Apple dominated 67% of all smartphone app downloads last year despite claiming just 14% of the overall smartphone market, said analysts Ovum.
However, the Symbian operating system, which is used by Nokia, commanded a 49% share of the smartphone installed base but only generated an estimated 9% of the total applications downloads market.
The report states that in 2015 Apple will generate a relatively modest 22% of app downloads, compared to 19% for Symbian.
Michele Mackenzie, principal analyst at Ovum and co-author of the Mobile Application Download Forecast 2009 to 2015, said: "The iPhone generates the lion’s share of smartphone app downloads but over the period we will see the share of application downloads becoming more equally distributed."
Between 2009 and 2015 Ovum expects Google's Android to increase its smartphone base from 5% to 18% penetration and its mobile application download share from 14% to 26%.
While BlackBerry looks set to lose smartphone share over the forecast period as newer players like Android move in aggressively, it will more than triple its share of the app download market from 5% to 17%.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1015018/Apple-dominance-app-download-market-set-wane/
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Tags: iphone, nokia, symbian, android
Facebook have just made life a little easier for its users! They just released a new mobile app which allows Facebook friends to call each other for free.
The App, which was produced by internet telephony company Vonage, lets users call their Facebook friends using voice over internet protocol (VoIP), providing both parties have the app downloaded. The app will be available on iPhone, Android, and the iPod Touch (for outbound calls only).Vonage Mobile for Facebook is free to download and use and will work across Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G networks.
Later versions will look to include instant messaging, SMS and the ability to make call to mobile numbers directly from the application. An iPad version is also currently being developed.
Although this app does appear to offer Facebook users a very convenient way to contact their friends, it does raise an unavoidable question: how many of your Facebook friends would you feel comfortable being able to call your mobile phone?
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Lonely Plant has made a move to expand its reach within the digital space, with the launch of a series of augmented reality (AR) apps on Google’s Android Market.The company already has a strong hold in the Apple App Store but wants to expand its mobile readership beyond this one domain.
The Lonely Planet Compass Guide apps use AR and the phone’s GPS features to display local attractions in 25 cities, including Bangkok, London and New York.
Matthew Cashmore, innovation and ecosystem manager at Lonely Planet, said the apps, priced at $4.99 (£3.14), are designed to drive premium revenues for the company, and ruled out any third-party ads.
In addition to the release of the AR city apps, they have recently introduced a discover eBooks series, which profiles areas of interest, on Apple’s iBookstore.
Lonely Plant’s expansion into these new digital arenas demonstrates their commitment to developing innovative and exciting products for their consumers, while at the same time developing their online operations.
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Sales of Android phones have risen by more than 300% since the beginning of 2010! With 1 in 10 mobile contracts sold in the UK now running on Google's mobile operating system.
From the beginning of 2010, most of the UK's major mobile operators have started selling a number of Android based mobile devices, running on Google's Linux-based software. The HTC Desire and HTC Legend are among the devices hailed by critics and consumers alike. HTC, the Taiwanese manufacturer of many devices running Android, posted a 41% global sales increase for the first six months of 2010.
"The figures suggest an increasing number of consumers are now asking for Android handsets by name," said GfK analyst Megan Baldock. "Operating systems are no longer simply a by-product but a key selling point in their own right."
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Aiming to increase the success of the Android App Market and reduce the gap with the Apple App Store, Google has released a web-based system which it says needs "NO programming knowledge" to write your own app.
The program, known as App Inventor, is attempting to bring app programming and creation to the masses. The web based application makes the whole process simpler by removing the tedious process of writing code and allow users to drag and drop display elements and use blocs to specify the app’s behavior. The creators said that there are blocks available for just about everything you can do with an Android phone, as well as the more depth function calls.
Google said it had been working on the system for a year and were pitched at those with little knowledge of programming.The programming system was developed with the help of computer scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who created a similar coding system known as Open Blocks.
Obviously Google’s main objective in producing the system is to increase the number of apps in the Android App Market and to add allure of their platform. However it will remain to be seen if App Inventor will lead to thousands of useless basic being developed or genuinely useful apps that will allow Android really challenge Apple as the rulers of the App space.
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Nielsen Mobile have released new stats that indicate the adoption of mobile web has reached a critical mass and can now support large scale marketing efforts.
The news comes in the same week as Admob announced that, as far as they're concerned the mobile web has grown 104% over the past 12 months with the US an UK growing substantially faster.
According to Nielsen 15.6% of mobile users regularly access mobile internet from their handsets which equates to some 40 million consumers.
(All in all, 95% million US subscribers access mobile internet, only 40 million do so on a regular basis however)
The UK and Italy followed the US, with 12.9 percent and 11.9 percent respectively, of subscribers going online from a mobile device.
The Nielsen report shows that the top things to do on mobile include - visiting music portals, email access, weather reports, news/politics, search, city maps and sports.
Surprising how search feature far down on the list when key industry voices are maintaining that the evolution of search over mobile will be the single most influencing factor in its growth.
Top 5 handsets used to access internet over mobile, according to Admob, are; Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Apple featuring at no.9 which is impressive considering that the iPhone hasn't been on the market a wet weekend!
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Tags: mobile internet, statistics, admob, nielsen mobile
In a major positioning move from Nokia they have signed up Spike Lee to direct a new feature film. The twist is that the movie will be a collaborative effort involving hundreds of mobile users sending in their snippets under three themes starting with the concept of "birth".
The movie will premiere at club nokia in Los Angelos and online. Lee has said of the venture, that mobile is the future of filmmaking "whether people want to admit it or not. Speaking exclusively to adage, Spike said that the movie will be a loose narrative and music will bind all the footage together.
Spike Lee also owns his own advertising agency spike DDB which specialises in in youth, sports and branded entertainment marketing - the penny drops!
Spike Lee's most acclaimed work to date includes Malcolm X, Summer of Sam and Inside Man.
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Tags: nokia, spike lee, cell phone movie, spike ddb
Check out the world's smallest mobile phone! Well claimed to be the smallest anyway by Haier, the asian white goods manufacturer (fridge freezers and the like!). So, this little phone has gone all the way to the market with a built in MP3 player (w/ up to 1.128 GB capacity), FM Stereo tuner, Voice Recorder, Photo viewer, stereo BlueTooth transmitter and full color energy saving OLED display w/ delightful 3-D animated graphics. And all in just 3.5. The ultimate fashion accessory I reckon.
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The best in Gadgets were on show in Sydney for CeBit 2007 last week. Thanks to Ross on the entertainment blog we have gotten to see exactly what we should look out for in 2007 including a new product from skins - mobile that can protect any phone from water, dirt, mud, paint, sweat, blood and snow!
The stand created for the event captured the imaginations of many when bikini clad models demonstrated the product in a spa pool!
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