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 The iPad dominated Global Tablet Sales in Q32011 — IDC According to figures released by research firm IDC, the iPad tablet from Apple has topped worldwide sales for the third quarter of 2011. The report puts the iPad at 61% of total tablets shipped during this quarter, which amounts to around 11.1 million tablets. This is almost 2 million higher than the 9.3 million sales figure from the previous quarter. Despite this rise, the iPad’s market share is actually falling with the advent of competing brands. It held 68% of the global tablet market in the second quarter. Something similar happened to Android tablets, which saw a tremendous growth spurt in sales but a slight slump in market share. Android tablets grew from selling around 3.6million units in the second quarter to pushing out around 6 million units in the third quarter. Even though the sales almost doubled in numbers, the market share had a negative growth from 33.2% to 32.4%. However, it is still better than the 7 percentage-point fall of Apple. With the launch of two new cheap and affordable Android tablets from Barnes & Noble (the Nook Tablet) and Amazon (the Kindle Fire), Android’s market share is slated to rise up to cross 40%. Both of these tablets are in high demand and their holiday sales will boost sales figures for Android tablets quite a bit. However, both of these tablets do not benefit Google in any way despite selling very well at the moment. Google doesn’t charge for the OS and earns money from the app store and mobile ads instead. Both of these avenues are closed on either devices because both use customized versions that do not allow access to the normal app store and do not have Google apps like Gmail and YouTube. IDC is expecting explosive tablet sales for the running quarter with over 23.6 million tablets expected to be sold. If this comes to pass, it will account for over 25% of 2011’s predicted tablet sales of 95 million. It would in fact surpass the tablet sales for the whole of 2010, which were about 18 million with all manufacturers combined. Most of that number was Apple though. Tablets have seen aggressive sales patterns and have forced IDC to revise their quarterly predictions for the second quarter running. Previously they had raised the number from 53.5m to 62.5m — a 17% increase. Now they have increased the number again to 63.3 million — a 1% raise. Apple is expected to almost 14 million tablets, which shows a almost a 100% growth year on year from 2010’s sales of 7.3 million tablets. IDC expects 9.5m Android tablets to sale and they have not mentioned the break up between various makers and brands. The Android market is yet to have a star performer for that matter. The third quarter saw all makers doing average with no one doing particularly well. Samsung accounted for 5.6% with just over 1m tablets and topped the list. It was followed by HP’s Touchpad that was practically on fire sale and hence saw a large number of sales. It secured 5% of the market share and sold about 903K units.  PlayStation Vita Titles A post was recently published on the official PlayStation blog outlining the upcoming PlayStation Vita launch in the US and Canada region. Penned by Sony’s Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller, it puts February 22 as the launch date for both countries. And he goes to give out some more juicy details that are sure to attract the attention of the entire gaming community. According to the post, the PS Vita launch will see the largest collection of games at launch in the history of the PlayStation platform. He also calls it the grandest ever. The SCE Worldwide studio and Sony’s major publishing partners have apparently all been working hard to create a great amount of the content for the new platform. The end result is that PS Vita will have a massive 25 game line up on the launch day itself. For an entirely new platform, that is saying something. Added to the total number of games that are currently under development, the figures go over a hundred apparently. Sony is no stranger to popularizing a new platform and it is clear that they understand the basic principle of this game — content is king. The PS Vita might be the best portable gaming device ever developed. But without hit titles, it will still be just another gaming device. And it shows that Sony and its partners are equally toiling away at it. The pricing seem quite reasonable. The range will be between a minimum of $9.99 and $49.99 (MSRP). That MSRP is for purchase at retail outlets all over and also for buying from the PlayStation Network (PSN). However, since this is the MSRP, you can still look forward to getting some in store discounts at retail outlets. The list games looks quite good. There are a total of 8 in house titles developed by SCEA that will be available on the launch day itself. More are under development, as Koller has already mentioned. The rest of the 17 titles are from gaming industry biggies like Square Enix, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Sega and Capcom. 