Is the iPad Mini starting to show up its bigger brother?

   It seems that after last year's introduction of the iPad Mini has had a fair impact on its bigger full sized iPad according to a rumour from Digitimes. The rumour suggests that Apple has cut their shipment estimates of the bigger iPad's down to 33 million units from their original 60 million estimates!

    We think the iPad Mini has had a significant impact because Apple has speculated that they will ship somewhere in the region of 55 million of their smaller iPads, which is 15 million more than their initial estimates.

   Obviously if Digitimes has got this right then Apple will also not be shifting quite as many iPads as they had expected to originally! To compound that the iPad Mini is also the cheaper product which means that Apple will actually have a smaller revenue overall if that becomes the more popular device!

   Now this is just a rumour at the moment, but if it is correct then Apple might have to think about redesigning or doing something to make the standard iPad a more compelling option. It's hard to deny that the iPad Mini is a good looking device and the narrow bezels make it considerably nicer in the hand than the larger more unwieldy iPad.

Digitimes Via PhoneArena.

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In Other News: 20/02/2013.

• Analysts have started revising the success of Blackberry's Z10 launch. BGR have reported that Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley has revised his estimated from 1.75 million units shifted this quarter to a mere 300,000! This was after he supposedly looked at data from Canada and the UK and concluded that there had been limited initial stock and 'softer than expected demand'!

• BGR have also reported that analyst Benedict Evans did a little bit of math and worked out that somewhere between 4.5 million to 4.6 million units of the Nexus 7 have been sold, which is pretty darn good going, even if it's not on the same levels as Kindle Fire or iPad sales!

• Digitimes believe that Apple has lined up AU Optronics to produce the new screens in their next generation iPad minis! That's literally all the rumour says although we would hope to see an improved resolution, but we think that's unlikely because the iPad Mini isn't ready to take the next step up to Retina resolution until the cost of the panels comes down dramatically!
  Via HotHardware.

• Russia's YotaPhone has a future after the creators inked a deal with Hi-P international from Singapore to manufacture the device. Don't worry Hi-P are famed for making Apple, Blackberry and Amazon's eReaders so they're a trustworthy bunch! The device should be with us in the second half of the year and YotaPhone are opening an R&D centre in Singapore for future generations of the device!
  Via Engadget.

• HMV have closed yet more stores today. The company will close 37 shops and 464 jobs will go. Those affected are people working or living in: Ashford, Basildon, Bolton, Cheltenham, East Kilbride, Enfield, Folkestone, Glasgow Argyle, Gloucester, Grimsby, Hatfield Galleria, Heathrow T5 Departure Level, Heathrow Terminal 1, Heathrow Terminal 3, Heathrow Terminal 4, Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe, Isle of Wight, Lancaster, Leadenhall, Mansfield, Middlesbrough, Newbury, Newcastle Silverlink, Newport, Nuneaton, Redditch, Salisbury, Scarborough, Southport, Stafford, Staines, Stockport, Swindon, Taunton, Torquay and Woking!
  Via WhatHifi.

• The BBC have now released their Sport app for Android devices with screens smaller than 7"! You can get the app here, but apparently some features still use the mobile websites, things such as Twitter and Facebook sharing do, which is a shame, but it's better than nothing!
  Via Eurodroid.

• The iPhone 5 overtook the Samsung Galaxy S3 to take the title of best selling smartphone for Q4 2012! When you combine sales of the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S, Apple sold 20.6% of the world's smartphones in the quarter!
  Via StrategyAnalytics.

• Nokia will supposedly wait a little bit longer to show off a tablet device, so don't get your hopes up for seeing one at MWC!
  Via MobileToday.

• Yesterday Samsung quietly announced a Wifi-only version of their Galaxy Camera! Pretty much everything is the same as before and you can get all the details here!

• For those of you who have missed HTC's 'trade-up' offer to help you get the HTC One into you hands then you can find full details here! (Unfortunately it's only for US users at the moment, but we're hoping they'll extend the offer).

