Android and iOS combine to reach 55% of U.S. smart device market, totaling 109 million users

Apparently having some time on its hand, mobile analytics firm Flurry decided to see what kind of market share a combined iOS-Android would own in different parts of the world. In the U.S. where there are about 200 million smart device users, Android and iOS account for 55% or 109 million users which represents 41% of all Android and iOS users worldwide.

Following the U.S. is China with a combined 35 million users of the dynamic duo with the U.K. next with 17 million users. France, Germany and Japan follow with 10 million users each.

109 million people use Android and iOS phones in the States

To determine the number of Android-iOS users, Flurry tracked the 140,000 apps that it watches and counted the number of users on each app using the two operating systems over a 30 day period. Because of that time frame, Flurry has come up with 264 million worldwide users of the two OS combined, about half of what both Apple and Google has said is out there. Of course, the latter pair are counting older models in their total.

To determine the total number of smartphone users in each country not using iOS and Android, Flurry used a formula involving IMF statistics, the size of the middle class based on a study, and estimated the size of the upper class. From that figure, the number of combined Android and iOS users were subtracted.

India had the smallest penetration of Android-iOS devices of the top ten countries with a total of just 3.4 million users out of a possible 75 million. Japan had the next smallest penetration with 10.2 million users of the pair compared with a potential 65 million smart device users in the country.

source: Flurry via AppleInsider

Flurry says Android and iOS combine to own 55% of the U.S. smart device market

More problems for RIM as BBM Canada sues over abbreviation of BlackBerry Messenger

For as long as many can remember, BlackBerry Messenger has been known by the abbreviation BBM. Now, a broadcasting trade body known as BBM Canada, is suing RIM for using the BBM abbreviation. RIM has already responded to the suit by saying that it cannot be allowed to continue because both firms are in different industries. RIM told Canadian paper The Globe and Mail that "The services associated with RIM’s BBM offering clearly do not overlap with BBM Canada’s services and the two marks are therefore eligible to co-exist under Canadian trademark law."

BBM Canada dates back to 1944 and sells data analysis to broadcasters. The company says its employees are always confused with RIM employees because of the use of the BBM abbreviation for BlackBerry Messenger. And because the company uses smartphone apps to collect  some of its data, BBM Canada says that its business is not that far off from RIM's business.

RIM, which does promote its messenger service as BBM, attempted to get a trademark for the BBM abbreviation in October 2009. BBM Canada says that the smartphone manufacturer was rejected. And perhaps this wouldn't seem like such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that the BlackBerry Messenger service is one of the few features on BlackBerry phones that keeps certain users from jumping to the competition like Android or the Apple iPhone. RIM has even allowed developers to integrate the free service with some apps.

This is the second legal action taken against RIM for three letters of the alphabet. Recently, RIM had to change the name of its new OS from BBX to BlackBerry 10 as the BBX name was being used by Basis International and the latter's complaint was upheld in court. If you're Mike Lazaridis or Jim Balsillie, the ball can't fall in Times Square fast enough.

source: MocoNews

JJ Abrams iOS app adds explosive special effects to your videos

JJ Abrams has been involved in some of the most popular television shows and movies of recent times. For example, LOST became a megahit for ABC. On the giant screen, Abrams was involved in Cloverfield,the movie that took Blair Witch one step further with its camcorder type feel. Abrams was also involved in the latest Star Trek film, you know, ther one where the real Spock Leonard Nimoy had a cameo at the end.

Now Abrams in turning over the director's chair to you with his Action Movie FX app for iOS.The app is free and lets you insert some explosvie special effects into any video shot inside the app. There are two free selections, Missile Attack! and Car Smash. There are four more effects, Tornado and Chopper Down, Air Strike and Fire Fight which are available in units of two for 99 cents when purchased in-app. Other effects will soon be coming.

source: MacRumors

Santa loves Siri ad considered the most effective U.S. spot of the holiday season

According to Ace Metrix, a company that analyzes the effectiveness of television advertising, Apple's spot showing Santa using Siri was called the most effective commercial of the season in the States. We recently reported on the ad, showing how Santa asked Siri for directions, weather conditions, info on his new email and a look at his 3.7 billion appointments. If you missed the story, we will allow you this one indiscretion as we have posted the ad one more time, below.

