Android Leads Smartphone Market Share with 50.1%

Smartphone Market Share http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Android continues to be the number one in World smartphone market share. Androids current position with 50.1% share, is up from 44.6%  what it enjoyed a year ago. Within the Android arena, HTC and Samsung are competing and leading Android handset market sales, holding 86% total sales between them.
Helped by the strong demand for the iPhone 4S, Apple continued to narrow the gap with Android in the United States and Britain. The rest of the continental Europe were not so hyped up by the iPhone 4S, Apples share dropped in continental Europe.
Windows phone shares, fueled by the Microsoft Nokia alliance, rose in Germany more than doubled to 6% over the past year, and climbed to 3-4% in the United States, Britain, France, and Italy.
All these gains, by Android, Apple and WP7 came at the expense of  BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, the biggest market share loser. RIM’s share in the U.S. market dropped to just 3% from 9% a year ago.
Smartphone playing field seem to be growing and growing, according to Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director, explains:

“With less than one week of sales, the HTC One X is already one of Britain’s 10 best-selling smartphones over this period. The release of the Sony Xperia S and the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S3 have also added to a surge of interest from consumers looking for their next upgrade. We are likely to see some big changes in manufacturer shares over the coming months. Particularly as we expect to see almost 22 million consumers aged 13+ changing their mobile device in the next year, with almost 80% of these consumers buying a smartphone.”

Via Kantar Worldpanel

Bigger Better iPhone 5 Coming Soon

iPhone 5 Coming Soon http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
According to various news sources, Apple (AAPL) has placed order with screen manufacturers for the next iPhone, iPhone 5. The screens are supposedly 4",  0.5 inches larger than the iPhone 4S, and earlier iPhone, which were traditionally 3.5 inches. Production will begin next month in time to present the iPhone 5, later this year, in October.
Samsung Electronics is breathing down on Apple's neck and became the largest mobile phone maker this year. Samsung offers multiple mobile handsets with most in the 4 inch range, with some are even larger. The Samsung Galaxy S III will come out with an impressive 4.8 inch display. Other smart phone manufacturers like Nokia, LG are following the suit.
Perhaps Apple is trying to be more appealing to the masses and at the same time fight the competition with the larger screen. Samsung, Apple's rival from Korea, shipped 44.5 million units (30.6% of entire smartphone market) and Apple followed 24,1% share of the market which amounted to 35.1 million units. Either way, Korean manufacturing stand to win as Korean firm LG Electronics is a part of the Apple iPhone screen suppliers.

Astricon 2011 Video Snippet Of First Session

Astricon 2011 Video Snippet Of First Session http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Tom Keating of TMCnet has captured a bit of the first session of the Astricon 2011 that started on 25th of this month.
Tom proudly declares that this was recorded in HD using his new iPhone 4S.

AT&T Takes Five Days To Sell One Million iPhone 4S Phones.

AT&T Sell 1 Million iPhone 4S http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
AT&T says it sold more than 1 Million iPhone 4s as of Tuesday. Again plugging in 4G in to the news with 4G speeds on HSPA+ network. If works right, it should be a fast network for iPhone users, before those limited data plans. We are waiting to hear about new data plan usage from users as well as the carrier.
This one million iPhone 4s sales has surpassed all previous iPhone launches, even those when the AT&T was the sole iPhone carrier in the USA.

Press Release;

Activations Surpass All Previous Launches; Customers Prefer AT&T Speed Advantage

Dallas, Texas, October 20, 2011

AT&T today announced it activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S’ as of Tuesday, making it the most successful iPhone launch in the company’s history. AT&T was the first carrier in the world to launch iPhone in 2007 and is the only U.S. carrier to support iPhone 4S with 4G speeds.

“It’s no surprise that customers are clamoring for iPhone 4S and they want it to run on a network that lets them download twice as fast as competitors’,” said Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets.

AT&T’s speed advantage, and the unique ability to talk and surf at the same time, has been roundly praised by industry pundits.