And finally, what can $79.99 by you these days? Well a fair bit actually, especially if you spend it on Kyocera's brand new Event smartphone on Virgin Mobile. The device will be all yours for that price, without a contract and it runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and there's a HVGA, that's 480 x 320p IPS display measuring 3.5 inches, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and a 1GHz processor. That's nothing mind blowing there, but it is a great back up phone or a really good first smartphone!

Via AndroidGuys.

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26/10/2012: Apple posts their UK 'apology' to Samsung, GTA: Vice City coming to iOS and Android and more!

Apple finally posts the 'apology' on their UK site for suing Samsung!

   Apple vs. Samsung has been one heck of a saga over the last couple of years. Apple seems to have gotten their way in most parts of the world, but time after time the UK seems to have dismissed their claims.

   With Apple choosing to sue Samsung for their original Galaxy Tab 10.1 a UK judge thought Apple had taken a step too far! Apple were subsequently ordered to put an 'apology' on their website explaining that Samsung had not copied their iPad design.

   This is not so much an apology as a self-promotion for Apple, but it's something nonetheless! If you'd like to see the full release you can find it here or the full transcript is below!   

"On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the High court is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.

In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:

“The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design.”

“The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.”

That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad."

In other news:

• Apple's iPad Mini in white may take a little bit longer to get to you then you may have planned, with the 16GB white version being subject to two week delays! The Black version of the same size and all other sizes remain available!

• HTC's Q3 Operating profit has dived by 76% compared to the same quarter last year! The company has announced there are worse times ahead for Q4.

• Samsung has outsold Nokia again which confirms that Samsung is the world's largest phone manufacturer.

• Samsung also announced that they made $7.4billion in profit from Q3! Another stellar quarter for the South Korean Giants!

• Strategy Analytics have released an updated list of tablet sales based on the OS' that the devices run. This time Android devices have gobbled up even more of Apple's market share; Apple now has 56.7% of the market, whereas Android devices make up 41.3% of sales. The next set of results will be different 

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is coming to Android and iOS this autumn!

And finally, is this one of the first indications that a Samsung Nexus 10 tablet really is on the way? These are pictures posted on Google+ by a Google exec who was seemingly on holiday somewhere rather nice! 

Via Slashgear.

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03/10/2012

RIM release Playbook OS 2.1!

   RIM and their Playbook in particular are interesting entities. The Playbook's themselves are great little devices and they are selling extremely cheaply at the moment. But, RIM has also had a good track record with their updates too! Every time the company has promised some improvements they have arrived, if slightly late a couple of times.

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22/08/2012

New iPad incoming? Apple asks for triple the presentation space!

   Today some of MacRumors trusted sources have said to them that Apple resellers in Europe are being asked to increase the display space devoted to the iPad in their stores. This could mean a number of things; Apple wants the iPad to sell better, they want a larger presence in store, but most of all it shoudts "incoming iPad announcement".

   Apparently Apple has given re-sellers a deadline of September 12 to increase their iPad display space, just in time for a certain announcement date that Apple has scheduled! One of the sources specified that Apple has asked for resellers to triple the amount of space reserved for iPads. But, others disagree claiming Mac Pro and Mac Mini displays are the first on the chopping block in order to accommodate this shift.

   Since originally printing the rumor, MacRumors has changed their post saying that this shift in display space has occurred because Apple resellers have devoted only a small amount of space to the iPad and it’s one of Apple’s biggest sellers so they simply want to push the tablet more. September 12th will reveal all!

Everything Everywhere sell Three some spectrum!

   Yesterday Everything Everywhere got confirmation that they will be able to roll out 4G services on their existing range of spectrum and Huawei is hard at work installing 4G receivers in EE's 2G base stations. Everyone was slightly taken aback by the decision because it secured a monopoly period of about a year for the company.

   It seems that Three might have one little reason which helped convince OFCOM that this was a good move. That reason is that EE has sold Three two spectrum 'channels' and the statement below from Three's CEO, Dave Dyson, shows what this will mean to Three.

 “Acquiring this spectrum will more than double the capacity available to customers on our network.  We have seen a huge growth in data consumption with average mobile handset customer usage now more than 1.1GB per month. 

