Firefox Smartphone OS: The Real Third Platform?

Mozilla recently announced that they were throwing their hat into the smartphone fray by building their own HTML5 based smartphone operating system. The first Firefox OS based device is set to launch in Brazil, via Telefonica, before Q1. Let's take a look at its prospects and see if it can become a challenger for the crown of the "third platform" in the smartphone market.

[News Update] AT&T; Results Beat Expectations as Smartphone Sales Fall

AT&T reported Q2 results on Tuesday, posting its highest ever wireless profit margin, driven by lower smartphone sales. AT&T reported activated 5.1 million smartphone activations in Q2 2012, as compared to 5.5 million last year.  AT&T's iPhone activations dropped 14% from the last quarter to 3.7 million, which helped boost profitability.  

[News Update] Nokia Mulling Carrier Exclusivity & Revenue Share for Windows Phone 8 Lumia Devices

A report from the Financial Times states that Nokia is in discussions to make upcoming Windows Phone 8 based Lumia models exclusive to certain European carriers. The report also states that Nokia is offering carriers a revenue share in return for retail support. 

Apple Q3 Results: What the Analysts Missed

Apple has just announced their financial results for Q3 2012, with quarterly revenue of $35.0 billion and profit of $8.8 billion. The company sold 26 million iPhones and 17 million iPads in the quarter. The results missed analyst estimates by a wide margin and dropped Apple's stock price by 5%. Apple's ultra-conservative forecast for Q4 2012 disappointed analysts & the market as well.

[News Update] Amazon to Launch 5-6 Kindle Fire Tablet SKUs

According to a report from Reuters, Amazon is set to introduce up to 5 or 6 Kindle Fire tablet SKUs. The quote is from Demos Parneros who is the the president of US retail for Staples Inc. The report also mentions that the tablets would be of different sizes, including a 10 inch model.

iPad vs. Nexus 7 & Android Tablets: Parallels with Smartphone Market Share Trends

Ever since the release of the Nexus 7, analysts have wondered what impact, if any, it would have on Android tablets' market share battle with the iPad. The possible release of the iPad Mini, later this year, could throw another wrench into the works. Fortunately, we have already seen an Android vs. Apple battle in the smartphone market. Let's take a look at the parallels we can draw between the smartphone and tablet market and project the possible market share trends in the tablet market.

[News Update] Google Suspends 16GB Nexus 7 Orders to Catch Up With Demand

According to a report from the Guardian, Google has suspended orders for the 16GB version of the Nexus 7 due to unforeseen demand. 

Analysis of Nokia's Q2 Results: Lumia Shipments, ASP & Feature Phones

After Nokia's Q2 Results announcement, Nokia's stock price jumped nearly 7% because of the market's low expectations. Many observers are of the opinion that, despite the losses, there were positive surprises, such as the sequential rise in Lumia shipment figures, smartphone average selling price (ASP) and feature phone shipments. Let's take a look at the veracity of these claims.

[News Update] Nokia Reports Q2 Results: Losses Mount to $1 billion, 4 million Lumias sold

Nokia has just reported their results for Q2 2012, with a Q2 operating loss of €826 million and net loss of €1.41 billion. Nokia also reported that it sold 4 million Lumias during the quarter.

Global Smartphone Market Share Trends: Android, iPhone Lead, Windows Phone Struggles

In the last few days, we have seen numerous reports detailing the state of the smartphone market across countries. This was led by none other than Kantar Worldpanel, which listed the smartphone market share trends in 7 different countries. Apart from this, we also had reports from Neilsen, Analysys, Needham & Co., MTS & IDC. Let's take a look at the country-wise market share trends from most research reports published so far in 2012 and take a look at the smartphone competition between the Android, iPhone and Windows Phone platforms.

[News Update] Nexus 7 Sold Out Across Retail Chains

A report from Reuters states that the Nexus 7 has been selling incredibly well in retail chains and the device has sold out on the first day of availability. The next allocation of shipments is not expected to arrive in retail stores until August. The device is still available online on the Google Play Store.

[News Update] Nexus 7 to be sold by Amazon?

A report from Techradar states that Amazon may be in talks with Google to sell the Nexus 7 tablet. According to an Amazon spokesperson, "People higher up in Amazon are talking to Google regarding the Nexus 7."

[News Update] PC Sales Crash in the US

According to a report by IDC, global PC sales in the second quarter of 2012 contracted by 0.1% from last year, below their previous projection of roughly 2% growth. While this may be worrying, the situation in the US market seems far more dire. According to IDC, the US market shrank by 10.6% over the past year.

Google Nexus 7 BOM Cost: Implications for iPad Mini

iSuppli has just released the estimated BOM for the Google Nexus 7 tablet, after a complete teardown. The estimated BOM cost of $152 is below what other firms had estimated before analyzing the hardware. This estimate essentially guarantees that Google & Asus will at least break-even on sales of the 8GB model and make a modest profit on the 16GB model. Let's take a look at the gross margins for the Nexus 7, in comparison with the Kindle Fire, and the implications on the iPad Mini's estimated margins.

[Resource] Unotelly - Content without Boundaries

I recently came across a service called Unotelly, which offers customers access to online video content libraries without any geographic limitations. Since Unotelly has been gracious enough to offer a discount coupon giveaway for readers of tech-thoughts.net, I thought it would be good to highlight it and take a look at the impact this kind of service could have on the pace of adoption of mobile devices & tablets, especially in emerging markets.

[News Update] Microsoft Surface "disastrous" according to MicroStrategy CEO

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, has strongly criticized Microsoft's launch of the Surface tablet as the "most disastrous product announcement in a decade". 

Windows Phone 8 Fallout: Impact on Nokia & Developers

Microsoft recently announced the highly anticipated Windows Phone 8, and scheduled devices based on it to be released later this year. Microsoft also announced that no Windows Phone 7 devices sold today or in the future will be upgrade-able to Windows Phone 8. They also announced that Windows Phone 8 apps will not be backward compatible with WP7 devices. Let's take a look at the impact this could have on key stakeholders, i.e. Nokia & App Developers.

[News Update] Amazon May Launch Smartphone

According to a report by Bloomberg, Amazon is planning to launch a smartphone to compete with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platform and to give the company a wider range of devices to push digital content to. Amazon is said to be working with Foxconn to manufacture the device. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean: Impact on Android Fragmentation

In my previous post about the Android fragmentation, I had detailed its cyclical nature, using basic statistical properties. However, the continuation of this cyclical pattern was partly dependent on the Android platform moving closer to an annual release cycle, as stated by Any Rubin. Let's take a look at why Jelly Bean's was released early and the impact this could have on Android fragmentation.

[News Update] iPad Mini Rumored to Launch in October

Pacific Crest analyst, Andy Hargreaves, has predicted that the iPad Mini is set to launch in October of this year at a price of $299. The specifications, price point and expected gross margin are exactly in line with what I predicted in my post about iPad Mini Pricing.