10 more titles are going to become available around the time of launch. Out of these, 4 are in house titles from SCEA and 6 are from the likes of Namco Bandai, Warner Bros Interactive and Konami Digital. Sports game fans will be happy to know that EA is releasing the 2011 FIFA Soccer on the launch day and F1 2011 will also be there from Codemasters. There’s also Asphalt Injection from Ubisoft. Casual gamers would be delighted by Plants Vs Zombies — available exclusively on PSN. No physical retail purchase will be possible for this popular time killer. Other popular titles that will become available soon after launch include Silent Hill Book of Memories from Konami Digital, LEGO Harry Potter 3: Years 5-7 from Warner Bros Interactive and MLB 12 The Show from SCEA. Sony has already stated before that the PS Vita is something that users will only understand when they experience it. Hence, Sony will start touring from next month onwards to bring people in contact with the device prior to the launch. This is a first for Sony and it shows how invested they are in the device.  Acer Planning $699 15inch Ultrabook There’s word on the streets that Acer is working to develop a new 15inch Ultrabook that they will ship next year for $699. This piece of information comes from sources within the Taiwanese supply chain that serves the company. Apparently Acer has made quite a bit of profit from their 11inch and 13inch Ultrabooks and hence is looking to cash in further by developing a 15inch product. The low $699 price tag is bound to attract more customers than ever before, thus serving the purpose that it is apparently being built for. There’s actually no solid evidence of this development work, so keep some salty handy just in case it turns out to a techie daydream. The same sources who have leaked this vital piece of information have also supplied us with the name of the company that is going to manufacturer these laptops — Pegatron. Pegatron is the company behind Asus and is currently also in charge of manufacturing Lenovo’s brand new quad-core tablet device and many other things. Pegatron’s 2012 shipments for Ultrabooks are expected to reach close to 19 million units (18.99 to be precise). If that really happens, that is going to be a 22% percent increase year on year for the ODM (Original Device Manufacturer). There’s no word on whether Acer’s current Ultrabook models will also be sent to Pegatron for manufacturing and it seems highly unlikely that they will. Acer currently gets it Ultrabooks manufactured by Winstron — a company that has started becoming a powerful rival for Pegatron. Looking at the worldwide sales figures from Acer, it seems that the company is expected to sell about 250,000 to 300,000 11inch and 13inch Ultraboook model. Neither Pegatron nor Acer has agreed to own up to the report, which itself is a strong indicator of the authenticity of the report. It makes sense that neither would comment on the report because Acer seems to have multiple ODMs (Winstron and Pegatron). With the order going somewhere else, Acer’s relationship with Winstron might dwindle. Or may be Acer as not really finalized anything but just was in the talks for the hardware with Pegatron when the leak happened. Either way, something is definitely afoot at Acer’s R&D labs. Over all, Acer is going to become the latest in the long line of sub $1000 ultrabooks that are scheduled to come out next year once the Windows 8 is released commercially. What would hopefully happen is that Acer would stand out from amongst all other with a price tag lower than most. That is the only way they are going get noticed else it will be a very crowded market for them to make dent. Meanwhile, both Toshiba and Lenovo are also hard at work on Ultrabooks. They, along with others, will launch these models late 2012. That is right after the commercial release of windows 8.  The iPhone 4S is the top favorite smartphone stocking stuffer this holidays in the UK In a recent study, it was found that the iPhone 4S accounted for nearly 1/4th of all smartphones sold in the UK so far during the holiday season. The iPhone has stayed in the top position over all throughout, forcing other smartphone vendors to fight it out for the rest of the UK market. These statistics were found from the study that was conducted by GFK research firms and was reported initially by the Financial Times on Monday. According to study, the iPhone 4S’ market dominance continued up to the end of the study period on 9th of December. The first week of December was especially good for the iPhone as its five versions, including the two and a half years old iPhone 3GS, absolutely dominated the market while accounting for about 37% of all smartphone sales. It topped the ranks of the top 15 smartphones