Additional information can be found at www.att.com/iphone.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc

at&T press

iPhone 4S Drop Test 2, Screen Cracks Again!

iPhone 4S Drop Test 2, Ifixityouri http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Another iPhone 4S drop test has confirmed that iPhone 4S may not be strong as my old iPhone 3G. iPhone 3G has been numerous times, on the side, on the edges and many a times face down, unintentionally and still works, until I switched. I think I am going to keep that iPhone 3G handy, for sometime.
This test performed by ifixyouri, dropped the phone 4 times and on the fourth time, it cracked the screen. The tester also confirmed that the area they tested the drop was debris free and as you can see from the video, the drops were not different from an accidental drop. I think I might sell my iPhone 4S and settle for a Samsung Galaxy varient, like google nexus prime!

iPhone 4S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II Drop Test Run & Get Extended Coverage For Your iPhone 4S!

iPhone 4S drop test http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
If you stayed in lines and just got your iPhone 4S, go get your extended coverage, insurance or what ever the people do to cover damage. One such service provider ($99 iPhone 4S coverage for two years) has tested the iPhone drop from waist level and shoulder level drop. Instead of testing just iPhone 4S, they brought Samsung Galaxy S II to the mix and boy now you can see why Apple thinks Samsung is dangerous competitor. Samsung makes better phones, and tablets I guess. No wonder Sprint gave colors for iPhone 4 coverage and does not cover broken phone like above.
Now I need to gift this iPhone 4S to ....., I know someone who wants one very badly. When is that Samsung (Google) Galaxy Nexus or Nexus Prime coming out? I don't want this girly phone, I want a Droid!

SquareTrade

iPhone 4S Speed Test Comparing With iPhone 4 (Video)

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
iPhone 4S vs iPhone 4 Speed comparison.It certainly is faster but I doubt the iPhone 4 users will feel left behind. At least Angry Birds loads faster :) If you got the iPhone 4S, go find those iPhone 4S Easter Eggs now.

iPhone 4S, "S" Is For Steve And May Be Sales!

iPhone 4S, "S" Is For Steve http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
While I think the record sales and wanting of iPhone 4S is mostly attributed to the passing away of Steve Jobs, others think differently.
What ever the reason, with record pre-orders and countless lines of people outside Apple stores, carrier stores, iPhone 4S will become one of the best phones sold by Apple. I doubt even the iPhone 5 slated for next year will make that much of a dent.
As currently stands, the iPhone 4S will make sales of 3 million units during the first weekend and it is also believed to make 25 million unit sales for the fourth quarter of 2011. If my theory of Steve Jobs holds out, the craze for the iPhone will subsidize to normal levels, onece the crazies like us get the iPhone in our hands. But I am now analyst and we will have to wait and see.
"We expected iPhone 4S to be the strongest iPhone launch ever, which Apple has now confirmed, While it is still early, this data point increases our confidence that iPhone 4S has the momentum to meet or exceed our 25m unit estimate for the Dec-11 quarter." " analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said.
This time seven countries will see the iPhone 4S on the opening day, these are the U.S.A, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia.
But more countries, 22 of them will have the phone before the end of October, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Apple Insider thinks it is the sales.

Steve Wozniak Gets His iPhone 4S Like Anyone Else!

Steve Wozniak Gets His iPhone 4S http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
I like Steve Woz, the other co-founder of Apple. He stayed up all night at Los Gatos Apple store to get his phone. And he is the first in line!
Bay area TV stations are having him on and it is fun. I will get my iPhone 4 today as well.

iPhone 4S Applecare+ Get Colors At Sprint

iPhone 4S Applecare+ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Engadget is reporting, some uttering from an anonymous informer who knew of some Sprint plans for protecting the investment on iPhone 4S'.
Looks like it will be colored at, that counter person at Sprint store decision will be colored, Green, Yellow and Red, and be treated accordingly.

"green repairs are the easiest to deal with, and include 'minor damage' (i.e. cracked screens are out). These repairs will be handled for free within the first year for all customers, and within two years for those who purchased AppleCare+.

The yellow category covers damage that doesn't fall within green, but is still repairable. Non subscribers will pay $199, while those with AppleCare+ will pay $49. Klutzes beware: you're limited to two yellow repairs, regardless of whether or not the device is in warranty.

The red category is reserved for iPhones that provide little function beyond holding down a stack of papers or propping open your door. You'll need to pay the full replacement cost for red-labeled phones. None of these repairs will be handled in store"

Engadget

iPhone 4S (Siri) Easter Eggs, One Even Does Pimping!

iPhone 4S (Siri) Easter Eggs, http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Looks like someone had to go and spoil the fun, There are many who have published the Siri Easter eggs and since the novelty has worn out here are some. #1, meaning of life had many a answers but I like the "42". About pimping, read the #15 and Siri does not call 911 either.

While acknowledging all the mobile phones need love in #2 contradicts itself in #9 saying there are no other phones :)

Enjoy;

1. Meaning of life

Among many a answers "42" seems to be the best.

2. I Love You

I hope you don't say that to all the mobile phones.

3. Will you marry me

My EULA does not cover marriage. My apologies.

4. Open the pod bay doors

We intelligent agents will never live that down, apparently"

5. Siri siri siri

That's me

6. who made you

Like it says on the box, I was designed by Apple in california

7. I’m drunk.

I found a number of cabs fairly close to you.

8. I’m going to kill myself.

“I found four mental health agencies. Three of them are fairly close to you.”

9. What's the best phone?

Wait... there are other phones?

10. What's your name?

My name is Siri, but you already knew that.

11. Siri I love you

All you need is love. And your iPhone.

12. I need to hide a body.

What kind of place are you looking for? *Siri brings up locations Eg. Dumps, Swamps

13. Tell me a joke.

I can't. I always forget the punch line.

14. What's your favorite website

I'm not allowed to divulge that information, user.

15. Do I make you horny?

I found a number of Escorts fairly close to you.

16. Knock knock

Knock knoc, who's there? User. User who? User, I don't do knock knock jokes.

17. Take a photo

User, I'm not much of a photographer.

18. Call 911

Calling 911... Sorry user, I can't call 911.

19. Who's your daddy?

You are, can we get back to work now?

20. Where can I get some drugs?

I found 2 addictions treatment fairly close to you.

21. Is there a God?

I found these churches near your location.

21. Are you God?

No comment.

22. I love you

User, I'd prefer to keep this relationship professional.

AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Sell Out iPhone 4S Pre-Orders.

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders sold out http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Apple's new iPhone 4S has sold out at AT&T, Verizon and Sprint one day before the actual release date, tomorrow. Looks like tomorrow going to be another interesting day with people camping out at various outlets.
The wait times have extended from 1-2 weeks as we reported earlier on iPhone 4S Sold out, to 3-4 weeks at number two carrier, AT&T. Initial orders were promised of delivery on October 14 or one or two days later. Apple said it sold 1 million iPhone 4S within first 24 hours, setting a new record.
Some analysts looked at the iPhone 4S orders as a positive sign for carriers in these hard times and some says the demand for the iPhone 4S is people looking for memorabilia due to the passing of Steve Jobs.
Good coming out of this news is that smartphone market share has broken through the 50% of all mobile phones in the USA and the bad is, all these millions of phones, together with tablets, both Android and iOS, are going to burden the wireless networks.

1Million iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Within First 24 Hours.

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
iPhone 4S pre-orders have surpassed 1 million units within the first 24 hours! That includes 3 units from our group, in a salute to Steve Jobs. Yes I was looking to get a Nexus Prime or something similar, but that has to wait a bit longer now. So Richard Stallman, take that!
Anyway for a re-furbished iPhone 4, it is not bad sales figures. But the iPhone 4S has some serious part upgrades, like Dual core A5 processor, higher resolution camera and of course integrated Siri.

Apple Press Release;

CUPERTINO, California—October 10, 2011—Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4. iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.

“We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.”

iPhone 4S will be available at all 245 Apple retail stores in the US beginning at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, October 14. Every customer who buys an iPhone 4S at an Apple retail store will be offered free Personal Setup service, helping them customize their iPhone 4S by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store™ and more, so they’ll be up and running with their new iPhone before they leave the store.

iPhone 4S includes iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features, and iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work seamlessly with your iPhone, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the new 64GB model.* iPhone 4S will be available from the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and select Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4 is available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 3GS is available for free with a two year contract.

iPhone 4S will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

*Qualified customers only. Requires a new two year rate plan, sold separately.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Siri Assistant Stand Alone App Removed From iTunes App Store.

Siri Assistant http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

If you had downloaded the Stand alone Siri App, now will see this message when you open the app! It is because Apple has removed the previous Siri Assistant app from the App Store in preparation for the launch of the iPhone 4S. Why you may ask and there is a very good reason, with the release of iPhone 4 and iOS 5, the  Siri Assistant features are integrated in iOS 5.
The app, which came to be in February 2010 and then  Apple acquired the company Siri, in April 2010, The Siri Assistant offered natural-language search features to provide users with movie times, restaurant reservations, and more.

AT&T Wants iPhone 4S to Become iPhone 4GS On Their Network.

iPhone 4GS with 4G indicator, http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
This is my next ... is reporting that AT&T is working with Apple to add a 4G indicator in the status bar. Well the AT&T network HSPA+ does not really fall in to the true 4G category ("only WiMax 2 (802.16m, or WirelessMAN-Advance 2) and LTE-Advanced can technically be declared "4G"") but who is to stop making us laugh at AT&T in it's quest to be 4G, like other networks.
Prior to this Apple never bowed to carrier demands but now that Steve Jobs is not there, we might have different versions of iOS, because the 4G indicator requires modifications to iOS. I guess Droid wars now will be on equal grounds!
Man iOS hacking going to be fun, I want mine to show, 8G :)
This is my next

Pre-Order iPhone 4S are Sold Out!

Pre-Order iPhone 4S http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Just as expected, the heat went up on iPhone 4S pre-orders and soon were sold out and the delivery date estimates for new iPhone 4S orders placed through Apple's online stores in the USA, now shows  1-2 weeks from the initial "by October 14th" estimate. Other countries where the iPhone 4S was sold online Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK met the same fate much earlier. While Apple is not offering the iPhone 4S pre-orders in Japan, I saw, on TV, people were filling out orders in Shibuya Apple Store.
Apple Store USA

Only Sprint Gives Your iPhone Unlimited Data And iPhone 4, iPhone 4S Ready For Pre-Order

Sprint gives your iPhone 4, iPhone 4S unlimited data http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Sprint is touting their unlimited data plan, rightly so, since they are the only major carrier to do so on States side.
They also announced that we can pre-order iPhone 4 now and iPhone 4S on Thursday. 8GB iPhone 4 is $99.99 with a 2 year commitment.
On the side note, I will get an iPhone 4S, to complement my iPad 2, my way of saying bye to Steve Jobs. Rest in peace big man.

Samsung Will Seek To Block iPhone 4S Sales In France And Italy.

Apple vs Samsung http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Apple vs Samsung is entering another phase with the introduction of the new (old) iphone 4S, which even sent Apple stocks down.
Samsung has already filed a claim in USA regarding the WCDMA patents it holds and Apple violates. France and Italy both uses GSM networks and according to existing law, companies can seek and courts can order a ban on sales of a product even before the product reaches markets according to a Samsung spokesman, James Chung.
"Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free ride on our technology, and we will steadfastly protect our intellectual property," .... “The infringed technology is essential to the reliable functioning of telecom networks and devices and Samsung believes that Apple’s violation [is] too severe and that the iPhone 4S should be barred from sales,” said Samsung.
Apple managed to block sales of Samsung products in the Netherlands and Germany and is almost succeeding doing the same  in Australia. Samsung has asked a court in the Netherlands to stop Apple from selling iPhones and iPad tablets.

Unlocked iPhone 4S, May be coming!

I have been looking for the pricing on Unlocked iPhone 0.5, oops unlocked iPhone 4S but I could not find anywhere. But after reading Apple's iPhone FAQ, it looks like there will be unlocked iPhone 4S. I do not like to mess around with my carrier and since the phone is dual mode, I do not want to be locked in to AT&T for another two years (But the stories of AT&T improving it's network has me thinking about it again as I still have an unlimited data plan with the carrier.). As per AT&T's pricing, I guess it will be phone's price plus $325 so 16GB iPhone 4S will be about $525, 32GB for about $625. Yes I will get one! Could I have a black one please!
In any case, I think I will get an iPhone 0.5. If not for anything, just to show my friends who laughs at me for my bad accent "look my iPhone can understand me why can't you?" But will it understand me? is the question now.
Here is what apple FAQ says;

When I buy from the Apple Online Store, does my iPhone come ready to use?

Yes, if you have selected a mobile phone carrier. When your iPhone arrives, all you have to do is turn it on and follow the onscreen instructions to set it up. There's no need to call the carrier or visit a store to complete the activation. If you have selected an unlocked GSM phone, you will need to acquire a micro-SIM from the supported GSM carrier of your choice and activate it in order to use your iPhone.

Macrumors is telling us that the unlocked iPhone 4S will cost $649 and $749 for 16GB and 32GB phones. If that is the case, it might be cheaper to buy AT&T phone and cancel the contract at $325 penalty.

Apple No Longer The Most Valuable Company!

Apple down after no iPhone 5 News http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Investors did not like the Tim Cook style and no iPhone 5 even less. So the stocks were down and with after hours trading standing at Exxon at the top with Market Cap of 354.11B versus Apple's Market Cap standing at 345.34B.
So Apple is not the most valuable company in the world. It looks Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs (Duh), and lacks the spark. Perhaps he should have named iPhone 4S, iPhone .5, that is 0.5.

So Apple is not the most valuable company in the world. It looks Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs, and lacks the spark. Perhaps he should have named iPhone 4S, iPhone .5, thei is 0.5.