Three has led the market in the significant growth of mobile data consumption and the shift to consumer use of smartphones to access the internet.  New spectrum, supported by further committed technology spend, is a clear signal that we are committed to maintain our lead as the network built for the mobile internet.”

    This is 1800MHz radio spectrum that's been sold but there's one rather important condition. The sale briefly raised the possibility of the UK having competing 4G networks this year until EE crushed that dream by failing to relinquish the bands until September 2013 so Three's statement seems slightly excitable given the short term possibilities.

   The European Commission has already demanded that Everything Everywhere sell off this spectrum as a condition of the Orange and T-Mobile merger. This is pretty negligible to EE because the company is so huge that the network has hold of almost half the UK mobile radio spectrum. So EE offered to sell off two 15MHz-wide blocks before the 4G mega auction, which it has now done, but it won't let Three take possession until the last possible moment required by the EC: September 2013 for two 10MHz blocks, and September 2015 for the rest.

   What do you think is the 4G monopoly a bad thing or will it spur the others on to offer compelling alternatives when their time rolls round?

In other news:

• Microsoft is currently seeking new Beta testers for an upcoming update to their Xbox 360's!

• Our readers from the USA will have seen the news that T-Mobile USA will be offering unlimited internet and we can now confirm the service will be available from September 5th.

• Another interesting bit of news is that we expect Verizon Wireless to offer their customers the next round of Windows Phone 8 devices because everyone needs that third alternative option!

• Amazon's next Kindle tablet has hit the FCC along with the name 'Firedock', unfortunately all we Vknow is that the device will have the usual set of connections that every tablet has, but as soon as we hear more you will be first to know!

• Dell announced today that its profits in the second quarter of this year fell 18% from the year before. That means profits of $732 million something which prompted an after hours stock price dip. Dell's stock is currently down by 4.28% to $11.81 after hours, with the stock finishing the regular trading day at $12.34, only a 1.75% decrease. At least Dell is turning a profit!!!

• An unnamed Verizon employee has told TechCrunch that Verizon has blocked all employees from taking vacations between September 21 and September 30. This move was apparently made in anticipation of the new iPhone's launch.

• The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 has received a software update today and it brings a bump to Android 4.0.4!

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04/07/2012

RIM in for more pain after carriers make some demands!

   The same week RIM announced their planned saviour, BB10, was delayed and they posted another loss, the company has also heard rumblings from carriers that they're not overly content either. 

   Bloomberg has claimed that carriers like AT&T and Verizon have requested that RIM reduces the cost of subscriptions to Blackberry services such as BBM. Understandable the Canadian co. is reluctant to do this because this sort of service accounts for more than a third of RIM's income.

   RIM has essentially refused to comment on the debate officially, instead saying; “RIM intends to continue generating a revenue stream from the services we offer”. That's all their spokesperson, Nick Manning, would say and unsurprisingly both AT&T and Verizon declined to comment.

There's still something 'smart' for the QWERTY lovers coming from Samsung!

   While Blackberry devices may be struggling to gain some market share right now thankfully not every company on the planet is avoiding qwerty devices with a barge pole.

   Now this definitely isn't going to be rivaling your best friends new Galaxy S3 on the spec front, but if you must have a hardware keyboard this is going to be an appealing little device. The screen is a 3" QVGA touchscreen, 2-megapixel camera and a poultry 4GB of internal storage. Although, thankfully there's also a microSD slot and a solid 1,200 mAh battery. The WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 should be great to keep you connected.

   There's two interesting features here that have caught our attention; the first is that this phone runs a Touchwizzed version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, so it's relatively up to date on the software front. But there's also said to be an LTE version of the phone coming, which is a surprising addition given that we expect this phone to be squarely aimed at the low to mid-end range. Unfortunately we don't know what sort of processor will be powering the show and we don't have any details on price points, but as soon as we hear we'll be sure to let you know!

One of HP's unreleased WebOS beauties!

   We've all been witnesses to the untimely demise of the beautiful WebOS operating system. But, before the axe came down on the smooth little system it seems HP had plans for a full touch device! 