sold during that time. The smartphone market in the UK has grown phenomenally in recent times. It grew to double its size between the time of February 2010 to August 2011. To highlight this fact, British government authorized telecommunications regulatory authority Ofcom released statistics that show 47% percent of the entire mobile market now being occupied by smartphones. That means almost one in every two cell-phone owner owns a smartphone. With the market growing this rapidly, the benefits were felt by other smartphone makers as well. Samsung’s Glaxy S II proved to be quite the popular model and occupied the number two position in the top 10. Research In Motion’s three versions of the Blackberry Curve also found themselves in the top 10 at various positions during the study period. It seems that whatever trouble Blackberry has been facing in the Europe, Middle East, Asia and African regions — it has not affected their sales in the UK all that much. However, fortune has not smiled on all smartphone makers. Nokia was very conspicuously absent from the fray. Despite spending a reported 20 million Pound on advertising, they are yet to see any significant Christmas sales. Nokia’s sales have yet to pick up after their momentous decision to switch to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. Towards the end of the year they released the first two Windows Phone devices — the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710. The two phones received good reviews and have been appreciated for their design and software. Despite all of this, Nokia has not been able to make a dent in the market. Windows Phone 7 series over all has not in fact been performing all that well. The market continues to ride on the iOS and Android models with RIM getting away simply because of their prowess in the enterprise sector and their omnipresent BBM service. In its defense, Nokia has said that it does not have an established user base like the iPhone and Android models. Hence it would have to persevere through slow sales for now. Apple’s runaway success confirms another report published earlier that claims the iPhone has taken the top spot away from Android for the first time since late 2010. It said that the Apple phone device holds 43% market share as of November 2011.  ASUS eeePC 1015PW-MU27-PR (10.1-Inch Screen) Netbook - Purple The Asus Eee PC range was the first ever netbook range to hit the market and it has grown in to a sprawling line of netbooks since. The ASUS eeePC 1015PW-MU27-PRis a 10inch netbook that comes in multiple colors. This is the purple version. Powered by an Intel Atom N570 1.66GHz processor, this netbook comes with 1GB of DDR3 RAM (Single slot, Expandable up to 2GB). This is a dual-core Atom powered device, which makes it really good mult-tasking for basic things like running multiple browser tabs and listening to music at the same time. Coupled with the DDR3 RAM, it should be able to handle pretty much everything that you throw at it. Packing in a 10.1inch LED backlit display, this netbook has a native resolution of 1024 x 600. It is the standard resolution for this screen size and is just right for comfortably reading text and viewing images and videos. The graphics is handled by an onboard Intel GMA 3150 chip, which is enough for viewing standard definition videos both online and locally. The main attraction of this netbook, other than the affordably price point and stable performance, is the purple styling. Being one of the latest generation models, it has sleek looks with a smooth matte finish. The lid has a textured design in purple with the Asus logo on it. The bezel is shiny black with the webcam on usual the top center spot. Asus has added a physical on/off switch for the webcam right above it. The ASUS eeePC 1015PW-MU27-PR comes a 250GB SATA HDD for storage and also has a memory card reader on the side. So now you can carry this around on your trips and instantly transfer all your digicam photos from the. The keyboard covers all the available space on the netbook and has island style keys that make for comfortable typing. The layout ensures that no space is wasted. The touchpad is fused in to the palm-rest and has the same finish as the rest of the region. It is demarcated by two vertical silver accents that are set in to the body. The lower ends of these lines terminate over the single click bar that has a slightly curved design and a silver matte finish. The touchpad performance is average might take some time getting used to. With a 6-cell battery, it has an official battery life of 10 hours. In real life scenarios you can expect it to last around 7hours with with abundant WiFi usage. There are 3 USB ports on this netbook along with 1 VGA port and 1 Ethernet port. There’s WiFi b/g but no Bluetooth. It comes bundled with Windows 7 Starter Edition, which is a bone of contention for a lot of buyers. However, its limits can be gotten around by using third party solutions that are freely available online. Over all, the ASUS eeePC 1015PW-MU27-PR is a good buy for the price point, especially with the dual core performance and the good looking styling in place.  