Hasta La Gadget!

There are those out there who love the Galaxy Note and those who hate it, but Samsung has managed to shift an impressive number of Notes despite the air of confusion surrounding the device. The large smartphone – or small tablet, depending on how you look at it – had been snapped up five million times in March, with Samsung reaching seven million sales in June. At yesterday’s Galaxy Note 10.1 event, the company revealed that it had sold a total of 10 million units over the course of nine months.

Samsung took somewhat of a gamble when it launched the 5.5-inch behemoth, with reviewers not taking kindly to it, complaining that the device was too big to be used practically as a smartphone yet too small to be used effectively as a tablet. Still, it looks like there’s a big market out there for such a device if Samsung has managed to sell 10 million units in nine months. The device seems to be particularly popular in Europe and Asia.

The South Korean company isn’t the only OEM trying their hand at larger than average smartphones either. LG debuted its Optimus Vu back in March, a 5-inch device with a 4:3 form factor aimed at the same market as the Note. LG hasn’t done quite so well, however, recently revealing that the company has sold 500,000 units in South Korea since launch. The Vu is set to be released on Verizon’s network by the end of the third quarter.

Rumors suggest that HTC is working on its own 5-inch device with a 1080p screen, with the display possibly manufactured by LG. Little is known at this point about the device, but it may feature one of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro processors. Samsung isn’t standing still either, with the company expected to announce the Galaxy Note II at an event just before IFA 2012 on August 29th. Current reports suggest the device will feature a slightly larger screen at 5.5-inches, with a shift in aspect ratio to 16:9 and slight drop in resolution to 1280×720. The handset will also reportedly include a quad-core Exynos processor and eight megapixel camera.

[via CNET]

Samsung sells 10m Galaxy Notes in nine months is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nokia isn’t the only company facing trouble, with HTC receiving a battering from Apple and Samsung in smartphone sales. The company has tried to streamline its product line, but consumers still seem to be turning to the Galaxy S line as well as the iPhone. Bloomberg reports that Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, has sent out a email designed to rally employees, describing how the company needs to get to grips with the current situation.

In the email, Chou lays out how the company needs to “kill bureaucracy” while improving communication, going on to say, “We have people in meeting[s] and talking all the time but without decision, strategic direction or sense of urgency. Bureaucracy crept in without clear ownership. We agreed to do something but we either didn’t do it or executed it loosely.”

Chou goes on to say how he’s disappointed that the company’s sales have fallen despite the huge growth in the smartphone market. “Our competitors can leverage their scale, brand awareness and big marketing budget to do things which HTC could not do. The fast growth from the last two years has slowed us down.” Chou finished the email by saying, “We are coming back.”

The company’s 2012 lineup of smartphones were well received by reviewers but don’t seem to have found a massive following amongst consumers. The HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE were briefly delayed at US Customs shortly after launch which may have affected sales, and the arrival of the Galaxy S III in Europe and the United States shortly afterwards probably hasn’t helped either. HTC’s Q2 financial results were also poor, with profits down 57% compared to the same time last year and net profit reaching just $248 million.

HTC: “We are coming back.” is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

According to research and analyst firm Gartner, the worldwide mobile phone market shrank by 2.3% in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Gartner cites the worldwide economy as the reason for the decline, and also points to current smartphone owners holding off on upgrading their handsets as the release of the next iPhone looms large.

Detailed numbers show that Nokia’s market share dropped by 2.9% compared to the same time last year, with sales dropping 14.8% for the company. Meanwhile, RIM, Motorola, HTC, and LG all saw drops in market share. RIM in particular took a heavy hit, dropping from 3% in 2011 to 1.9% in 2012, but LG also took a heavy tumble, down from 5.7% to 3.4%.

Samsung and Apple both picked up market share from their competitors. Samsung increased its share from 16.3% to 21.6%, helped no doubt thanks to strong sales of its Galaxy range of Android smartphones, while Apple’s share increased from 4.6% to 6.9%. Gartner warns, however, that Apple may see a weaker third quarter depending on the release of the next iPhone. Additional data suggests that Android dominates the mobile landscape with 64.1% market share, with iOS bringing up the rear with 18.8%.

Gartner suggests that 419 million phones were sold during the second quarter, with smartphones sales seeing a huge 42% increase compared to the second quarter of last year. Gartner goes on to say that smartphone sales will continue to increase once more manufacturers, including Apple, launch handsets in the second half of 2012, and that feature phones are still feeling the pressure.

[via CNET]

Gartner: Worldwide phone sales shrink 2.3% is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The games industry as a whole may be suffering from a decline, but don’t tell Microsoft that. According to NPD, the Xbox 360 was the top-selling console for the month of July, marking its 19th consecutive month at the top of the chart. That’s not all either, as total retail spend on Xbox 360 consoles, software, and accessories reached $218 million, more than what was spent on the on the PS3 and the Wii combined.

In all, 203,000 Xbox 360s were sold during the month of July, allowing the console to capture 49% market share for the month. This is the 17th consecutive month the Xbox 360 has enjoyed more than 40% market share, so it seems that the Xbox is flourishing while the rest of the industry is struggling a bit. Microsoft also mentions that six of the top ten July games appear on Xbox 360, but to be fair, they were all multi-platform titles.

The Xbox 360 got a huge boost in sales numbers around the time Kinect launched back in November 2010, and has been riding that boost ever since. It’s also available at a pretty reasonable price, and with Microsoft targeting families and casual gamers with Kinect, it has the perfect setup for stellar console sales. With most of Microsoft’s core audience already owning an Xbox 360 by the time 2011 rolled around, the company’s decision to begin targeting families and casuals was well-timed and helped the Xbox claim its spot at the top of the charts.

Microsoft is going to have a pretty big holiday season too, with the highly-anticipated Halo 4 hitting shelves in November. It’s also expecting games like Forza Horizon and Dance Central 3 to make strong showings this holiday season, so it looks like the Xbox 360 might remain the top-selling console for months to come. At the very least, it’s clear that the Xbox 360 is the console to beat in 2012.

[via Official Microsoft Blog]

Xbox 360 tops console sales charts once again in July is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Have a smartphone from Seoul or Cupertino riding in the pocket of your jeans? You aren’t the only one. New documents filed in Samsung and Apple’s ongoing legal battle reveal specific sales data going back several years, confirming something we always knew to be true: there are a lot of devices out there. Samsung’s filing reveals that it has sold 21.25 million “accused” phones and 1.4 million tablets from June 2010 to June of this year, and further breaks down the data by device and, in some cases, carrier. The Galaxy S II, for instance, takes the lion’s share of US sales with over 4.1 million units sold between all models and carriers. The Epic 4G makes an appearance at 1.89 million sold, and the Captivate totals in at 1.39 million. Finally, the Samsung Prevail lives up to its moniker by netting 2.25 million in sales, lagging only behind the Galaxy S II — though its $180 asking price brought in significantly less revenue per unit.

Apple’s charts are a bit less specific, detailing the total sales of its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch lines rather than the sales of each specific hardware iteration — though where it falters in detail it makes up in numbers. U.S. consumers have snatched up 85 million iPhones since 2007, alongside 34 million iPads and 46 million iPod touch devices — bringing in almost $80 billion in revenue, collectively. Puts those quarterly reports into perspective, doesn’t it? Check out both charts in full at the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs

Apple, Samsung reveal sales data to the court, boast of millions served originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 22:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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