Is Google Android set to Overtake Apple iPhone?

admin    8615     Android, Apple, google, iPhone, Overtake

Is Google Android set to Overtake Apple iPhone?

While Apple’s iPhone and its proprietary iPhone operating system continues to lead in market share, Google’s approach is proving to gain them ground at breakneck speed with its open source Android OS, according to reports this month from AdMob and ComScore. The smartphone wars are heating up, raising interesting questions about the future of the industry.
According to ComScore’s recent report, 45.4 million people in the United States were using iPhones in the 3 month period ending February 2010. This is a 21% increase from the period ending November 2009. Within this fast growing smartphone market, RIM maintains a commanding lead with over 42% share. The interesting development however, is that the use of smartphones using Google’s Android OS have grown by 5.2% in the period ending February 2010, while Microsoft, Apple and Palm OS lost ground. Microsoft lost 4% to Google while Apple and Palm lost 0.01% and 1.8% respectively.

One factor when considering Google Android’s fast paced adoption is that Google has not restricted itself to a single smartphone device. Android ships with 34 different devices from 12 manufacturers, while Apple just has the iPhone series. It makes sense that an open source smartphone OS being shipped on so many devices would eventually overtake its proprietary counterparts. Also, because Android is open source, the number of applications being developed for it is taking place at break neck speed with 50,000 in under 2 years and counting. The open source approach enables more inclusiveness as far as application development goes, unlike iPhone and Microsoft’s requirement for a developer to purchase a license to create apps for their mobile operating systems. All third party applications for the iPhone can only be downloaded and installed via Apple’s online iStore. The open source alternative is not as strictly centralised and therefore offers more choice to users.

So what does a big mobile phone market player do when faced with potential domination by an open source competitor? They sue for breaching patents that’s what. Apple has already gone after Google’s partner on the Nexus One smartphone, HTC for breach of patents held by Apple. Sources within Microsoft have also now made gestures that Android breaches some of their patents. With a market as large as mobile phones, it may be that the winner will be decided in a court room. In any case, these developments show evidence that Apple and Microsoft feel threatened by Google’s impact on the mobile market.

AWD Stays on top of emerging trends in the IT industry. That’s why you can rely on us to help you with your business IT infrastructure. AWD’s technical support staff are available to assist with security as well as general configuration of your company mobile phones to ensure the best business outcomes.

Mobile browsing to overtake browsing on PCs

admin    8615     Browsing, Mobile, Overtake

Mobile browsing to overtake browsing on PCs

It’s a well established belief that by 2014 more users will access the Internet using mobile devices than via desktop PCs.

Whilst this is good news for network service providers, handset manufacturers and software developers, it is likely that new winners will emerge, some incumbents will thrive or survive, but many past winners may falter.

There are 5 five IP-based products and services driving this high mobile Internet usage;

1. Social networking   2. 3G network adoption  3. Video   4. VoIP (voice over IP)  5. Technically advanced mobile devices

As BlackBerry, iPhones and similar devices encourage 3G adoption and growing consumer use, of a range of IP-based usage models over various mobile devices, it looks possible that smartphone sales are set to surpass the global notebook and netbook market in 2010, and to surpass the overall globall PC market in 2012.

There is no doubt that Apple and Facebook are current leaders in creating platforms that have changed how people connect and communicate online, but future changes will be driven globally. Additionally, young but experienced industry players who have something to prove are expected to be key operators.

Many ‘tech-savvy’ sorts had Apples’s new tablet product on their ‘must buy’ lists, even before knowing the features, price or launch date. They just know they love Apple products, and they believe it will be a transformative product they simply must have. This is an example of the strength of Apple’s brand loyalty amongst its customers, which is second to none. Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM and others are aiming to transform how communications works, how entertainment and news are distributed, how goods and services are purchased … and how we control all this stuff from the ever-expanding, rechargeable remote controls we carry in our hands.  As far as business mobile communications are concerned, maintaining readily manageable central control will always be a key issue.

While Apple is poised to be a short-term winner, in the longer term it looks like Google’s Android open-source operating system, combined with clever device manufacturers, emerging markets competition and carrier limitations will pose challenges to Apple’s market share upside. BlackBerry from RIM [Research In Motion] may maintain the enterprise lead, thanks to its installed base and focus on providing business services, but certainly the long-term outlook is challenging.