Acer Aspire One AOD257-13685 10.1-Inch Netbook (Espresso Black) The Acer Aspire One series is one of the most popular lines of netbooks. Known both for their affordability and utility, the Aspire One netbooks are common choices for the average user as well as students and professionals. The Acer Aspire One AOD257-13685 is a 10inch netbook that is powered by a Dual core Intel Atom N570 processor. It is coupled with a 1GB DDR3 RAM — which when combined with the processor is enough to handle most of the day to day computing tasks of an average user. This netbook comes in different colors and this particular one is called Espresso Black. It has a beautiful fully black finish. It has matte black finish on the lid with the Aspire One logo printed on one side of it. The interiors sport normal plain plastic finish. The touchpad is set in to its own area on the palm rest and has a single click button made out of shiny, deep black plastic. The touchpad can take some time getting used to but it can get the job done. Plus it support multi-touch gestures, so navigating through websites, photos and document becomes that much easier. However, if you are looking for more precision and less cramping, it is better to invest in a USB mouse. The keyboard has flat, island type keys that are slightly curved individually in order to guide your fingers to the center with each keystroke. Since this is a 10inch netbook, there isn’t much space for the keys to spread out. So they are very closely set and are not meant for long typing sessions. However, even though you won’t be writing your next novel on it will still be enough to send out emails and do social networking on the move. Many of the keys have multiple functions marked in blue. They are overall comfortable to type on and each key sets in without wobbling. The netbook is not the slimmest on the market but does keep the profile around 1inch at maximum. It has its ports on the side, which include a VGA out, an RJ45 Ethernet port, two USB ports and even a card reader. The display on the Acer Aspire One AOD257-13685 is a 10.1inch LED backlit display with a native resolution of 1024 x 600 (WSVGA). Given the size of the screen, this is the perfect resolution to get things to done without having to squint every time. It comes equipped with a 250GB SATA HDD, which is enough to carry around the things that you always want have with you when you are on the move. For most people, it would fit in their entire music collection, documents and some movies too. On the connectivity front, it has WiFi-n (802.11b/g/n) but no Bluetooth. The 3-cell battery gives you a battery life of 4 hours. The Acer Aspire One AOD257-13685 scores well on buyer reviews. The only complaints seem to be about the limited Windows 7 Starter Edition. It is a good package for the low price and that is what makes it a good buy.  HP Mini 110-3830NR Netbook PC - Black The HP Mini 110-3830NR is 10inch netbook that comes with your standard issue Intel Atom N455 processor. Clocking in at 1.66GHz, this single core Atom is coupled with 1GB of SDRAM. It has 250GB of SATA HDD storage with a platter speed of 5400RPM. It is meant for those who need basic computing in a small package and a smaller budget. The HP Mini series is not as expansive as some of the other netbook lines like Asus’ Eee PC but it has very well developed models. This one specifically is a good-looking 10inch specimen that is all black all through. It sports a matte finish on the inside but the bezel is shiny. The lid has a plain black finish with the HP logo on top of it. It comes with a webcam that is settled top center on the bezel, in the de facto position for laptops/netbooks. The keyboard has island style keys and is laid out in way that makes use of every inch of available space on the netbook. Even though the size still makes it a bit cramped for prolonged typing, the layout and the keys make it comfortable to type on the 3820NR. The touchpad is set in to its own groove and is not fused with the rest of the palm rest area like some of the other netbooks. It has a matte surface that provides good traction for the fingertips. It has two separate click buttons. The netbook has a 10.1inch LED backlit display with a native resolution of 1024×600. It addition to that, it has an anti-glare coating to make it easier to work on for longer periods of time. Graphics is handled by an onboard Intel GMA chip with a shared memory. Enough to run all your standard definition videos and online streaming content. The 250GB storage that comes with the HP Mini 110-3830NR is enough for the average user to store a lot of documents, music, photos and some movies too. If you are looking to make it your only computer, then