Tag Archive | IOS
January 30, 2014  

In the way of iOS Car integration

ios car integration

It’s been over half a year since Apple announced iOS in the Car integration with over a dozen automakers, and we’ve not heard much from Cupertino about this feature since then. Today, a video leaked that shows off exactly what the interface currently looks like, and it’s quite promising. It’s still just an emulation running in OS X, but it does give us a solid idea of what we can expect from 2014′s in-dash user experience.

There are very interesting screenshot provided by an iOS developer. In this screenshot, it shows the emulator running with the iOS 7.1 beta, and it looks substantially different. The user interface has been thoroughly polished, and the aesthetic better matches the look of Apple’s current UI motifs. If the rest of the software has seen as much work as the user interface, a public release might be in the cards in the next couple of months.

We know that traffic, directions, music, and messaging are all going to be available with Apple’s system, but what about third-party apps? Many of us spend hours in the car every single day, so customized apps and notifications would be welcome additions. It’s also worth noting that Apple’s lackluster mapping solution can’t be swapped out for Google Maps here, and that could turn off a number of wary travelers. If Apple wants iOS in the Car to gain traction in the long run, third-party apps are absolutely a must. How long will we have to wait for Apple to take the hint?

August 12, 2013  

13Q2 Smartphone: 80% on Android

iphone-5s-horizontal-black-shot

Despite beating Wall Street expectations in terms of shipment volumes, Apple’s share in the worldwide smartphone operating system market posted a year-over-year decline during the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13). Meanwhile, Android and Windows Phone both managed slight increases during the same period. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 236.4 million smartphones in 2Q13, up 51.3% from the 156.2 million units shipped in 2Q12. Second quarter shipments grew 9.3% when compared to the 216.3 million units shipped in 1Q13.

Smartphone OS Highlights

Android maintained its leadership position, with strong contributions from Samsung and its Galaxy S4. Not to be overlooked were LG and Chinese vendors Huawei, Lenovo, and ZTE, which each recorded double-digit shipment volumes in the millions. Combined, these vendors accounted for 62.5% of all Android-powered smartphone shipments during the quarter. Still, the remaining vendors within the Android ecosystem should not be overlooked, as many have developed a strong local presence within key developing markets.

iOS finished the quarter as the clear number 2 operating system, showing that, even without new product launches, demand remains strong. Moreover, Apple added new mobile operators to its camp, boosting short-term volumes and cementing long-term end-user relationships. What remains to be seen is how the new iOS 7 will be received once it reaches the market later this year, as much of the look and feel of the user interface has been revamped.

Windows Phone posted the largest year-over-year increase among the top five smartphone platforms, and in the process reinforced its position as the number 3 smartphone operating system. Driving this result was Nokia, which released two new smartphones and grew its presence at multiple mobile operators. But beyond Nokia, Windows Phone remained a secondary option for other vendors, many of which have concentrated on Android. By comparison, Nokia accounted for 81.6% of all Windows Phone smartphone shipments during 2Q13.

Q2 2013 OS SMARTPHONE

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June 13, 2013  

Apple, iOS 7 and WWDC: 7 articles for you to read

Apple WWDC

Apple CEO Tim Cook touted iOS 7 as “the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone.” And it’s true. All the icons are still there in the familiar grid, but all the felt and wood-grain design elements have been taken out to pasture. Everything looks far more modern than it did before, and it’s all presented in a flatter, more layered interface.

It’ll be interesting to see how the general public responds to the new design. It looks a lot slicker, but some may find it less homey than previous versions.

Some of the new features include:

  • There’s a parallax effect for 3-D-like motion for home-screen images. Basically, your background photo responds to the angle at which your phone is being held to make it seem like your icons are floating above the picture.
    Control Center gives you quick access to common settings (sound, brightness, connectivity options) by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
  • Multitasking has been expanded as well to include all apps instead of select ones like music apps or apps like Skype.
  • AirDrop lets you quickly share photos with your friends around you wirelessly. Taking a dig at Samsung’s marketing efforts, Federighi added, “No need to wander around the room bumping your phone.”
  • The revamped Photos app organizes your photos by location and date. Apple calls the feature Moments.
    Siri has been overhauled with a less-robotic female voice and the addition of a male voice.
  • “iOS in the car” is a new initiative involving several major car companies in which they’ll build the ability to turn your car’s information screen into a stripped-down version of iOS, with access to Maps, messaging and voice-activated controls. Look for it in cars starting in 2014.
  • The App Store will finally allow you to let your apps automatically update themselves.
  • The long-rumored iTunes Radio feature has been realized. It functions very similarly to Pandora, letting you play custom Web radio stations based on particular artists. Songs can be purchased in iTunes or shared with friends; the service is free but ad-supported. If you’re an iTunes Match subscriber, the service contains no ads.
  • Activation lock makes it so your phone can’t be used if it gets stolen, even if the thief wipes everything first.

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TECH in AMERICA (TiA)

by Om Malik (courtesy gigaom)
Summary:
Anytime Apple announces a new piece of hardware or changes its software, we get a lot of people weighing in on those developments. The news of iOS 7 wasn’t any different. There are hundreds of posts out there, but here are seven I like.

It has been one of those weeks where I have not had time to sit down and think about the various news announcements from Apple’a  annual World Wide Developer Conference. However, I have come across some really great articles that are worth reading and sharing. Here are some of my picks.

View original post 120 more words

May 17, 2013  

3Q13: Apple’s smartphone share in single digit

Apple 3Q13 screen-shot-2013-04-29-at-4-18-04-pm

The chart at right represents the worst case scenario for Apple’s share of the global SmartPhone market.

