Does Nokia Make Smartphones...? Yes, they are the world's largest

I've got a gripe. Nokia just can get no respect!

It seems that the only smartphone out there is the iPhone or Pre at the moment by the pundants who Twitter-gab and blog-snarf. But here is heads-up.... more next post below..

HEY! The world's largest computer makers list starts with Nokia, followed by HP, Dell, Apple, Acer, Lenovo, RIM, and Toshiba. The count includes all PC sales, the PDA and smartphone over four quarters, starting from October 2007 to September 2008. As soon as smartphones have been included in the total number of computers sold in 2008, Nokia has received the title of the world's largest computer maker in the world. As it turns out, the company accounts for about 13.8% of market, yet only its smartphones have been included in this count, while the Nokia mobile phones and Nokia Internet Tablets have been left aside. Softpedia

In addition to the Palm Pre and the maybes of iPhone, Nokia's N97 is quietly being released not in one or three countries but 75! Whay is this noteable? Well the N97 is really quite a work of technology. It is not a shift in design nor revolutionary interface but is Nokia's steady dominate progression on what makes a smartphone smart. Indeed it too has a touch screen, it also has a QWERTY slide out keyboard, heaps of memory, a kick-butt five Mp camera, video, and more! And it happily multi-tasks. A very detailed review of Nokia's latest additon to its smartphone portfolio can be gotten at all about symbian.

The n97, an open-source Symbian-based smartphone, also features a music and video player, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and a whopping 32GB of onboard memory that can be expanded with a 16GB microSD card. The quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone is HSDPA-capable handset, but it currently supports only the 900/1900/2100MHz bands (AT&T's 3G network runs on 850/1900MHz, while T-Mobile runs on 1700/2100MHz). There is integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, however. The Nokia N97 is expected to ship in Europe during the first half of 2009, with an estimated price of 550 euros ($695). Cnet Dec08

Olympus exec declares "twelve megapixels is enough"

Olympus exec declares "twelve megapixels is enough"

via Engadget by Donald Melanson on 3/9/09

The megapixel race has been declared over plenty of times before, but we're guessing that there will be more folks than ever in agreement with Olympus exec Akira Watanabe's recent statement that twelve megapixels is "enough for covering most applications most customers need." In addition to that blanket declaration, Watanabe said that Olympus has "no intention to compete in the megapixel wars for E-System" (its line of DSLRs), adding that it would instead focus on other features like dynamic range, color reproduction, and a better ISO range for low-light shooting. On that latter front, Watanabe predicts that autofocus could be one of the big areas of innovation in DSLRs, with current "phase detect" systems giving way to new and improved image sensor-based autofocus systems. So, what do you think? Is twelve enough, or is the more megapixels the merrier? Sound off in comments.

[Via Ars Technica]
Filed under: Digital Cameras

Olympus exec declares "twelve megapixels is enough" originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

240 Million Smartphone GPS Devices in 2009

By Marin Perez
InformationWeek

A report released Wednesday from ABI Research said handsets with GPS will continue to grow thanks to attractive new smartphones and the spread of location-based services.

The new report, titled "GPS-Enabled Handsets," said GPS-enabled phones are expected to hit 240 million units in 2009, an increase of about 6.4% from 2008. Analysts, cell phone companies, and industry watchers expect the overall mobile phone market to decline 4% to 8%.

"As the quality of positioning technology in handsets improves and the cost of including it declines, GPS location technology will approach the status of a standard device feature," said senior analyst George Perros in a statement. "We are approaching the point where location awareness will be synonymous with smart devices, a point where personal navigation, social spatial knowledge, and location-specific contextual information will be assumed handset capabilities."

High-profile handsets like Apple's iPhone 3G, Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s T-Mobile G1, Research In Motion (NSDQ: RIMM)'s BlackBerry Bold and Storm, Palm's Pre, and Nokia (NYSE: NOK)'s N Series all have GPS capabilities, and so will most of the popular smartphones moving forward. The report said the annual shipping rate of smartphones with GPS will increase by 19% through 2014.

The report also said one of the main drivers of growth will be applications and services that take advantage of a user's location, a market that is expected to balloon into a $13.3 billion business by 2013. ABI makes special mention of Google's Android

The world on your mobile?

"Geobrowsers are a stunningly effective means of visualising the planet. But they are just one part of a broader endeavour, the construction of a “geoweb” that is still in its infancy, much as the world wide web was in the mid-1990s. The web did away with many geographical constraints, enabling people with common interests to communicate, regardless of location. Yet placelessness jettisons some of the most useful features of information, which are now attracting new attention.'

"At present the most feverish excitement surrounds the combination of virtual maps with other sources of data in “mash-ups”.'

