Nothing can save Windows 8 now
Tell me if you can't make the connection here. China is the world's largest market for PCs and during 2012 passed the United States to claim the top spot in smartphones, too. About two thirds of all handsets going into China are smartphones, and there is a long-documented trend in emerging markets where people skip the PC and go right to mobiles as their first connected devices. Handset sales are way up and now IDC says PC shipments are way down going into the People's Republic and will contribute to larger-than-expected decline in global personal computer shipments. You follow where this is going?
IDC says February PC shipments fell below forecasts. The analyst firm had expected a 7.7 percent year-over-year decline for first quarter but now predicts double-digit drop instead. China, which accounted for 21 percent of global PC shipments last year, is a major, but not the only, reason. The analyst firm identifies Chinese New Year, budgets cuts and anti-corruption campaigns as factors, while ignoring the most obvious: Shifting buying patterns.
Smartphone shipments surge ahead of lesser mobiles -- Brazil, China and India lead the way
Last month after analyzing Gartner's Q4 handset sales data, I quipped: "At this pace, smartphone sales should surpass feature phones within a couple quarters". Today, IDC released a real forecast, claiming that smartphone shipments would do just that. While not exactly sales, the change would mark a significant shift in the mobile phone market, with China charging ahead of all other countries.
The analyst firm expects smartphone shipments to nudge past 50 percent for the year, a forecast I consider to be overly conservative. Based on sales, the category already has 44 percent share, according to Gartner. The smartphone market is so fast-changing, few analysts get anything right. As I explained in December, IDC repeatedly underforecast smartphone shipments throughout 2012. The general view is likely right, but with feature phones falling at brisker pace.
iPhone cracks against the Great Wall of China
The Chinese smartphone market is dominated by five top manufacturers, none of them Apple, Canalys reveals. As I've warned a couple times recently, despite CEO Tim Cook's prognostications about China's importance or his company boasting 2 million first-weekend iPhone 5 sales, competitors rapidly close out the market for costly fruit-logos.
China is the biggest market for mobiles, largely dominated by smartphones -- 73 percent of the total in fourth quarter, up from 40 percent a year earlier. Shipments soared 113 percent to 64.7 million units, or 30 percent of all smartphones globally. Samsung captured the top spot, followed by Lenovo, Yulong, Huawei and ZTE.
Uh-oh, $50 smartphones mean big trouble for Apple
That sound you hear: Emerging markets sucking the margins out of iPhone. Gartner predicts that Chinese brand and white-box handset manufacturers will dramatically change the smartphone market's course this year. Android is likely to be the big beneficiary, while iPhone has the most to lose. Economies of scale will bite Apple, which benefits from one of the tightest supply chains anywhere. Chipset integration, for example, will allow handset makers to ship cheaper devices that are good enough, even if less than market leaders.
"The combination of competitive pricing pressure, open-channel market growth and feature elimination/integration will very soon result in the $50 smartphone", Mark Hung, Gartner research director, says. "Semiconductor vendors that serve the mobile handset market must have a product strategy to address the low-cost smartphone platform, with $50 as a target in 2013". That's right, 50 bucks, not the $650 Apple charges carriers.
iPhone 5 first-weekend China sales top 2 million
Apple started selling its newest smartphone in the People's Republic of China on December 14. Late tonight, the company claims 2 million sales for Friday and the weekend. The announcement comes as rumors mount about slowing sales.
"Customer response to iPhone 5 in China has been incredible, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China", Tim Cook, Apple CEO, says. "China is a very important market for us", which is quite the understatement. During fiscal fourth quarter China revenue reached $5.7 billion, up 26 percent year over year. iPhone rose 38 percent, Macs 44 percent and iPad 45 percent. For the fiscal year, China generated $23.38 billion revenue, or 15 percent for all Apple. China accounted for more than three-quarters of Asia-Pacific revenue.
Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 available for pre-order in China
A week after Nokia announced the Lumia 920T, the first TD-SCDMA variant of the Lumia 920 for China Mobile, the Finnish manufacturer has introduced its entire Windows Phone 8 line-up to the Chinese market.
Nokia's Windows Phone 8 flagship, the Lumia 920, is available for pre-order in China for ¥4,599 (roughly $735). The handset sells for the same price as the Lumia 920T, but is designed to operate on other networks. The company's mid-range Windows Phone 8 device, the Lumia 820, can be pre-ordered with a less intimidating price-tag. The smartphone is available for ¥3,499 (roughly $560).
What the world's poorer nations can teach YOU about technology
In the last few weeks we’ve been bombarded with a series of really important new hardware or software announcements. Take your pick: iPad mini, Nexus 4 and Surface among many, many, many more. Commentary is relentless from so-called official pundits and overly excited users --what in the days of paper would have deforested an area of the planet the size of Brazil.
