Wholesale Cell Phones Industry News 02/08/2013

UBUNTU SMARTPHONES WILL BEGIN LAUNCHING IN OCTOBER

There are already smartphones powered by Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Bada, and Tizen, and soon Ubuntu will be added to that long list. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mark Shuttleworth, the founder and CEO of Canonical, said that smartphones running the company’s Linux-based Ubuntu operating system will be available to customers starting in October 2013. He also mentioned that application developers will be granted early access to a version of the operating system optimized for the Galaxy Nexus later this month. One of the smartphone’s unique features will allow it to be docked to a larger display for use with a keyboard and mouse. The operating system can also support Windows-based applications streamed to devices from corporate servers, giving business users access to all corporate data through a single device.

7 MILLION IPHONES AND IPADS HAVE BEEN JAILBROKEN IN JUST FOUR DAYS

The Evad3rs Jailbreak Team on Monday released their evasi0n jailbreak tool for Apple’s wholesale iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running iOS 6.0 or iOS 6.1. Jay Freeman, the man behind the jailbroken app store known as Cydia, announced that nearly seven million iOS devices have been freed from Apple’s walled garden in only four days, Forbes reported. The astonishing number makes evasi0n the fastest-adopted jailbreaking solution of all time. As of Thursday night, numbers from Freeman’s alternative app store revealed that 5.15 million iPhones, 1.35 million iPads, and 400,000 iPod touches were jailbroken with evasi0n. Jailbreaking an Apple device is similar to rooting an Android smartphone or tablet, allowing for greater customization and enabling features such as wireless tethering.

TABLETS ACCOUNTED FOR OVER A THIRD OF PC SHIPMENTS IN Q4

Tablets have continued to bleed the traditional PC market dry. The latest numbers from research firm Canalys revealed that wholesale tablets accounted for over a third of PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2012. Worldwide PC shipments increased 12% year-over-year to 134 million units, with 46.2 million units qualifying as tablets, marking a 75% year-over-year increase. Apple continued to lead the industry thanks to strong iPad sales, shipping 27 million units and capturing a 20% share of the market for the first time. The iPad mini was a hit for the company, accounting for more than half of Apple’s total iPad shipments. However, due to supply issues and cannibalization of the larger iPad, Apple’s tablet share dropped below 49%, and for the first time, the company did not control over half of the tablet market.

BLACKBERRY Q10 WITH PHYSICAL KEYBOARD GIVEN MAY-JUNE RELEASE WINDOW FOR USA

If you thought March was far away, be prepared to thumb your calendar to an even further date for the BlackBerry Q10. According to AP, CEO Thorsten Heins has stated that the physical keyboard iteration of BlackBerry's new OS will arrive around 8-10 weeks after the Z10 makes its eventual appearance on American shores. Heins added that release dates would vary between major carriers, but the company maintains that the Q10 will arrive in other markets (likely including parts of Europe) sometime in April. Guess we’ll hold onto our aging Bold until then.

ANDROID POWERED A THIRD OF ALL MOBILE PHONES SHIPPED IN Q4 2012

Canalys has published its final mobile phone shipment estimates across the 50+ countries it tracks. The total mobile phone market, at 438.1 million units, remained flat year-on-year, while the worldwide smartphone market grew 37%. Android smartphones accounted for 34% of all phone shipments and iOS phones 11%. Smartphones now represent almost 50% of all phones shipped in Q4 2012. Within the smartphone market, Android handsets accounted for 69% of the 216.5 million shipped. Samsung had a very strong quarter, growing 78%, while vendors Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, and Yulong all saw triple-digit percentage growth. Android’s share did, however, dip sequentially from 74%, as Apple’s share grew from 15% to 22% on the strength of the iPhone 5. BlackBerry and Windows Phone shares remained unchanged sequentially at 4% and 2%, respectively.

‘BlackBerry, Microsoft, and Nokia face a daunting challenge’

“BlackBerry, Microsoft, and Nokia, as well as other Android vendors, have strategies and devices in place to attack, but the task is daunting to say the least,” said Pete Cunningham, Principal Analyst. “When we look at the whole of 2012, Nokia remained the number three smartphone vendor, shipping 35 million units, but Apple in second place shipped 101 million more handsets. First-placed Samsung shipped 74 million more than Apple—the gaps are colossal. But there is still a big opportunity as smartphone penetration increases around the world. Vendors left in the wake of the top competitors must at the very least improve their portfolios, time-to-market, and marketing, as well as communicate their differentiation. Microsoft, BlackBerry, and other new OS entrants, such as Mozilla, must make the OS switch as simple as possible and drive and localize their respective app and content ecosystems.”