Mobile phone competition fall short to keep up with iOS, Android

Smartphones running Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android operating system are outshining the rest of the smartphone market, says a new report from market researcher IDC. Both Android and iOS have seen their share of the smartphone market grow progressively over the last twelve months, with Android accounting for 59% of the smartphone market and iOS 23%. During the first quarter of 2011 Android and iOS accounted for a combined share of 54.4%.

"The popularity of Android and iOS stems from a combination of factors that the competition has struggled to keep up with," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends program. "Neither Android nor iOS were the first to market with some of these features, but the way they made the smartphone experience intuitive and seamless has quickly earned a massive following."

Previous market leader Symbian saw a sharp decline over the last year as Nokia transitioned to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. BlackBerry was also on a downwards spiral falling from 13.6% of the market in 2011 to 6.1% in 2012.

While Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile currently accounts for just 2.2% of the market, the platform is expected to show moderately increased growth in the latter half of the year and beyond as both Nokia and Microsoft boost WP7 sales volumes. IDC notes that platform growth will be slow until “Nokia speeds the cadence of its smartphone releases or more vendors launch their own Windows Phone-powered smartphones.”

A separate report from analyst firm ABI Research suggests shipments of “phablets” -- devices that are bigger than smartphones but smaller than tablets -- such as the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Note will exceed 208 million units globally by 2015.

“One of the chief drivers for phablets is the amount of time people use their smartphones for web browsing, reading articles and newspapers on the go, or simply navigating their journeys,” says senior ABI analyst Joshua Flood. “The larger screen sizes make a significant difference to the user’s experience when compared to conventional-sized touchscreens between 3.5 to 4 inches.” Additionally, new phablet-styled devices provide an attractive two-in-one device proposition and are beginning to see the competition between these larger smartphone form factors and smaller media tablets (less than seven inches)."

'Cisco' Requires Its Mounds, Keeps Creating Movie Conference Tools

Cisco Techniques possessed up to some miscalculations in its video cooperation technique but revealed off some ensuring upcoming abilities in a briefing with press this weeks time. The organization's video meeting company is best known for its TelePresence Conference Techniques, especially the high-profile three-screen meeting locations offering Cisco-designed fixtures and price tons of money. But 'cisco' is now looking beyond those trendy conditions toward cellular phones that can carry video events to members wherever they are.

One foundation developed as aspect of that technique, the organization's Android-based Cius product, has been cut from upcoming growth programs, said Robert O'Sullivan, mature v. p. and gm of the Collaboration Technological innovation Team, during the briefing at 'cisco' on Friday mid-day. 'cisco' mentioned the shift in a short article later on Friday. The Cius will still be available for organizations that particularly want a program released and firmly managed by the IT division, but 'cisco' won't be developing more type aspects for the foundation, O'Sullivan said.

Cisco now recognizes most organizations let workers carry their own pills to perform, stating its own study that said 95 % of organizations have a BYOD (bring your own device) plan.

"When we discuss to them about the Cius product, they say, we really like the cooperation encounter on Cius, but can you please take that program and put it on other devices?" O'Sullivan said.

"Our way of the long run is all about program," O'Sullivan said.

The next section in that force is a new customer for Jabber, Cisco's speech, video, instant-messaging and existence foundation, arriving September. Jabber customers are already available for Apple company iOS and for Analysis In Motion's BlackBerry foundation, as well as Microsoft windows PCs, and will soon come out for common Operating program pills, he said.

The new Jabber customer will allow customers to take video calling on PCs, pills and 'cisco' TelePresence systems and exchange the calling from one foundation to another. 'cisco' APIs (application coding interfaces) allow Jabber features to be incorporated into Ms Perspective so customers can discover associates and begin Jabber calling from Perspective, and this incorporation will be extended in the new editions.

At the briefing, 'cisco' confirmed Jabber classes being shifted among different systems. It also revealed customers of third-party video conferencing systems, such as Ms Lync and a Polycom HDX program, becoming complete members in a 'cisco' TelePresence meeting. Cisco's addition of industry requirements such as SIP (Session Start Protocol), H.323 and H.264 create this possible, the organization said.

The full-scale TelePresence foundation is still walking ahead despite the new focus on providing in different customers. And real-time interpretation of telepresence events is returning on Cisco's map. In overdue 2008, 'cisco' video primary Marthin De Alcohol said that he predicted that function to go available with 20 dialects in the second 50 % of 2009. But a season later, 'cisco' said the body precision wasn't great enough and the organization didn't even have a prediction for when it would go available.

Cisco is still operating on it, said De Alcohol, now mature v. p. of Cisco's Movie and Collaboration Team.

"It's arriving along. It's not quite real-time yet," De Alcohol said. "It's a little bit too costly still to do that and the technology's not ... mastered enough." But De Alcohol once again desires the function to be over the counter available within a season or two. 'cisco' does provide interpretation of a registered meeting within a few moments, he said.

The 'cisco' TelePresence systems already set up in organizations are being used about six time per day on regular, De Alcohol said. But new cellular video alternatives may be injuring another company 'cisco' once marketed as a big prospective industry, of video conferencing packages for lease in resorts and air-ports, he said.

"It is being used. It has not gone persistent, it has not gone big," De Alcohol said. "We've marketed probably a large number of systems in that area." The Marriott resort cycle has set up packages in several of its places, he said. But the accommodations, which in some situations were costing 100's of money hourly, may not be necessary down the line. "Now that video becomes persistent on your iPad, on your mobile phone and your PC, maybe that use situation will actually reduce," De Alcohol said.