The best-selling smartphone in the world is no longer an iPhone.

The best-selling smartphone in the world is no longer an iPhone.

New data released on Thursday by market research firm Strategy Analytics finds that Samsung’s Galaxy S III was the world’s top-selling smartphone model in the third quarter this year, displacing Apple’s iPhone for the first time in years.

Samsung announced earlier this week that cumulative Galaxy S III channel sales reached the 30 million unit milestone and according to Strategy Analytics, 18 million of those were shipped in Q3 2012. During the same period, Apple shipped an estimated 16.2 million iPhone 4S handsets, slipping into the No.2 spot for the quarter.

 

“Samsung’s Galaxy S3 smartphone model shipped 18.0 million units worldwide during the third quarter of 2012,” said Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Shah. “The Galaxy S3 captured an impressive 11 percent share of all smartphones shipped globally and it has become the world’s best-selling smartphone model for the first time ever. A large touchscreen design, extensive distribution across dozens of countries, and generous operator subsidies have been among the main causes of the Galaxy S3’s success. Apple shipped an estimated 16.2 million iPhone 4S units worldwide for second place, as consumers temporarily held off purchases in anticipation of a widely expected iPhone 5 upgrade at the end of the quarter.”

Samsung’s time at the top will be short-lived however, as Apple’s iPhone 5 is expected to regain the title to top-selling smartphone in the December quarter. ”Samsung’s Galaxy S3 has proven wildly popular with consumers and operators across North America, Europe and Asia,” Shah’s colleague Neil Mawtson stated. “However, the Galaxy S3’s position as the world’s best-selling smartphone model is likely to be short-lived. The Apple iPhone 5 has gotten off to a solid start already with an estimated 6.0 million units shipped globally during Q3 2012. We expect the new iPhone 5 to out-ship Samsung’s Galaxy S3 in the coming fourth quarter of 2012 and Apple should soon reclaim the title of the world’s most popular smartphone model.”

Exclusive: Microsoft Office for iPhone, iPad, and Android revealed

Microsoft’s Office for iPad, iPhone, and Android is a reality. Although Office Mobile has been rumored and reportedly spotted in the wild, Microsoft has remained persistently quiet about its plans for the product.
Now it sounds like the company will release Office versions for Android and iOS in early 2013.

Office Mobile will debut in the form of free apps that allow Android and iOS users to view Microsoft Office documents on the move. Like the existing SkyDrive and OneNote apps, Office Mobile will require a Microsoft account. On first launch, a Microsoft account will provide access to the basic viewing functionality in the apps. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents will all be supported, and edit functionality can be enabled with an Office 365 subscription.

Microsoft will allow iOS users to purchase an Office 365 subscription within the app, or let organizations distribute codes to enable Office Mobile editing for users. The apps will allow for basic editing, but we’re told this won’t go very far in attempting to replace regular full use of a desktop Office version.

It’s real and it’s coming to iOS first

A recent Microsoft press release from the company’s Czech Republic subsidiary revealed that Office Mobile apps for Android and iOS would be made available from March 2013. We understand that Office Mobile for iOS will arrive first in late February or early March, with an Android version due in May.

We reached out to Microsoft for comment on this story and a company spokesperson says “Office will work across Windows Phone, iOS and Android.”

— reposted from http://mobile.theverge.com/2012/11/7/3612422/microsoft-office-mobile-ipad-iphone-android-screenshots

Followup to the map fiasco

I read a post on Apple.com where the CEO just apologised for the map fiasco:

To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO

Interesting to say the least.

I did not expect to hear him suggesting that upset iPhone owners try other mapping applications such as the web version of Google Maps.

Why did Apple ditich Google maps?

Why did Apple ditich Google maps?

I like my iPhone.  I like Google Maps.  I don’t like the fact that they dumped my map app in iOS6 and gave me a replacement I didn’t ask for.  Now, maybe I will learn to like it over time, but that has not happened yet.

Why did they do it?

I read an article this morning linked to from a facebook post  The real issue about Apple maps which claims the following:

The key thing in the maps situation is what this move says about Apple and the kind of company it has become.

As Roger Kay points out on Forbes:

Does Apple care that its naked self interest is showing? Not at all, near as I can tell. Apple has always had disdain for what others think, even — no, especially — customers.

However, for a potential customer on the cusp of deciding whether to buy an Apple or an Android phone, this blatantly dishonorable move — to take away from consumers something that they liked and put in its place a home-grown but inferior substitute — is likely to push them definitively into the Google camp.

But I don’t buy that explanation.  I think this “review” is pretty biased. Yes the maps issue needs to be dealt with and improved.

Sometimes companies have to make decisions that are business based, not driven by customers, it happens.

But I think this guy goes overboard and makes it sound like every decision Apple makes is that way, which I think is wrong.

I am a firm believer in the design aspects of apple and they spend a lot of effort with end users making sure the products work the way people need, and then they just work so well you don’t notice them.

 

I read an alternate theory as well this morning, that I gives the correct answer:

Despite having one more year to the contract,  It turns out the answer is turn-by-turn voice navigation.

It wasn’t a feature in the original Apple-Google licensing agreement, so Apple went back to Google to renegotiate what has become a top-tier feature on Android.

Apple wanted it.  In return, Google wanted increased branding in the maps app and Apple refused)

Or else they required Apple to integrate Lattitude (Google’s FourSquare competitor), to which Apple refused as well.

As a result Apple was forced to seek other sources in order to obtain this feature.

This sounds a lot more plausable to me, so I am picking that answer.

iPhone5 gets a thumbs up from Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports, the influential reviewers’ group that blasted the iPhone 4 for a faulty antenna, on Friday gave Apple Inc’s latest smartphone a thumbs-up despite echoing widespread complaints about its patchy mapping service.

In a review for Reuters, Edwin Chan wrote:

The organization, which in 2010 withheld its recommendation for the iPhone because of spotty reception when the gadget was held in a certain way, said laboratory tests confirmed that the new iPhone 5 ranked among the best smartphones but its mapping function clearly fell short.

Apple’s latest iPhone, sporting a larger 4-inch screen and 4G capability, drew scathing reviews for glaring errors in a new, self-designed mapping service. Chief Executive Tim Cook apologized last week and directed users to rival services run by Google Inc and others.

“Despite the widespread criticism it has received, Apple’s new Maps app… is competent enough, even if it falls short of what’s available for free on many other phones,” reviewer Mike Gikas wrote on the group’s website on Friday.

“As Apple has recently apologized and promised to fix these and other map glitches, we expect the Map app to improve in time,” he wrote

And Mike Gikas went on to say:

“Now that our auto experts have completed their tests, including some carried out some days after the launch, they describe the app as relatively streamlined, and concluded that it generally provides clear guidance, including voice and on-screen directions,” Gikas wrote.

So, it is not all bad news from Apple.  Having said that, I am hearing rumours that there may details about a camera problem emerging…   more on that soon.