The world on your desktop
Sep 6th 2007
From The Economist print edition

Google Mobile and Maps

Berg Insight writes that the number of mobile subscribers accessing maps and downloading routs using their mobile handsets in Europe and the U.S.A. is around 4 million. Over the next ten years the number of map subscribers is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 61% to reach 43 million users in 2012.

Big names in the mobile industry are gearing up for mobile phone navigation. Nokia launched its GPS-enabled N95 for the European market this year. The U.S. has evolved further with GPS being a standard in all CDMA-handsets. Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless have attracted millions of subscribers to navigation services. Google and Yahoo! are extending their existing search and map propositions with Mobile Web 2.0 applications.

Traditionally, Google mobile and non-mobile web surfing declines in the summer months as people go on vacation. (At least in North America). This year traffic on mobile devices utilizing Google has increased 35%. Mobile devices looking at Google Maps has increased as much as 50%. This appears to point to a trend, in which people use their mobile devices for information while taking time off from work. This shows how attached people are to such devices, when they are willing to take them along on vacation.

“I think this is sort of a sign that people are becoming savvier with their mobile devices, and that there are better devices” available for the Web, while away from computers, Mayer told reporters after a presentation to marketers at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in San Jose. “The technology curve is catching up,” she told reporters after the presentation. “The phones are just better.”

The number of Google searches done on mobile devices are tiny compared to those done on PCs, but the summer increase in North America shows that people are realizing the usefulness of mobile search engines. Maps and other information can enhance the vacation experience. Getting lost or visiting uninteresting places may become a thing of the past.

Berg Insight predicts that ad-funded services will account for an increasing share of the mobile navigation market. Local search applications can open the door to new ways for businesses to target consumers. MobileCrunch reported last month that more Americans are taking their mobile devices along on vacation to access map technology.

TELEPHIA: MOBILE VIDEO

TRIPLE-DIGIT GROWTH IN REVENUES AND SUBSCRIBERS

SAN FRANCISCO --June 26, 2007--After another quarter of impressive subscriber growth, mobile video is rapidly becoming a significant new media distribution platform. According to Telephia, the world's largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets, mobile video revenues in the U.S. totaled $146 million in Q1 2007, growing 198 percent year-over-year (see Table 1). There were 8.4 million mobile video subscribers last quarter with penetration doubling to nearly four percent since Q1 2006.

"Within a very short time, the number of mobile video subscribers has grown to over 8 million, comparable with the average audience size for an episode of The Sopranos this season," said Kanishka Agarwal , vice president of mobile media, Telephia.

"As the world's leading provider of video on the handset, MTV Networks recognizes the vast opportunities at hand for the mobile industry, from the sheer number of handsets out there, to the limitless potential for innovation the technology provides," said Greg Clayman, senior vice president, MTVN Mobile Media. "By cultivating an even deeper understanding of consumer behaviors and usage patterns, the industry will continue to build momentum and meet the growing demand for content on the handset."

Mobile Video Consumers More Receptive to Mobile Advertising

Telephia data shows that mobile video audiences are primed for seeing ads on their phones. Video consumers had the highest recall of viewing ads on their phones as compared to all data service consumers, with 55 percent saying they recalled viewing a mobile ad in the last 30 days (see Table 2). This is nearly three times the recall rate for mobile data consumers in general. Even more promising, forty-one percent of mobile video consumers recently responded in some way to an ad, an encouraging sign for advertisers.

"Consumers are used to seeing commercials on their TV at home, which has created a learned behavior that is transferring to mobile TV and making advertising more acceptable," continued Agarwal. "Nearly half of mobile video users are willing to view ads on their phones in exchange for something, translating into a compelling opportunity for ad-supported mobile content where marketers can target customers with relevant advertising."

The Telephia Mobile Video Report for Q1 2007 is now available, and combines detailed research into the behavior and attitudes of nearly 1,200 current mobile video users in the US with analysis of video market size and spending patterns collected from Telephia's panel of 35,000 mobile subscribers. For more information about this product, please contact mailto:mobilemedia@telephia.com.

About Telephia

Telephia is the world's largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets. Telephia is your connection to the digital consumer. Telephia uses its unique measurement tools and large-scale consumer panels to completely understand the digital consumer's behavior, attitudes and experience.

To learn how Telephia data can help you understand the digital consumer and track your competitive performance, please contact us at (415) 395-0500 or http://www.telephia.com/.

Keeping Track of Smartphone Use Statistics....

M:Metrics

SEATTLE, Wash June 25, 2007 — M:Metrics, the mobile market authority, today announced the rankings of the top mobile Web companies among smartphone users in the United States and the United Kingdom, for the month of April.