Using Apple’s own numbers for fiscal Q2, we calculate that iPhone sales grew 7% year over year in a sell-in basis while the overall smartphone market grew by about 36%. The net result is that Apple’s share of the global smartphone market fell from 23% last year to 17% share this year — the largest year-over-year decline in the iPhone’s history.

The situation won’t get any better by June. Based on Apple’s fiscal Q3 revenue guidance, we estimate Apple will sell about 25 million iPhones in the current quarter. If the overall market grows 30%, Apple’s share will fall to 12.3%. If it grows 36%, Apple’s share falls to 11.7%.

Given this, how can be maintained a $600 price target for Apple and an Outperform rating?

  • Apple’s market share typically troughs before new offerings… Apple’s share could increase dramatically with the introduction of a lower priced device, and meaningfully with the addition of new carriers. We estimate that adding China Mobile would boost Apple’s global smartphone market share by over 100 bps in the first year, and that a successful low end iPhone could boost share by 500 bps or more.
  • iPhone is still growing healthily. As gloomy as these market share forecasts appear, we model iPhone unit sales growing 15% in FY 2013, and 10% in FY14, and our model does not include the introduction of a lower-priced device. Yes, Apple is growing at a fraction of the market – because it is not participating in the fastest growing, low end segment – but we still expect it to grow.
  • The size of the total iOS ecosystem remains staggering on both an absolute and relative basis – and Apple’s customer base remains intensely loyal. In short, iOS is in no risk of going away… Moreover, our consumer surveys point to iPhone repurchase intentions of over 90%, notably ahead of competing ecosystems, including Android.
  • Market share does not necessarily correlate with profitability. Currently, Apple’s iPhone positioning is increasingly mirroring the Mac, which commands just 5% PC market share, but is highly profitable, accounting for an estimated 40% of total PC industry profits.
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April 8, 2013  

TOP Internet Browsers: tendencies, countries & more

LightInAmerica

TOP4 Internet Browsers on Laptops

For last 5 years, main evolutions are Internet Explorer (IE) position divided by 2 from 68% to 32%, Chrome started from nothing to the first position with 38%, low reduction from Firefox from 28% to 24% and low progress for Safari from 4% to 8%.

WorldWide5TOPBrowser5years

TOP3 browsers in 1st pos. by country

It is very interesting to see that the first Internet Browser is very different from a country to another. In USA, Canada, Australia, China and all south African countries, IE remains the TOP1 Internet Browser.

Chrome is the first Internet Browser in Central America and South of America, in all European countries expect Germany, Poland and Finland, in Russia and all old Russian satellites, in India, in Pakistan, in Morocco,  in Egypt.

And finally, Firefox is in the first position in most of North and central African countries, in Germany, in Poland, in Finland, in Iran, in Indonesia & in Madagascar.

WorldWideTopBrowser02-042013

Future tendencies for the next 5 years?

Positions of browsers of mobile devices are probably the most important indicator for the tendency of browsers position for the next 5 years, if we take as valuable hypothesis that the future of computers are mobile devices.

Chrome is also at the first position (Android) with 30%. Opera has reduced from 28% to 15% in 5 years, Safari (iPhone) from 22% to 24% has slowly progressed.

Firefox & IE don’t have any position on mobile devices currently. But it could change in the next 5 years, with high progress of Windows Phone with Nokia, and the launch next summer 2013 of Firefox OS, the mobile OS of Firefox.

We have finally to notice important progress of UC Browser from 0% to 10%, a very fast Browser working with all mobile OS. Is it the future main browser for all mobile devices?

WorldwideTOP9MobileBrowser

See more statistics

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April 4, 2013  

Smartphone World Market: what’s new on Feb 2013?

SmartPhone

The previous photo shows the TOP5 SmartPhone on Feb 2013: Samsung Galaxy S3, Nokia Lumia, iPhone 5, Google Nexus 4 and Motorola Droid.

1 main winner if we compare Feb 2012 & Feb 2013: Android with Samsung phones over 50% everywhere.

SmartPhoneWorldMarketFeb13

In American countries, the progress of Windows is not significant. Black Berry OS and Symbian are not representing  anythink in 2013. In Mexico, the progress of Android in incredible from 25,9 to 55,8 in one year.

SmartPhoneEuroMarketFeb13

In Europe, there is 2 main winners. Of course Android with Samsung phones over 70% in Germany! But also Windows with Nokia phones more that 5% everywhere and more than 6,5% in GB and Germany. In Italy Windows is over than 10% with 13,1%. Symbian is nothing in Europe now. RIM is over 5% in GB and Germany.

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April 1, 2013  

Mozilla Foundation: Firefox OS for smartphones

FirefoxOS

Mozilla Foundation announced Sunday it will launch in mid 2013 its widely anticipated Firefox operating system for smartphones in a direct challenge to the duopoly of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

Mozilla, which campaigns for open development of the online world, showed off the first commercial version of the Firefox OS on the eve of the opening of the world’s biggest mobile fair in Barcelona, Spain.

Smartphones equipped with Firefox OS look familiar to those on other systems, with an array of apps, or application programmes, to be made available on an online store, and a mapping programme developed by Nokia.

Mozilla, which aims to take third place behind Android and iOS, said it had already lured 17 operators including Sprint, China Unicom, KDDI, Singtel,Telefonica, Telenor and Deutsche Telecom.

The foundation said it was working with handset manufacturers South Korea’s LG and China’s TCL and ZTE on Firefox OS-run devices, with China’s Huawei to follow later in the year.

All the smartphones would be run with Qualcomm Snapdragon application processors, which use an architecture licenced by Cambridge, England-based ARM.

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