an external storage unit in addition to this should take care of your needs. Coming to connectivity, it comes with 802.11b/g/n Wireless, which includes Wireless N for super fast WiFi speeds wherever available. It has a standard 10/100 Ethernet port also for those who work on LAN. There’s no Bluetooth available but you can easily correct that with a small dongle that is available everywhere nowadays. The HP Mini 110-3830NR comes preinstalled with Windows 7 Starter Edition, which is a cause for complaints from some buyers. It has restricted features in terms of customization but they can be remedied with some third party tools that are easily available online. Buyer reviews are mostly positive. Users love the affordability and the portability of the netbook. They also love how good it looks in black. Perfect for basic computing and Internet on the move. Apple’s iPad 2 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire have been battling head to head in terms of pre-holiday sales numbers. Amazon has stated that the Kindle Fire is by far its bestselling product to date. This handy seven inch tablet went on the market for pre-order in late September, with the initial devices being shipped out mid November. While we do know the sales have been quite high, as usual, Amazon has declined comment in regards to the precise sales data. However, the internet giant did let the cat out of the bag in a press conference by telling us that they had actually sold four times as many Kindle’s than they did on last year’s Black Friday. Apple’s iPad 2 didn’t do so bad itself with at least 70% higher sales on an hourly basis this year than last. Of course this data has been confirmed by an analyst, Gene Munster who released a research memo on November 28th indicating that both ShopperTrak and comScore data showed a consistent spike in traffic and retails sales on Black Friday. The true test is going to be whether or not the Kindle Fire can hold out throughout the season in direct competition with one of the world’s most popular devices. In a recent online survey consisting of 1,000 people, results showed that 44% stated they would most definitely purchase a Kindle Fire over an iPad, 44% claimed an insufficient amount of knowledge about either product to make a choice, and the last 12% were still iPad loyalists. Apple’s iPad has had a major monopoly on the consumer market for quite some time and the true test will be whether or not the Kindle Fire can continue to sell at its current rate. If it continues on this momentous path, there is a very good chance the Apple iPad 2 could lose out to the Kindle this holiday season. If this happens Apple could lose its edge this year for the first time in a long while. During the year previous a variety of tablets which have been called “iPad killers” have been released with a strong start only to fizzle out and ultimately meet their demise as a result of bad reviews and horrible sales. Before the Kindle Fire was released Apple execs are rumored to have told Ben Reitzes, an analyst for Barclays Capital that the latest tablet by Amazon would show many of the same problems the others had shown. Apple seemed very confident that the Kindle Fire would not hold up against its product. Will Apple eat their words? That remains to be seen but so far the Kindle Fire seems to be showing favorable potential to compete. Many experts believe that Apple will have no choice but to show aggression where price is concerned sometime in the near future, without compromising any of the quality found in the iPad. The new Kindle Fire contains a strongly modified Android interface, one that enables users to purchase e-books as well as streaming content from Amazon. Coupled, these advantages may just be the leverage Amazon needs to take the market this year. For undisclosed reasons, Apple is said to have approved an app called iTether which enables iPhone users to share their wireless connections with their computers. However, in more recent news it seems Apple has abruptly changed their mind and pulled the app. This application, made by a Canadian owned company was the first tethering app to ever slip through the cracks, so to speak. Apple has never allowed this sort of technology and this came to a surprise to many iPhone users. When asked about the incident in which the app was approved and almost immediately discontinued, a spokesperson for Apple said the company was not aware of the exact specs of the app upon approval. Conversely, the Canadian manufacturer of iTether claimed in a recent tweet that they were very clear with Apple when the app was presented and that they answered a multitude of questions about the app. The cost of this app $14.99, was comparable to the Verizon and AT&T version of iTether which is priced at about $20 extra per month. Although the lower price seemed like a great deal, there were some problems with the app. Among the biggest was the