The ad carried the Cupertino based firm ahead of some other companies that are known for their holiday ads such as Pillsbury, Coca-Cola and Nintendo. Out of a perfect score of 950, the Apple iPhone 4S ad scored 652 in a scoring system that measures "ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV ads.” That score was 8% higher than the average received by other ads in the tech category.

While ads for Apple products have not reached the point where they make viewers cry, the tech giant is known for some of its spots over the years including the famous 1984 Mac ad from the Super Bowl, the Think Different ads and the original Apple iPhone Hello spot. Ironically, the late Steve Jobs originally hated the Think Different campaign although the late Apple co-founder eventually had a change in heart.

Ace Metrix's scores come from randomly selected viewers, which it says are "representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience."

source: GigaOM via MobileSyrup

Sony plans on serving Ice Cream Sandwich to Tablets S and P

For those who have purchased Sony's Tablet S or Tablet P, we have an early Xmas present for you. The Japanese based manufacturer has announced that both tablets will be receiving Android 4.0. While the timing on either update was not  revealed, Sony did say that it has released the Software Development Kit for Tablet P.

Of the two tablets, the Sony Tablet S is the more traditional of the two with a 9.4 inch screen offering resolution of 1280 x 800. An NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor is under the hood with 16GB or 32GB of native storage aboard. That total can be increased through the use of a 32GB microSD card. A 5MP camera on the back captures video at 720p at 30 fps. There is a .3MP front facing camera for self portraits and video chat. Sony has just started shipping a 3G model of this tablet, priced at 100GBP more than the Wi-Fi only model. Android 3.1 is installed. We would expect Sony to make this variant available in the States for about $100 more than the current price of $499 for the 16GB model and $599 for the 32GB unit. The 3G version is shipped with a slot for a SIM card. The Sony Tablet S was the device used by the Pope to light up the world's largest Christmas tree earlier this month.

The Tablet P has a clamshell form factor, which is certainly unusual for a tablet, and is equipped with two screens. The screens are 5.5 inches each with resolution of 1024 x 480. Powered by the same NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor that runs the Sony Tablet S, 4GB of built inb storage can be pumped up to 36GB with a microSD card. A 5MP camera is on back with the ability to take video at 720p at 30fps while the front facing camera comes in at .3MP. With Android 3.2 installed, this unique tablet has been released in the UK for 499.99GBP ($773USD) and is expected to eventually be offered by AT&T in the States in both a Wi-Fi and 4G LTE versions.

source: SonyUK via Phandroid

The Sony Tablet P (L) and the Sony Tablet S (R)

Companies institute policies to break ‘CrackBerry’ addiction

While mobile technology has enabled us the freedom to communicate from anywhere, the flip side is many people end up putting in endless time working when they should be enjoying some time away from the office. Several companies are taking a stand against the dreaded ‘CrackBerry’ addiction with some new company policies that are aimed at giving workers a break.

German automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen, has implemented a new policy that will put employee’s BlackBerry emails into a blackout-mode outside of their workday. The device will only receive company communications half an hour before their shift begins to half an hour afterwards. While the new policy does not apply to board level executives, at least some people at VW will get some email-free time.

Similarly, a Telecommunications company known as Deutsche Telekon started a “Smart-Device-Policy” that relies on employees to claim communication-free time outside of their shifts. The program works by management making a promise that they will not expect employees to read e-mails or pick up the phone at all times outside of the workday.

Finally, Kasper Rorsted, the chief executive at Henkel, declared the week between Christmas and the New Year, ‘BlackBerry-Free Week’ for the management board. He said, “I don't want to have to read mails just because someone is bored somewhere and wants to show he's busy.”

source: Reuters

Nook gets access to Words With Friends, Twitter on the way

Soon you’ll be able to use your Nook to get kicked off a plane and tweet about it just like your favorite 30 Rock star, Alec Baldwin. Barnes & Nobel’s eReader tablet, the Nook, is working on increasing the availability of popular apps for the Nook Tablet and the Nook Color.

