iPhone might rule the smartphone sector for now, but market researchers predict that the dominance of Apple’s popular handset could be toppled by Google’s Android mobile platform within three years.
The global sales forecast published by Gartner predicts that in 2012, Android, Symbian (found mainly on Nokia phones) and Research In Motion (BlackBerry) will dominate the mobile operating system market, pushing Apple’s iPhone OS into fourth position with a 13.6 per cent slice of the market.
“The iPhone is all about user experience but Apple can only produce a small number of handsets and not everyone wants an iPhone handset. They will remain strong but they won’t take over world,” said Robin Simpson, a researcher at Gartner.
Android, on the other hand, is expected to lift its market share from 5.1 per cent to 18 per cent, moving ahead of RIM (13.9 per cent) to sit below Symbian, which will lose some of its 48.1 per cent stronghold by 2012 to claim 37.4 per cent of the market.
Like Apple and RIM, Google’s Android platform has a thriving marketplace of smartphone applications, which is becoming a key differentiator within the mobile market, but it is yet to establish a dominant presence here with only 2-3 per cent of the market and only three Android handsets now available.
Predictions Google Android Could Topple Apple IPhone Within Three Years
MICROSOFT chief Steve Ballmer has unveiled a line of Windows smartphones in an offensive against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android system.
Around 30 types of “Windows phones” with various designs will be available by the end of the year in more than 20 countries.
Seven phone-makers, including Sony, Samsung and Toshiba, and 16 operators including Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile, are involved in the launch.
The phones, which combine the ability to make calls, surf the Internet and view videos, carry Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.
The new mobile operating system was launched simultaneously in France and New York.
Mr Ballmer presented the Windows phones at Microsoft’s new French headquarters near Paris in Issy-les-Moulineaux.
Read more…Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer launches Windows smartphones | World Breaking News | News.com.au
A SURVEY of online gamers has shown that more – much more – would prefer sitting in front of a computer or games console than having sex.
Online gaming community Fizzy.com launched the survey to celebrate its second birthday, sounding out 1200 members on what kind of an impact gaming had on their social lives.
Colin Cardwell, CEO of Australian developer 3rd Sense which owns Fizzy, said the survey revealed “some surprising findings to say the least”.
Perhaps the most surprising was that at least 75 per cent of those participants of legal age were happy to ditch the opportunity of sex in order to live out their fantasies online.
For the record, while 43% of Fizzy users are under the age of 17, the question regarding sex was dropped for those respondents once they qualified their age.
But the future of nooky’s not looking too bright, either, with another surprise result among the juniors showing it’s not the boys that are more obsessed with getting a high-score than scoring a date.
Read more…Gaming generation opts for swords over sex | News | News.com.au
READING a heavily abbreviated text message can take twice as long as one with normal spelling, according to a new study.
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“Though it was quicker to write a message with abbreviations than conventional English, it took twice as long to read and many students made interpretation errors,” Dr Kemp said.
So difficult to read that is for sure. What do you think