fact that it only worked via USB connection, thereby eliminating the possibility of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi tethering. Speculation is that Apple did not believe this particular app would compete in terms of price and capability to other, superior tethering plans. For users who have become spoiled by wireless tethering, this may just be the case. As soon as the app went live it is said that iTether’s home page was simply inundated with traffic to overwhelming proportions. The app seems to have authenticated with itether.com which meant whenever it was launched the service began to face issues. Because of this Tether.com stated that 20 extra servers were added to their site. It appears Tether.com was ill prepared for the response that would be seen by iPhone users. Even if the future does hold an iTether app for Apple, in no way does this mean that the various carriers will not play around with the pricing. While specific carriers will not be able to hinder the app from working, they can certainly charge for extra data used. This could mean outrages monthly charges for people who use the app often enough. Apple is bound to approve some sort of tethering app in the near future but the hope is that it will be affordable and in direct competition with the other similar apps available. No matter how much Apple seems to be adverse to this type of app, it is clear that at some point they will have to release a variation in order to keep up with the competition. No one knows just when Apple will consider another run with iTether but it is safe to assume that millions of people will be watching for the release of such an app. Apple has made no official comment in regards to when and if they may re-introduce a tethering application. Click here for Black Friday Kindle Fire and Other Deals!
 Amazon Kindle Fire There is only two days of the year that you can find the kind of deals you will find this Monday. One of them is Black Friday and the other, of course, Cyber Monday. This sale takes place the Monday just following Black Friday and it is especially great because there are no long lines to contend with, no traffic to deal with, just pure and simple shopping right from your computer. All you need is an internet connection, a credit card and a computer! It has never been easier to find all the best discounts on your favorite items. If you have been considering an item such as the iPad Touch, iPod or some other electronic device, this is going to be the best day for you to get your hands on one at an extremely reasonable price. Xbox360’s, Kinect to go with it and of course let’s not forget the PS3 when considering that shopping list! Chances are you have someone in your family who has expressed an interest in a PlayStation 3, or maybe you just want one for your own entertainment. Either way, the best time of year to purchase one is on Cyber Monday. There are going to be hundreds, maybe even thousands of online stores participating in this event and all of them will be in direct competition with each other. This means the price slashes are going to be out of this world! It also means you get to be a little choosy as there are going to be a lot of sites that will be selling the products you are looking for at an even better price than the last site you were at. Cyber Monday is an event that you do not want to miss, whether it is just one thing you are looking to buy or 100 things! Update: Although it appears that Amazon has forgone putting out much anticipated Kindle Fire Black Friday deal this year, there is still a way to get Kindle Fire at $40 discount for $159. All you need to do is to sign up for Amazon Credit Card. You will immediately get $40 bonus on your account available to purchase Kindle Fire, other Kindle Devices or anything else on Amazon for that matter. Click there for details. Angry Birds and Angry Birds Rio – $0.99 All time hit for all portable devices is on Kindle Fire too! What’s new in version 1.4.0
Cute hungry candy monster is on Kindle Fire. When you see a mysterious package on your doorstep, you can’t help but open it. Who wouldn’t? But be warned: Once you open the box, there’s no going back. You’ll be instantly addicted to this premium version of Cut the Rope–a game in which you feed an adorable, candy-craving monster named Om Nom all the sweets he can eat. Playing with your food might not seem like a crucial part of ninja training, but as the good folks at Halfbrick Studios will tell you–for ninjas, it’s more than just a game. All ninjas hate fruit! Join the ninja clan as you slash your way through three modes of juicy gameplay. You’ll soon see that Fruit Ninja is the messiest, most satisfying fruit game ever! So go ahead get your Kindle Fire either for $199 or for $159 (by getting an Amazon credit card and getting $40 off) and play these great games. You won’t regret! |
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