You know what? None of it really matters. For all the noise about what these multi-billion dollar companies make, none of them has produced anything really new. We’ve seen no paradigm shifts. No Big Ideas. Nothing that will really change our lives in any way at all. It’s all been like putting racing wheels on the family car. Looks great, but doesn’t actually achieve anything real. Absolutely, our daily lives in the West have changed in extraordinary ways by this technology as compared to, say, 1990. But not 2012. Has the tide reached its high point? Does IT innovation really matter any more?
Kinect now supports Windows 8, Virtual Machines, and China
Microsoft has rolled out a major update to the Kinect motion control runtime and SDK for Windows machines on Monday, unlocking new data tools for developers and allowing Kinect to perform in lower light and at longer ranges.
Perhaps the biggest part of the SDK update on Monday is its vastly broadened availability. The Kinect SDK now features Windows 8 compatibility, which gives developers the ability to make apps for the soon-to-be-released next version of Windows. It also features compatibility with Microsoft Hyper-V, VMWare and Parallels, letting Kinect control virtual machines as well. Finally, the Kinect for Windows SDK is now available in the largest market in the world, China.
Smartphones shipments soar in China, Android benefits
CEO Tim Cook describes China as Apple's second-most important region. For good reason. IDC predicts that smartphone shipments to the People's Republic of China will pass the United States this year. There's the question, which benefits more: Android or iPhone/iOS?
"The PRC smartphone market will continue to be lifted by the sub-US$200 Android segment", Wong Teck-Zhung, IDC senior market analyst, says. "Near-term prices in the low-end segment will come down to US$100 and below as competition for market share intensifies among smartphone vendors. Carrier-subsidized and customized handsets from domestic vendors will further support the migration to smartphones and boost shipments. Looking ahead to the later years in the forecast, the move to 4G networks will be another growth catalyst".
New Android malware threat: over 100,000 devices infected so far
Malware on Android devices is a real and growing threat, and one that is only likely to worsen. The latest Trojan to be found in the wild is a particularly nasty piece of coding named MMarketPay.A by TrustGo, the mobile security company that discovered it. Believed to have infected more than 100,000 smartphones in China, the Trojan downloads paid apps and videos from Mobile Market (M-Market), China Mobile’s official app store, without the user’s knowledge, resulting in some pretty hefty bills.
The malware is picked up by downloading infected apps from one of nine app stores (nDuoa, GFan, AppChina, LIQU, ANFONE, Soft.3g.cn, TalkPhone, 159.com and AZ4SD) and once installed on a device, it bypasses M-Market’s SMS security step, and begins placing orders and downloading content.
Chinese companies take a bite out of Apple
Today, China is a wonderful place for corporations around the world. The financial crisis laws don’t necessarily apply to China as they do to other places like Europe or the United States. So it comes natural for companies to invest more and more to expand into the Chinese market.
Since the end of 2011, China has surpassed the United States as the world"s largest phone market, which is great news for handset manufacturers. Smartphones also play an interesting role, as developers get interested in writing applications for the Chinese market, which would bring revenues to corporations like Apple and Google through their online stores, App Store and Google Play.
Apple had an 'incredible quarter in China'
Today after the closing bell, Apple announced fiscal 2012 second quarter results, with earnings up a staggering 94 percent year over year. But one region -- and within it a single country -- stood out for performance and closed on the United States as Apple's most important market as measured by sales.
Apple revenue to Asia-Pacific rose a staggering 114 percent to $10.15 billion. That data excludes Japan, where sales soared 91 percent. By comparison, Americas revenue topped $13.2 billion, up 41 percent year over year. During the quarter, Asia-Pacific pushed past Europe to be Apple's second most important region, as measured by revenue. In that region, China rises above all other countries.
Windows Phone launches in world's biggest mobile market, China
Microsoft and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC announced on Wednesday that the first Windows Phones have finally begun selling in China. The first device for sale in the country is the 4.7" HTC Eternity, which will be available to the Chinese market unlocked.
Microsoft was expected to launch Windows Phone in China some time in the first half of the year, and this is the first major platform announcement the company has made for the market.
Mike Daisey's lies cheapen the whole issue of working conditions in China
Taking artistic license on such a serious subject like Foxconn's working conditions disgusts me.
When National Public Radio aired a segment of Mike Daisey's popular stage show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" during its current events program "This American Life", little did NPR know the implications of its piece. The show set off a firestorm of criticism, putting Apple in even a worse light than it already is.
China is 'ground zero of efficiency,' says chipmaker Marvell
On Friday, I talked about ZTE's "China First" strategy and how it paid off with big revenue gains at the end of 2011. Monday, chipmaker Marvell revealed the new products in its own "China First" strategy in the mobile data modem space: new Time Division data modems for the bleeding edge Chinese network protocols: TD-HSPA+ and TD-LTE
The products include the PXA1202, which Marvell bills as the world’s first Release 8 TD-HSPA+ modem, capable of 8.2 Mbps downlink speeds; and the PXA1802, a multimode TD-LTE modem chipset for TD-SCDMA and LTE markets capable of downlink speeds up to 150 Mbps.
Recent Headlines
Most Commented Stories
© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.