Sinking HMS Symbian heading for Android iceberg
Despite being touted as the world's most widely used mobile operating system, the folks over at Gartner believe the future for Symbian fans is not a happy one. Forecasts to be published at the end of the month show Symbian is losing market share at an ever-increasing rate. Symbian is still way ahead of the other players in terms of market share, and may be for some time to come, but the others (particularly Android) are catching up fast. (See Wikipedia's graphic of the 2009 end-of-year share, which shows Nokia/Symbian at 44 per cent, RIM at 19 per cent, Apple at 15 per cent, Android at 10 per cent and Windows Mobile at 7 per cent. Since then, Android has probably overtaken Apple.)
The Guardian
General Electric develops new car charger
The GE WattStation, a roadside charging station, will be available commercially from 2011 while a modified home version is to be sold later this year. The technology uses smart grid technology to help identify demand for electricity from charging stations and supply it without affecting local and regional grids. GE claims the WattStation will reduce the amount of time needed to fully charge a 24 kWh battery from 12-18 hours to four to eight hours.
It is aimed at making the use of electric cars easier and therefore more attractive to the public.
The Telegraph
Microsoft and Yahoo gain ground on Google
Google saw its two biggest search competitors make up slight ground last month, according to the latest monthly report from research firm comScore. Google's share of the June US search market was 62.6 per cent, down from 63.7 per cent in May. Microsoft and Yahoo saw their search market shares increase by 0.6 per cent each on the month. June was the fourth straight month in which Yahoo and Microsoft were able to grow their shares. Yahoo's share of the market rose to 18.9 per cent, while Microsoft's Bing claimed a 12.7 per cent share.
V3
Admoda doubles traffic in a year
Combined traffic of over 7.5 billion ads per month with sister firm Adultmoda. The UK company, which is entirely self-funded and in profit, has grown steadily since launch four years ago. And it's done so despite rejecting around 70 per cent of all publisher registrations in order to maintain a high quality of sites and apps for its advertisers.
Mobile Entertainment
Location-based social network apps boom, and privacy issues
Increasing numbers of people are revealing their exact location on the internet or being tracked via geolocation applications installed onto their mobile devices, increasing their chances of being targeted by internet security attacks, according to new research commissioned by Webroot, a provider of internet security software for the consumer, enterprise and SMB markets. Surveying more than 1,500 social network users who own geolocation-ready mobile devices, Webroot found that 39 per cent indicated to using geolocation on their mobile devices, and 73% of those use a geo-tracking application to do so.
Mobile Business Magazine
New conquests: France Telecom unveils 5-year plan
France Telecom, which already underwent a major business revamp in 2006 when it merged its mobile, broadband and enterprise services under the single Orange brand, this week unveiled a new five-year plan that it hopes will enable the group reach a target of 300 million users by 2015. Called "Conquests 2015", the plan has been devised in response to a number of issues in France and elsewhere, such as the huge social problems caused by the group's reorganisation efforts, the changes that lie ahead as more devices are connected to the Internet and more services become available, and the tense competitive and regulatory environment.
European Communications
Number of HSPA devices launched soars to 2579
The number of HSPA mobile broadband devices launched in the market has soared to 2,579, according to the latest survey published this week by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). This represents more than a 48 per cent expansion since October 2009. The number of suppliers increased from 190 to 235 in the same period, says the GSA. The number of devices supporting HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) has increased 110 per cent since October 2009 to 724 models, and more than half (364) support, or are easily upgradeable for 5.76 Mbps peak or higher data speed. Smartphones are another strong growth segment, says GSA. Approximately 1 in 3 models of HSPA phones launched in the market today incorporate WiFi and GPS technologies.
Mobile Europe
Orange does another budget Android
It looks certain that Orange is planning release of another Android smartphone targeted at budget conscious consumers. The device, which has not been officially confirmed by Orange, is rumoured to have been developed under the 'Project JAL' codename and was thought to be a low-spec Android device. However, according to information received by TechRadar, the handset has a slim form factor and supports a capacitive OLED display and appears to be based on the ZTE Blade which the Chinese manufacturer announced back in February at Mobile World Congress.
Rethink Wireless
Analyst Slams UK Government's Facebook Plans
Plans announced by the UK's coalition government to work with Facebook to promote policy ideas have been criticised by a leading analyst. According to an article in Web User magazine, the UK government intends to promote the Treasury's Spending Challenge initiative and other policy ideas on the platform. The Spending Challenge, launched last week, is designed to encourage the UK public to suggest areas of public spending that can be cut as part of government plans to reduce the budget deficit.
IT PRO PORTAL
Mobile ticketing to drive m-commerce growth
Transactions from the usage of mobile devices for ticketing will double by as soon as 2012, according to a study from Juniper Research. Juniper forecast that mobile ticketing transactions will exceed $100bn (based on gross transaction value) as soon as 2012: this is more than double the market in 2010. Although ticketing will lead the way, the mobile commerce report also establishes that the rapid adoption of mobile devices for commerce related applications is by no means limited to ticketing. All segments -- money transfers, banking, payments and coupons -- are forecast to see significant growth rates.
Mobile Europe
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