While many iPhone users are reporting high satisfaction, it doesn’t matter for the long term. The Android platform will crush all other smartphones in both its sheer number of users and vendors.
Neither Apple nor RIM will give up without a fight, but the writing is on the wall for business owners who don’t want to be saddled with the 2013 version of the Sony Betamax (for those of you who can remember it).
1. Android Rules the Market by Numbers
Sure, Google CEO Eric Schmidt self-servingly told Reuters that 200,000 Android handsets were selling every day–but third-party surveys also routinely show that the platform’s momentum is steadily increasing. Thirty-three percent of all smartphones are now using Android, and the system is outstripping RIM (at 28 percent) and iPhone (22 percent), based on U.S. purchases from April to June, according to the NPD Group. In other words, the American people are voting with their wallets and choosing Android handsets.2. More Selection and Promotions
The top five Android phones–Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Incredible, HTC EVO 4G, HTC Hero, and HTC Droid Eris–have numerous carriers, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, according to NPD. Because of the competition among carriers, promotions like Verizon’s buy-one, get-one-free, and cut-rate prices will continue to play a significant role in the Android market. For a company having to buy a dozen or more smartphones, this means some serious savings.
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Category: Smartphone
There is a growing debate among security experts about whether or not the future of data security will reside in the mobile marketplace. Some believe that desktop operating systems, like Windows or Mac OS X, will continue to be hotbeds for malware that attempts to steal sensitive data.
Those on the other side of the debate contend that the mobile marketplace will become an increasingly insecure environment with programs, created by malicious hackers, taking aim at smartphones.
Those who see rising security risks in the mobile world might win the debate. Recently, a report was released by security firm SMobile Systems, claiming as much as 20 percent of all Android Market apps pose a potential security threat.
That study came just days before news broke that Apple’s App Store was allegedly defrauded by a developer. Apple claims that no private information was stolen in the attack, but it calls into question just how secure the mobile-computing environment really is.
Realizing that, it’s time users start thinking about ways to keep their data on iPhone and Android-based devices secure. At this point, mobile apps themselves won’t typically wreak havoc on a device. But it might be easier for malicious hackers to steal data from a smartphone either through holes in apps or intentionally malicious programs than some might think.
The full article contains 10 ways to avoid personal data theft on your iPhone and Android.
Romanian iPhone developer Alexandru Brie was among the first to wonder how Thuat Nguyen’s Vietnamese-language comic books had come to occupy 41 of the top 50 spots in the App Store’s paid books category (in the process, booting Brie’s own app from its usual top-20 perch). In a blog post, Brie put together such evidence as Nguyen’s poor showing in the store’s Vietnamese categories and multiple reviews of his titles alleging fraud to suggest one explanation:
The issue is that it seems people’s iTunes accounts have been hacked, with mass purchases of one developer’s apps being made using their accounts.
Other sites picked up the news and added details; for instance, Apple Insider passed on a tip from a reader about a Chinese cottage industry in iTunes Store account hacking.
Tuesday morning, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller e-mailed that Apple had resolved the situation:
The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.
Muller added that developers, fraudulent or otherwise, “do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data” when somebody downloads one of their apps. She suggested that anybody who sees fraudulent purchases on their iTunes account should have their credit card issuer cancel the stolen number and issue a chargeback for the unauthorized purchases.
Another suspected suicide has occurred at a factory in China, the latest in a string of deaths at the plant this year, state media reports.
Xinhua said the male employee jumped to his death hours after a media tour at the plant owned by Taiwan firm Foxconn.
The firm manufactures mobile phones and electronic equipment for top brands including Dell computers and Apple.
If confirmed, the death would be the twelfth attempted suicide at the plant – two people have survived such falls.
The plant employs more than 400,000 people.
One man was also reported to have killed himself at another Foxconn plant in Hebei province earlier this year.
Apple has said it is “saddened and upset” by the recent string of suicides.
They said the Justice Department contacted some music labels and digital music providers earlier this month.
DoJ staff have mostly asked the companies broad questions about the nature of the digital music market, according to two of the three sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity as the talks were confidential.
“It was a very preliminary conversation,” said one person.
Given Apple’s leading market share the broad questions inevitably involved iTunes, these people said.
Billboard magazine reported on March 6 that Apple had used its market dominance to prevent labels from agreeing to let Amazon.com exclusively debut new songs.
Spokespersons for Apple, Amazon and the Justice Department declined to comment.
Apple has banned at least two prominent iPhone hackers from accessing its App Store.
Sherif Hashim, an iPhone developer who developed a hack for the latest iPhone OS 3.1.3, and iH8Sn0w, who developed the XEMN tool designed to unlock iPhone 3.1.3 radio baseband for the 3G and 3GS, found that their Apple IDs were blocked and accounts deactivated when they tried to access the app store of Monday. Their respective reactions can be found in Twitter posts here and here.
The move sparked concerns that Apple might ban all jailbroken iPhones was accessing the App Store. However, such a move would prevent Apple’s application developers from selling to the millions of users of jailbroken devices and would be especially bad politics following the launch of the Wholesale Applications Community at the Mobile World Congress conference earlier this week.
Microsoft is counting on Windows Phone 7 to make it a player in the smart phone market, but the mobile OS—introduced Monday by CEO Steve Ballmer—has got its work cut out.
The most recent numbers from research firm Gartner show that Microsoft is a distant fourth in the market in terms of worldwide sales and units shipped.
Nokia’s open-source Symbian OS leads the pack, with a 44.6% share, followed by Research In Motion’s Blackberry, at 20.8%, and Apple’s iPhone OS, with 17.1% as of the third quarter of 2009. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile held just 7.9%.
Google’s Android OS, meanwhile, is fast gaining steam. On the market for less than a year, Android-powered phones already hold a 3.5% market share, according to Gartner.
Further clouding the competitive landscape is Intel. The chipmaker on Monday said it would team-up with Nokia to develop a Linux-based mobile OS called MeeGo, for use on devices powered by Intel’s Atom chips.
Still, Windows Phone 7 could put Microsoft back in the game.
This update for iPhone and iPod touch contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
• Improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
• Resolves issue where third-party apps would not launch in some instances
• Fixes bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard
Products compatible with this software update:
• iPhone (all models)
• iPod touch (all models)
For feature descriptions and complete instructions, see the user guides for iPhone and iPod touch at:
http://support.apple.com/manuals/iphone
http://support.apple.com/manuals/ipodtouch
For more information about iPhone and iPod touch, go to:
http://www.apple.com/iphone
http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch
To troubleshoot your iPhone or iPod touch, or to view additional support information go to:
http://www.apple.com/support/iphone
http://www.apple.com/support/ipodtouch
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
iTunes is a free application for your Mac or PC. It organizes and plays your digital music and video on your computer. It syncs all your media with your iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. And it’s a store on your computer, iPod touch, iPhone, and Apple TV that has everything you need to be entertained. Anywhere. Anytime.
- iTunes no longer ignores your “Remember password for purchases” setting.
- Addresses problems with syncing some Smart Playlists and Podcasts with iPod.
- Resolves a problem recognizing when iPod is connected.
- Addresses issues that affect stability and performance.