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.”

The google book suit is over

After seven long years of litigation, Google Inc. and the Association of American Publishers have reached an agreement to settle over the search giant’s book-scanning project, which will allow publishers to choose whether or not they want their books, journals and publications digitized by Google and accessed via its Google Library Project.

The agreement, according to the two companies, acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright holders, so U.S. publishers can choose to remove their books and journals digitized by Google for its Library Project, or choose to keep their publications available.

For those that keep their works online with Google, those publishers will be able to keep a digital copy for their own use and sell their publications via the Google Play marketplace.

But Thursday’s settlement does not affect Google’s current litigation with the Authors Guild.

“Google continues to profit from its use of millions of copyright-protected books without regard to authors’ rights, and our class-action lawsuit on behalf of U.S. authors continues,” Paul Aiken, executive director, Authors Guild said

Google was sued in 2005 by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers for violating copyright laws, but reached an earlier settlement by agreeing to pay $125 million to people whose copyrighted books have been scanned, and to locate and share revenue with the authors who have yet to come forward.

But critics contended the settlement gave Google an unfair competitive advantage. A federal court agreed, and rejected the earlier settlement.

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.