   The image above was sourced by WebOS Nation and it appears to show a 3.6" device with an uncanny resemblance to the Pre's and Veer's of this world. It was supposedly codenamed WindsorNot and it's just a shame this device never made it to market, we do have a soft spot for WebOS over hear at TTF!

In other news:

• The stock of Apple's iMac's has dropped and we know what that means! refresh inbound!
• Thankfully the UK courts have seen sense and have thrown out Apple's case against HTC over slide to unlock patents. It looks like the US is taking a much harder line on 'essential' technologies to the rest of the world.
• Samsung has signed a deal with Qualcomm to produce 28nm chips for the company.
• The YouView set top box will be coming to the UK in the next couple of months!
• Google's Galaxy Nexus has been temporarily banned after their collaboration with Samsung in the courts failed to convince Judge Koh to change her mind. But, alas Google has promised the device will be available again in no time!
• It's come to light today that Sony have been working on the PS4 since 2012 and apparently the work continues!
• Bloomberg have today claimed knowledge of iPad Mini production!
• Is the next Xbox set to follow the Windows 8 naming scheme? Or is it set to be called Xbox infinity? Either way Microsoft has bought up the website Xbox8.com.

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03/07/2012

The latest Market shares are out! They're interesting reading!

   The image above has a surprisingly large amount of interesting information in it! 

   Firstly, we can see that Google's Android has finally slowed it's sky-rocketing market share to more of a pedestrian improvement of 0.8%. This seems to suggest that most people who want an Android phone have one and obviously we would expect their share to stall slightly as a result. But, interestingly Symbian's share of the smartphone platter is down to 1% so there's not much more Android can steal from Nokia's old champion. Symbian's fall from grace has almost mirrored Android's growth so it seems that we're approaching some sort of stable equilibrium again

   Interestingly, Apple now seems to have a fairly steady market share too, with a solid 30% of the smartphone market. But, it's hard to see how they can really push on from there given the cost of their handsets compared to the average price for smartphones; after all not everyone has a budget upwards of £600 or $700!

    Microsoft also, seems to finally have stopped the rot too! It looks like the high profile launch of the Lumia 900 in particular, gave them a boost last quarter. But, given the announcement of Windows Phone 8, the companies has made it infinitely harder for them and their partners to shift the remainder of the Windows Phone 7 range, especially given that the OS is now essentially obsolete. It's also worth remembering that the figure includes those people rocking Windows Mobile too, which is a possibility for those who've held on to their eternal HTC HD2's and the like.

   In other news:

• The Galaxy S3 is slated to join Verizon's line-up on July 10th, that's if Apple don't get their way!
• Verizon has also announced that they will no longer subsidise tablets that land on their network, instead you will be paying full ticket price on top of that contract you want to take out!
• It's come to light today that it costs you little over $1 a year to power your iPad compared to the $65 a year, it'll set you back to run your home refridgerator!
• For those you you wanting to play Halo 4 on the regular, you'll have to have a lot of spare space on your Xbox. Microsoft has recommended at least 8GB of free space, so it could potentially take a lot more space than that, depending on how much you play!
• RIM's CEO, Torsten Heins, has come out today and defiantly stated that his company is not in a 'death spiral', instead they're in a period of transition! Perhaps you might beg to differ?
• In response to Google's launch of the Nexus 7, the iPad Mini has been rumoured for a Fall release again, but the Apple device is said to have a $100 premium over the Nexus, coming in at $300 instead of a Nexus 7's $199 price point.
• Talking of tablets, today they've been slated to overtake Notebook sales by 2016!
• Android's ICS operating system has finally landed on 10% of active devices... Just in time for the Jelly Bean launch. Perhaps the update pressure has gone to Google's head because their statue up at Mountain View melted today! You can see the melt in the image below!

• Nokia has decided to take action and call out the Nexus 7 for violating their Wifi patents, we'll have to wait and see what comes of this!
• And finally, RIM's Blackberry 10 roadmap appears to show the companies plan for 2013. The juicy details are all available below!
  
  

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