-sales, Apple said to have turned to Intel for manufacturing of their mobile chipsets [Rumor],

Now that we’ve officially entered December, 2012 is beginning to wind down. Since we’ll soon be saying hello to 2013, it’s time once again for those interesting year-end list that give us all sorts of statistics from the last 12 months. Today one of those lists is coming from Yahoo, breaking down its 10 most popular search terms for the year.

Only one gadget graces that top 10 list: the iPhone 5. Apple’s latest iPhone managed to secure the number two spot on the list, ranking behind the 2012 US election but above the likes of Kim Kardashian, who somehow was number three on the list. The iPhone 5 also ranked above Kate Upton, Kate Middleton, the Olympics, and Lindsay Lohan, so take that as you will.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the iPhone 5 took the top spot in Yahoo’s list of top 5 most searched gadgets according to The Los Angeles Times. The third-generation iPad came in second, while the iPad mini managed to slide into a third place ranking. It wasn’t just Apple products in the top five though, as the Samsung Galaxy S III and Amazon Kindle Fire rounded out the group.

Not bad a phone that’s only been available since September. Of course, with all of the rumors that were making the rounds before Apple finally unveiled the phone, it isn’t all that surprising to see it rank so high on Yahoo’s year-end list. Be sure to have a look at our story timeline below for more on the iPhone 5!

Yahoo’s year-end search report sees iPhone 5 near top is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In the smartphone universe you’re going to have some sorting to do starting with the carrier your gift receiver is working with. More than likely you’re a parent or a significant other if you’re purchasing a smartphone on-contract for that special someone, this meaning you’ve got a fair understanding of which carrier they’ll be working with. After that, it’s all about finding the best device for them based on their specific wants and needs.

The first and probably most obvious place your mind should be wandering to is the iPhone. With this Apple hero device landing on three major carriers with the launch of the iPhone 5, it’s almost a given at this point in our western society that a person wouldn’t mind receiving an iPhone as a gift. If your special someone is out of the iPhone universe specifically for one reason or another, you’ll want to head down one of two paths: Android or Windows Phone.

With Windows Phone 8 came the launch and relative re-birth of Nokia in an extremely vibrant and fun-loving wave of devices that hit most major carriers in the USA. The biggest and the best of these devices is the Nokia Lumia 920 which is exclusive to AT&T at the moment. After that you’ve got the Nokia Lumia 822 from Verizon, the Nokia Lumia 820 from T-Mobile, and more than likely one or two more additions to the Lumia line before the end of the year. Another heavy contender in this space is the HTC Windows Phone 8X carried by AT&T as well as Verizon and T-Mobile.

As for Android, you’ve got a fierce battle going on between lines and heroes, with four titans making up the entirety of our selections for best-of-the-moment. The most recent big-name drop has been the Google Nexus 4, one of two of LG’s recent beast releases. LG also brings on the Optimus G with AT&T 4G LTE, a slightly more high-powered version of the hardware brought on in the Nexus 4, both of them working with one of the most powerful processors on the market, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro. This Google hero phone is sold as a 2-year-contract-holding T-Mobile Nexus 4 and as a no-contract Nexus 4 sold online via the Google Play store – they’re both exactly the same device, just different prices based on data plan acceptance.

HTC came out swinging this year and didn’t let up all the way through to Fall with the HTC DROID DNA with Verizon 4G LTE, the current record holder for highest-definition-display on a smartphone. It’s backed up by the whole HTC One crew, leading off with the brand new HTC One X+ for AT&T, a a much more high-powered version of the original with a fantastic NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor in it – hot stuff! The original version is still out there as the HTC One X (without the +), exclusive to AT&T here in the USA. Next in line is the slightly smaller HTC One S carried by T-Mobile in the USA – this device has been upgraded to a much more awesome casing quite recently – a hot pick! The HTC One V is also floating around out there for those of you looking specifically for the HTC branding but not wanting to drop a ton of bills – though the One S is free at times, depending on when you’re shopping – good luck!

Motorola was purchased by Google earlier this year and since they’ve had that extra bump of influence, they’ve made some fantastic handsets that retain their hardcore hardware build and bust out with a newly refined user interface on the inside. The Motorola DROID RAZR M has one of the smallest bezels on the market, making it appear to be just a wickedly bright display sitting in the palm of your hand. The M’s bigger brother DROID RAZR HD sticks with the greatness that was the original DROID RAZR and boosts the processing power as well as the density of the display. The DROID RAZR MAXX HD crowns the collection with all that good stuff plus a massive, gigantic, beastly battery (and it’s still rather thin!)

Then there’s Samsung. If the person you’re buying a gift for doesn’t want an iPhone, chances are they’ll be entirely stoked to get either a Samsung Galaxy S III or a Samsung Galaxy Note II. The big difference is in the ultra massiveness of the Galaxy Note II, that and it’s build-in S-Pen for writing on the screen. The Samsung family of devices creates a friendly software and hardware compatibility ecosystem the lines of which you’ll only otherwise find at Apple – and that’s saying a lot. The Samsung Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II are available on most if not all of the major carriers in the USA and abroad – have a peek at the Galaxy S III here on Verizon as well as AT&T and T-Mobile. The Galaxy Note II we’ve also got several reviews of, hitting on the T-Mobile version and the Verizon version – and keep note that we’ll be taking another look at the Verizon version likely by the time this post is published to see how lovely its data speeds are – otherwise the differences between each of these devices on each carrier is relegated to the carrier-pushed apps and the costs inflicted upon your person. Also the Verizon version of the Note II has a massive beast of a Verizon logo on the front button – it’s fierce!

Another rather odd contender that will certainly surprise your gift-getter is the Nokia 808 PureView running Symbian – that’s not Android, it’s not iOS, and it’s not Windows Phone. This device also has a 41-megapixel camera – truly the most intense camera phone in the history of the world.

SlashGear 2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Smartphones is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In a bid to ensure that its products will measure up to their promise, Apple is reportedly conducting independent tests on carriers to check for LTE network performance. According to Swisscom, Apple isn’t allowing carriers to offer its latest smartphone, the iPhone 5, unless it can meet a standard. Apple, being the technology giant that it is, appears to be turning the tables around. Carriers will usually test new devices for compatibility – not the other way around.

Apple reportedly announced the policy last month, yet carriers did not confirm it. “Apple only enables 4G access after testing their device on an operator’s live network,” Swisscom said. Furthermore, NorthStream CEO and founder Bengt Nordstrom is also confirming Apple’s new policy. Nordstrom was reportedly shocked when he heard about the policy saying, “Apple have put themselves in the driving seat; it’s really changing the game.” Apple has yet to comment on the report.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Announces iPhone 5, iPad mini, & iPad 4 Availability In China, Apple & Starbucks Donating Gift Card Proceeds To AIDS Research,