Words With Friends, the popular Scrabble-esque word game that Baldwin refused to stop playing that ultimately got him removed from his flight, is now available for the Nook. Barnes & Nobel is not stopping there. It has promised that Twitter will be available “soon” and Plants vs. Zombies and many more apps will be available to Nook owners in the coming year.

source: Mashable

Photos of the LG Fantasy have been leaked, expected to arrive Q1 2012

Already, we’ve seen HTC and Samsung coming strong with their batch of second-generations Windows Phones packing Mango, but we have yet to see anything coming to fruition from LG’s camp. Well, we did get a sneak peek at the LG Fantasy back in July in the form of a leaked rendered shot, but we haven’t seen or heard anything about it since then.

From the looks of it, the Windows Phone Mango smartphone is slowly coming around as actual in the wild photos of the handset have been snapped by an xda-developers member who claims to have hold of the device. Specifically, he claims that a Romanian tester sold him the smartphone, and as you can tell from the snapshots, they look identical to the rendered shot of the handset.

Based on what the buyer can see, he mentions that the device is packing a 4-inch IPS display and Windows Phone Mango. Aside from those two specifics, nothing else in terms of hardware is known – though, it’s expected to be a premium offering from LG.

As for a release time frame, it’s believed to become available sometime in Q1 2012, which means it can possibly launch somewhere between January and March – so let’s hope the wait is going to benefit the handset.

source: xda-developers via WMPoweruser

Porsche Design BlackBerry P’9981 now available in the UK

After the rumor mill started churning, RIM announced in October that the phone formally know as the BlackBerry Knight would be released later this year as the Porsche Design P’9981, although it was not specific about an actual date or price.

According to T3, UK luxury retailer, Harrods, will be carrying the device in December. With January quickly approaching, it should be only a few days until this expensive product from the marriage between RIM and Porsche is available. How expensive you ask? This gem will run you £1,275, which is about $1,998 US.

The Porsche Design BlackBerry P’9981 is slated to be running a 1.2GHz processor, 768 MB RAM, 5-megapixel camera, 720p camcorder, and have 8 GB of on-board storage. With Porsche taking care of the exterior, the P’9981 will be wrapped in brushed metal with a leather back. Todd Wood, Senior VP of Industrial Design at RIM, said, “The Porsche Design P’9981 is a truly modern luxury smartphone, where the timeless style of Porsche Design meets the unmatched mobile experience provided by BlackBerry.”

UPDATED: We just spoke directly with Harrods, and have been informed that the device is available now. The representative said the device is in very high demand and is selling fast. They have it available in English and Arabic and are able to take orders over the phone or in the store. It is not available on the Harrods’ website at this time.

source: T3

Check out our BlackBerry Storefront for RIM deals.

Real Racing 2 arrives on Android

When it comes to apps and especially games, the App Store is still the best place to go. But all those Android fans looking for one of the best racing games on a mobile device, can now rush to the Android Market because EA has finally released Real Racing 2 on Android. The game has only been on Android’s app catalog for a couple of days, but has already managed to register huge interest.

While currently, Real Racing 2 is discounted to only a dollar on the App Store, on Android you get it for free. But there’s a catch - EA is testing its freemium model with this title so you’d only be able to play it for a while until the trial runs out and then you can only continue playing after an in-app purchase.

The requirements for Real Racing 2 on Android are pretty soft: you only need Android 2.1 Eclair, but of course a contemporary chip will make those frames run smoother. The game itself is a pretty heavy download - at around 600MB you’d better be connected to a Wi-Fi network or you can get charged heavily in the worst case and even in the best case you’d still have to wait for a long time for the download to finish.

Check out the video of the game to make up your mind and the link below will lead you straight to the market, so enjoy!

Download Real Racing 2 on Android [Android Market link]

via GSM Arena

Acer pulling back its touch device efforts

Acer may be looking to significantly reduce its tablet and smartphone offerings. In a recent report by the Economic Daily News in Taiwan, the company reported that it will be dropping its touch business group and relocating half of its 300 research and development personnel to other divisions within the company. Acer said it would not be abolishing its smartphone and tablet teams completely, but would be cutting the teams down to 30 and 70 people, respectively.

While Acer, who is most known for its PC business, has not been privy to much success on the tablet and smartphone fronts, it is still rumored that it will announce the next version if its ICONIA tablet either before or at this year’s CES in January. It remains to be seen how ambition Acer will continue to be in this market. Chances are, that will depend on the success or failure of the ICONIA.

source: UDN via Electronista