Find More Tablet Pc Articles

Can Social Media Help Small Business Overtake Corporate America?

admin    Twitter Marketing     America, Business, Corporate, Help, Media, Overtake, Small, Social

A movement is brewing across the internet. The hard costs of marketing are plummeting. Money’s role in marketing success, while still important, is now secondary to time, expertise and agility.  To succeed, companies able to make quick decisions, share openly and create remarkable content fast will win, regardless of size. 

Perception is Reality – Can Social Media make your Business Stand Taller?

Before the internet leveled the playing field for marketers, targeted marketing and advertising were the realm of large companies with big budgets.  Brand and reach were the metrics that marketers cared about.  Then the internet came along.  Initially it was still the realm of big companies who were willing to spend a lot on flashy websites and paid banner campaigns.  The advent of inbound and social media marketing have exposed new levers in the still young internet marketing industry.

In the wild of nature, many animals use spines, fur and feathers to create the optical illusion of size and ferocity.  In the internet wild, small companies have so many new tools available to them to put a face forward that is professional and fierce.  I was reminded of this during a weekend walk in my Austin neighborhood where a small colony of wild peacocks lives.  An albino peacock thought I was a threat and went from petite to grandiose in a matter of seconds!

What does this have to do with social media?

That peacock brought to mind the concept of leverage and how the internet provides small businesses an amazing tool to leverage the assets they have to play with the big boys. 

Truly, as a small business with limited budget, what non-monetary assets do you have? 

What are the conceptual feathers you’ve got that can help you get more attention on the web?

• Agility and willingness to learn
• Industry specific know-how & skills
• Industry and local relationships

You’d be surprised at how much you can do with those assets.

Many big businesses just aren’t fast enough to listen to and act upon what the market is telling them.  Your small business should be listening to the social media mentions related to your industry to find out what pain points aren’t being addressed, engage with the community and collaborate on ways to solve those problems.

You are a source of knowledge in your space where inevitably, someone is looking for answers.  Be among the earliest to share your knowledge freely and develop a devoted following of potential customers who will eventually look to you for not only answers, but also products and services.

Take your existing relationships online.  If your industry isn’t at the forefront of internet technology, that’s ok.  Start small and be the one to start that innovation; you might find others looking to you for advice as an entire generation grows up online and will expect every industry there in the future.

According to social media marketing best practices research done by Marketing Sherpa you aren’t too late.  Across businesses of all sizes, less than 30% have a formal process around any aspect of social media marketing.  Embrace your size and agility to make 2010 the year you compete with the big boys just like Orchestra LLC, a software and services company that embraced inbound marketing just last year.

Social Media Leverage in Action – Plumage in Real Life

A combination of industry knowledge, social media engagement and a bit of serendipity let Brad Windecker and the team at Orchestra LLC take advantage of this optical illusion. 

The Orchestra team had been blogging, tweeting and interacting on industry specific forums where potential customers and peers congregate.  One of Orchestra’s tweets was re-tweeted by someone at a big software company and eventually got picked up by the editor of an influential industry newsletter.  That editor reached out to Orchestra to find out if they could republish the small company’s content in their newsletter.  Inclusion in a newsletter that was typically full of content from big companies, this small software and services player looked like a major player. 

While that’s nice, the real upshot of that serendipitous newsletter inclusion is that Orchestra scored a lot of new site visitors, blog readers, and several leads that have led to the final stages of a deal that would pay for their inbound marketing efforts for months over.

Social Media & Inbound Marketing Level the Playing Field

Now, after less than a year of inbound marketing, Orchestra has amassed more than 20,000 YouTube views, 30,000 views on Ulitzer/SYSCON and 1,000+ content tweets. 

That is a lot by many big company standards. 

Brad, Orchestra’s CEO, is getting invited to industry events and conferences to talk about his use of social media and the company’s best practices in software consulting.  These events help Orchestra continue to portray a larger than life image just as they grow and build the business to compete in an arena oft-dominated by big corporations.  These are the types of opportunities that were reserved for an inner circle before social media and inbound marketing on the web leveled the playing field.

How can you use your knowledge and creativity to power inbound marketing initiatives that will let you compete with the big names in your space?  Do you have what it takes to walk big and bold like a peacock?

Find out if how Brad and the Orchestra team made it happen during the free HubSpot Case Study Webinar: Orchestra Delivers New Sales with Social Media next Friday, April 9^th at 12PM EST.

Connect with HubSpot:

View full post on HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog