Smartphone Profitable, But Becoming Saturated; Analysts

Cell phones became popular a few years back, but they didn't reach the extreme height of popularity came with the launch of smartphones in 2007. That’s when the market really stated booming and it became a flood of smartphones. However, just like the rise came the fall or the semi-fall. It seems that the popularity might be waning just a little bit, especially of flagship phones that carry very expensive price tags. Analysts believe that this is really happening and the smartphone market has become saturated. They have cited the weaker than expected performance from the devices of HTC Corp and Samsung Electronics and also the entry of Apple Inc. in the low-level market that was deemed to be impossible.

The biggest example is that in the high-end market multiple devices have been introduced by Samsung that share almost the same and confusing names. In comparison, HTC is playing a very Apple-like game of releasing only one or two devices. That makes a total of 7 phones in the high-end market and based on the Android operating system. If we start counting all the smartphones that are based only on the Android ecosystem alone, it’s going to become a very huge list.

Apart from that, Nokia is launching its own take of smartphones that are based on the Windows Operating system. Hence, if slowdown is being experienced by HTC and Samsung then the analysts can only imagine the share of market possessed by Nokia, which is using the single-digit market share owned by the Windows Phone. Not only is this the situation, but there is another problem rising. There is intense competition in the flagship room where there are plenty of expensive smartphones. What’s more is that HTC, Apple, Samsung and other smartphone manufacturers also have to contend with the rising number of cheap smartphones.

Therefore, it’s unsurprising to discover that Nokia, Samsung and even Apple are competing in this space as well. According to the research carried out, expensive smartphones are gaining as much popularity in emerging markets. For instance, in most emerging markets like India and China, phones that have price tags between $150 to $300 are in great demand. This fact is known by the mobile manufacturers and they are designing phones accordingly. It has been said by analysts that there is no doubt that expensive phones are still desired by people.

However, manufacturers have to understand that if they wish to generate additional revenue, they will also have to participate in the cheap game. This means bad news for most smartphone companies, but it’s the worst for Apple. This means that the company will have to dump their super premium image if they want to retain the positivity in their profits. The smartphone market has become saturated for now and if things don’t pick up, it may eventually start declining even more severely. This could lead to heavy losses, especially for the small players in the market who have a lot riding on the smartphones and may end up going bankrupt.

About Author | TechBurgeon Team

The author is a Technology News Writer working and is associated with TechBurgeon.com.

Samsung to Launch Galaxy Tab 3 Line on July 7th

Samsung is going to launch its latest Galaxy Tab 3 line tablets in upcoming weeks, as per TechCrunch. The new devices will arrive in 3 different sizes 7.0, 8.0, and 10.1 inches varying in prices, The launch date is July 7th.

Features known so fare are a dual-core Intel processor with Z2560 1.6GHz, 1280x800 display, 1GB of RAM, along with a 6800mAh battery. Screen of Galaxy Tab 3 8.0's uses the same exact resolution as screen of 10.1” model, but comes with the dual-core Exynos 1.5GHz processor of Samsung, and 1.50 GB of RAM. Both the tablets have 16.0 GB of built-in storage and support of microSD card, a pair of cameras, and also they come with Android Jelly Bean (4.2) with TouchWiz.

Price of Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is going to be $399, and 8.0-inch tablet will cost $299. Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 utilizes a 1024 x 600 screen display, and it is equipped with a Marvell dual-core 1.20 GHz processor, 1.0 GB RAM, 8.0 rGB of internal storage plus an option to use microSD card. It is run on Android Jelly Bean4.1. The 7.0 tab will be priced at $199 at its launch.

All these Galaxy Tab 3.0 tablets, which will be Wi-Fi only and in brown and white, could be pre-ordered at various stores from tomorrow.

How to Download the Original Mobile App When There are So Many Sellers

Developing apps for the mobile phone is a business rapidly getting popular and is considered to be the most profitable business. This is true because according to a survey it is proven that apps development is a business of high scale. Apps distributors help the apps company to advertise and sell their products. So, they have a share in the price of the product. Below is some detail of mobile apps sales and downloading from different distributors:

• If we talk about the eBay, it has earned $600 million in 2009 while it reached $2 billion in 2012.
• Debenhams introduced android and Nokia apps and they earned £1M within the time of just 5 months of its launch and its downloading reached to 360, 000.
• Apple apps store opened on July 10 2008 and till the time January 2011, the apps downloading helped it make 10 billion USD. Apple app stores have even more than 700,000 apps available on their store and have 30 billion app download from their app stores.
• Blackberry app world is app store for Blackberry mobile phones. They are having the revenue of $9,166.67 per app as compared to the apple and the android having $6,480 and $1,200 respectively.
• Google play is offering 700,000 apps and the number of application downloads reached to the 25 billion till 2012.

This was a simple review but things are much more critical and data is very high. Every mobile user wants to approach the original mobile apps. They want exact app for their mobile, but a huge expulsion in the field of apps development makes it difficult for an inexperienced person or a new person to reach the original app. There are some tips to get access to the original app:

1. Firstly check the number of downloads of the mobile apps. A well known and original app has a good number of downloads. If a product has less than 100 downloads, you must think about it. 
2. Be sure that the apps developing company is not using template as compared to the original one.
3. The slandered apps have long time upgrade facility. The closed off apps are not reliable because they are not able to meet the requirement of the approaching time.
4. Try to use the apps of an app company which has made a good repute and is believed to work creatively and adjust the product according to users' budget. Some companies work quantitatively and not pay attention on quality. This is good for them not for the user.
5. Try to have some cross platform mobile applications. Cross platform means the apps which can work on more than one type of operating systems.

The Apps development is a new step of success in the progress of various companies. New minds and new ideas of the developers help introduce new apps every day in the app stores. There are many companies that come up with revolutionary apps very now and then. If you make a little effort, you can always easily find original apps for your phone.

Irish Tax Holiday A Boon For Apple From The Start

Based in Cupertino, California, Apple has had its offices in other countries as well, including Ireland. Since 1980, Apple has been able to carry out its operations without paying any tax. This is primarily due to the fact that the government of Ireland was keen to bring jobs in the country. Ireland had been included in the list of one of the poorest countries of Europe, according to the Irish officials and former executives.

Criticism was faced by chief executive of Apple Inc. Tim Cook from a Senate subcommittee over the tax practices of the iPad and iPhone maker. The company’s practices had been shrouded from public view because of the other corporate entities that are secretive and tax-exempt. One of the top multinational employers of Ireland, Apple denied the allegations that it had avoided paying billions of dollars in the form of US taxes. Instead, the company said that various research jobs had been funded in the United States, all thanks to the iPhone maker.

However, it was revealed by the Senate committee that the Irish companies of Apple were not tax resident in any jurisdiction and therefore, the company was not paying any tax on most of its overseas earnings in the past few years. The chairman of subcommittee, Senator Carl Levin stated that ‘Holy Grail of tax Avoidance’ had been created by the company.  A former executive of the company and the Irish officials said that the iPhone maker had enjoyed this status of being tax free in Ireland since it entered the country almost thirty-two years ago. For both Cork and Ireland, Apple may have seemed extremely attractive.

This is due to the fact that the unemployment in Cork had been on the rise and its economy was under huge threat. Apple’s staff had had the habit of having meals together in the early days of the company. Now, Apple has become the biggest multinational employer of Ireland and employs around 4000 people. The Vice President of Apple in the 1980s said that the tax concessions for going to Ireland had been very lucrative. Another executive said that for the first 10 years, the company had enjoyed a tax holiday and had not paid any tax at all. Nevertheless, Apple wasn’t the first company to get this concession, although it did take advantage of it the most.

Apple Inc., on the other hand, has stated that it pays all its tax dues in whichever country it operates. Furthermore, the company declined to make any comment on its tax treatment in the 1980s. Payment of tax had become compulsory for companies in Ireland in 1980, but at a lower rate. Regardless, the investment of Apple Inc. had proved to be a major coup for the country because it had been suffering from low rates of employment. Low wage rates of workers were another attractive factor for the American firm.

BlackBerry Q10 Sold Out in Britain and Canada; Analyst!

Formerly known as Research in Motion Ltd, BlackBerry Ltd is a Canadian wireless and telecommunication equipment company, which is well-known all over the globe because of its BlackBerry line of smartphones. The company was once a pioneer in the smartphone industry and its devices were in high demand. However, tough competition caused the company to lose its lead in the market and it fell behind. Nevertheless, the company attempted to make a comeback with its BlackBerry 10 line that was launched in January of this year. The first device was the Blackberry Z10 that was a touch smartphone like its competitors.

The second is the Q10, which is more like the traditional BlackBerry smartphones. The response to Z10 wasn’t very positive, but the same cannot be said for the Q10. The physical keyboard of this smartphone is a prize feature for the fans of the Canadian smartphone maker. According to an industry analyst, the phone is selling quite well in both Britain and Canada after its introduction this week. Peter Misek, an analyst of Jefferies said that there were broad sellouts of the phone and stock was becoming limited quite fast. Store checks have indicated that the BlackBerry Q10 has been sold out in some stores or has limited availability in the UK and Toronto.

A ‘buy’ rating has been placed on BlackBerry’s shares by Jefferies and according to the research firm it had used top retailers and mobile carries in both the countries for collecting its data. Some of the important names include Orange, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse in Britain and Telus, Rogers and Bell in Canada. The Canadian company is hoping that its new smartphones will help it in gaining back market share that it had lost to Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy devices and Apple Inc.’s iPhone. The shares of BlackBerry have also been rallying positively.

This report of Jeffries came only a day after the BlackBerry 10 devices and Samsung mobile devices were given security clearance by the Pentagon for being used on the US defense department networks. It was also announced by Pentagon earlier this week that it would also be clearing the devices of Apple Inc. that were based on the iOS 6 system at some point in the month of May. This move by Pentagon will set the stage for a furious battle between Samsung, Apple and BlackBerry for the orders of the defense department. So far, this segment has been completely dominated by BlackBerry.

The Pentagon stated that the purpose of opening up its networks to a wide array of mobile devices is simply an effort to ensure that the latest telecommunication technology can be accessed by the military instead of restricting itself to a specific equipment vendor. The approval of the Pentagon was of the utmost importance to BlackBerry because it paves way for the company to market its devices to other security-conscious financial, legal and government clients. It was announced by Clifford Chance, the international law firm last week that around 1600 BlackBerry 10 smartphones would be given to its employees.

Smartphones Rising Over ‘Dumb’ Phones!

It was Apple Inc. that introduced the first smartphone in the year 2007 in the form of an iPhone. Since then, the mobile industry has been revolutionized. The launch of the smartphone marked the greatest ever expansion of the mobile market and turned the tables for every company that was currently a player in it. From the top mobile phone maker of the world, Nokia Corp took a tumble down as its mobile phones lost the popularity they had retained for several years. Now, it is Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics reigning in the mobile industry, which is mostly regarded as the smartphone market.

Dumb phones are still being manufactured; there is no doubt about that. However, they are no match to the success and demand, which smartphones enjoy nowadays. As a matter of fact, IDC, the research firm recently announced that this year i.e. 2012, more smartphones are being produced as compared to dumb phones. This is a huge milestone because it marks a shift that is putting internet access and computing power into the hands of millions of people all around the globe. In the first three months of the current year, a total of 216 million smartphones were shipped by manufacturers worldwide. In comparison, 189 million regular phones were shipped in the same period.

According to the latest study of IDC, of the 419 million smartphones that were shipped worldwide, smartphones made up around 51.6% of them. In the year 2011, regular phones were overtaken by smartphones in the US market. It was stated by an analyst of IDC that this greater shift towards smartphones was contributed by the consumers that reside in developing countries like Indonesia, China and India. ABI research, another research firm discovered that 49% of the shipments in the first quarter were of smartphones.

The largest mobile phone maker of the world, Samsung Electronics does not provide a breakdown of the number of phone shipments it makes. Therefore, the totals and estimates of the analysts vary. However, even going by the numbers revealed by ABI research, it is quite clear that this year; the market will be taken over by the smartphones. The cellphone industry has been roiled completely from the move of people from phones used for calling and texting to the ones used for pretty much everything with their advanced operating systems and unique touch screens. Nokia had been the world’s largest maker of mobile phones for over a decade, but it wasn’t able to achieve the same success with smartphones.

It holds the second position, after Samsung as the largest mobile phone maker, but falls a lot below in the list of the top smartphone makers. A US company, Motorola Mobility has also failed in the transition and has been taken up by Google. Apple Inc., on the other hand, has managed to become the third largest mobile phone maker in the period of six years since it launched its first iPhone. The top makers of smartphones are Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics, but the third position is being fought over by various companies.

BlackBerry Bringing Back Keyboard

Previously known as Research in Motion Ltd, BlackBerry Ltd is the manufacturer of the BlackBerry line of smartphones. The company was regarded as a pioneer in the smartphone industry and its phones enjoyed immense popularity in the market. Nevertheless, with the introduction of other smartphones from companies like Samsung and Apple, BlackBerry phones lost their position in the market. After struggling for a few years, the company launched a touch-based smartphone in January of this year, which is in line with the consumer demand. The BlackBerry Z10 remained three years in the making. Nonetheless, the success of this launch is still uncertain for the company.

Regardless, the company is gearing up for another of its release of the year; the BlackBerry Q10, which is equipped with the keyboard and resembles the traditional design of the BlackBerry smartphones. This new device will be coming to Canada and UK first, just like the Z10 and will later be available in the US. The company announced that carriers in Canada will start selling the new device from 1st of May while it will be available for shipping in the UK as early as Friday. The company is banking on the success of its new line to regain its lost market share.

In order to remain true to its image, the Q10 has been released, which looks very much like BlackBerry Bold that was once highly coveted since its launch in 2009. However, the Bold series were the last of the line to run on the old operating system of the company. The Q10, as opposed to it, will be running on the operating system designed by the company, BlackBerry 10. Apart from that, the new device will also boast a classic physical keyboard, along with a small touch screen. The phone will be competing with other high-end devices in the market as it will be priced at $200 with a multiyear plan.

The company is counting on the keyboard-loving users to snap up this model as soon as it’s out on the market. The keyboard-equipped smartphones still have a big market and it is dominated by BlackBerry Ltd. The only problem is that the market is shrinking fast in face of competition from touch-based phones. The market of keyboard-based smartphones was 62.8 million units last year, according to IDC, which was a down from the 100.2 million units the year before that. BlackBerry Ltd currently has 47% of the market and shares it with Nokia and other Asian manufacturers.

The market of touch-based smartphones has jumped up to 650.1 million units form the 372 million units in 2011. BlackBerry only has 3% of this market. Nonetheless, the shift in market is understood by the Canadian smartphone maker, which is the reason they introduced the Z10 before the Q10. With the touchscreen device, the company had to make an extra push in terms of advertising, but it can count on the loyal customers who love its traditional and classic keyboard design of smartphones. However, the phone has to be in touch with the market in order to succeed.

BlackBerry Urges Investigation on Z10 Report!

BlackBerry Limited is planning to ask Ontario Securities Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate what it claims to be a misleading and fault report regarding the retail rates of the Canadian firm’s new Z10 smartphone. The report was published on Thursday by an institutional research and wealth management group of Boston known as Detwiler Fenton. BlackBerry shares declined with this report. However, the research firm has rejected this criticism. Nonetheless, this is a serious blow to the already struggling BlackBerry. Formerly known as Research in Motion Ltd, the company is relying on the Z10 and other smartphones in the BlackBerry 10 line for halting the precipitous decline the company has been going through.

The Canadian company is struggling to compete in the market, where devices of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics have become a dominant force. The chief executive of the company, Thorsten Heins stated that the sales of the new Z10 smartphone were meeting the expectations and the data collected from the carrier and retail partners indicates that customers are also satisfied with the new device. He further added that the return rates were either below the forecast or meeting it, which is in accordance with the industry. He said that suggesting otherwise was willful manipulation or a complete misreading of data.

The CEO said that this conclusion was not based on fact and the company would be challenging it. The Chief Legal Officer of BlackBerry, Steve Zipperstein stated that the company and its shareholders were harmed by the false and misleading reports about the Z10 return rates in the United States. Therefore, he said, that the appropriate authorities were being consulted to start off an investigation. He asserted that having an opinion regarding the various competing products in the market is acceptable. However, deliberately purveying false statements for influencing the market is not acceptable at all.

Detwiler Fention, the research firm was not unnerved by the criticism and said that it trusts its research methodology and would welcome an investigation. The company has been consistently bearish regarding BlackBerry. The chief compliance officer and general counsel of the research group, Anne Buckley said that they weren’t the only one who was releasing reports regarding the customer response, sales and the return rates of the new smartphone of BlackBerry. She also clarified that neither any director or officer nor the research analyst held any financial interest in the BlackBerry maker.

In a report it was published by the research group that retail partners were listing a significant increase in the returns of the BlackBerry Z10 and in fact, the returns were increasing to a point that they were exceeding the sales of the new device. This phenomenon hasn’t been seen. It was reported by the analyst that customers were complaining because of the lack of apps, the map app and the user interface. Moreover, some customers also said that the phone tends to slow down. The firm said that the company was already facing a battle in luring customers and with the high rate of returns, it would be impossible for it to gain back market share.

CEO: BlackBerry Thinking Beyond Smartphones!

BlackBerry Limited, formerly called Research In Motion Ltd, is a Canadian telecommunication and wireless equipment company, which is the manufacturer of the once infamous BlackBerry smartphones. The company was a pioneer in the global smartphone industry for a long while, until it was invaded by competitors like Apple Inc. and now Samsung Electronics. Since then, the company lost ground in the light of the new phones being launched by these companies. The phones that had been once highly coveted were no longer enough to keep people happy. This caused considerable trouble for the company. Therefore, on 30^th January 2013, the company introduced new BlackBerry devices to regain its position in the market.

Now, just a week after the launch of the new make-or-break series of smartphones, it seems that BlackBerry is considering a future that will make it the ‘mobile computing’ leader. At least, that’s what Thorsten Heins, the Chief Executive Officer of BlackBerry limited says. The CEO said that the company’s aim is to regain its position of an innovator in a world where smartphones have the processing ability for replacing laptops and tablets. When the company launched its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones, it changed its name from Research in Motion to BlackBerry.

This company that was once the pioneer of on-the-go email is out to explore new territory since it lost ground to nimbler competitors. Heins, who became the CEO nearly a year ago, said that it’s no longer about tablets and smartphones. He said that the architecture that has been developed by the company is a true mobile computing one. He said that it’s not a downgraded or smaller version of a PC operating system. According to the CEO, it was developed from scratch and especially developed for smartphones. There have been strong initial sales of the new devices and there have been positive and glowing reviews as well.

Despite that, some analysts are doubtful of the fact that these devices will help the floundering company in coming back. They do not believe that BlackBerry holds the power to transform the way people think and work and will be able to sell for long. An analyst of IDC, John Jackson said that what analysts care about is the number of devices that will be sold. In addition, he gave his opinion that the BlackBerry 10 devices would have a bright future and the new BlackBerry 10 operating system would enable users to control a number of devices.

He asserted that the company needed to sell devices for now so that they will have time and opportunity to transform into a next-generation mobile platform. Frank Boulben, the marketing head of the company said that they are attempting to do just that. He mentioned that people will soon witness this in the coming year when the new BlackBerry devices will fulfill all their needs on-the-go. The company is stating over and over again that it’s not the device, but the new platform which is going to be exceptional. The company has to be successful with the devices for the short term. The rest is about the platform. 

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