Top 10 Mobile Web Companies Visited By Smartphone Users by Percent Active Reach April 2007 ("Company" is an aggregate of company owned domains)

United States

Company	Total
Google Inc.	62.48%
Yahoo! Inc.	33.54%
Microsoft Corporation	33.36%
AT&T Inc.	21.22%
Time Warner Inc.	19.06%
The Walt Disney Company	17.00%
News Corporation	15.54%
Sprint Nextel	15.29%
The Weather Channel	15.28%
eBay Inc.	14.19%

United Kingdom

Company	Total
Google Inc.	30.94%
Orange Personal Communications	21.68%
British Broadcasting Corporation	20.90%
Microsoft Corporation	17.75%
Vodafone Group PLC	16.79%
eBay Inc.	13.08%
O2 (UK) Ltd, Service Operations	12.77%
Hutchison Whampoa Limited	12.67%
Yahoo! Inc.	10.97%
Deutsche Telekom AG	10.71%

About M:Metrics

M:Metrics is the pioneer in measuring consumer consumption of mobile content and applications, benchmarking the performance of carriers, handset OEMs, platform vendors, media companies and others. M:Metrics monthly syndicated services empower senior executives in the mobile content and wireless applications sector to make better business, creative, and production decisions informed by highly granular and verifiably true measures of subscriber consumption. M:Metrics, Inc is a private, venture funded corporation headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices in San Francisco, California.

About M:Metrics Data

Based on continually refreshed samples of nationally representative mobile phone consumers, M:Metrics reports summarize market size, device reach, and key demographic and mobile phone usage characteristics. The data presented here is drawn from an extensive survey questionnaire that collects specific device model and carrier subscription information from each month's sample of mobile phone consumers, and also drills down into specific details related to current and past usage of various mobile phone applications and content. Data collected from each sample are statistically balanced and projected to the total national population of mobile phone consumers.

Digital Imaging Statistics - The roving eye

PMA - Advanced amateur customers look toward photo retailers

According to the 2007 PMA U.S. Digital Imaging Survey, 20 percent of digital camera owners use their digital camera for artistic purposes, for moonlighting job, or to master photography skills. This segment of photo customers is called the advanced amateur or prosumer segment and has been generating much of the business at camera stores around the country for many years. Manay advanced amateurs are possible candidates looking to enter the studio photography business at some point, as well. Digital advanced amateur customers were 20 percent more likely to purchase a camera in 2006. They were also more likely to make that purchase at a camera store when compared to the typical consumer.

The advanced amateur market will be explore more in future "Data Watch" articles examining printing behavior and other characteristics of this group. One important thing to remember when servicing this segment is that they are different from Jennifer. They value top quality in equipment and printing, appreciate the advanced knowledge of photo retail employees, and speak in advanced terms. Finally, finding advanced amateur customers is not done through demographics. This segment is comprised of customers of all ages and household types. To reach advanced amateurs, retailers need to look into cross promotions, internet forums, competitions, and events.

Who is Jennifer? The most powerful photo imaging customer is the Generation X mom. A young parent aged 24-44 years old, Gen X moms are likely to maintain an active lifestyle that produces events and picture-taking opportunities. PMA is calling this powerful target market “Jennifer” to drive home the fact that these customers are living, breathing, buying consumers who care deeply about their photography.

The Semi-Pros - Why I take Digirtal Images

Where do Digital Images End Up?
Leaving pictures on the memory card was the second most popular method for storing pictures among digital camera owners in 2006. According to the 2007 PMA U.S. Digital Imaging Survey, 72 percent of digital camera owners transfer their images onto computer hard drives for storage and 53 percent burn CDs and DVDs. Still 54 percent of digital camera owners leave their images on their camera's memory card. Combined with the fact that almost a third of memory cards sold in 2006 were 1GB or larger, the needs for on-camera organization and better kiosk upload capacity is certain to intensify in the near future.

The trend of cheaper, larger memory cards becoming more readily available to consumers is not expected to stop or ease soon, either, especially in light of flash memory technology expanding into the laptop hard drive space.

Computer Hard-disk 72%
CD/DVD 53%
CD 47%
DVD 13%
Digital Camera Memory 54%
Prints 52%
Online 11%
Online FREE 10%
Online PAID 1%
Printer Memory 2%
Other 2%

PMA - Why I use digital imagery

Lastly, Digital Cameras verus Camera Phones...

Revenue from shipments of image sensors for mobile phones will grow to $5.9 bln by 2010, increasing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27.4%, up from $1.7 bln in 2005. Unit shipments of image sensors to mobile phones will grow to 1.2 bln by 2010, increasing at a CAGR of 19.7%, up from 484 mln units in 2005. In 2005, 199 mln image sensors were sold for all other applications outside of mobile phones, including digital still cameras. By 2010, this disparity will grow more, with nearly 1.2 bln sensors shipped for mobile handsets and slightly less than 350 mln shipped for other applications.