Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




INTERNET SPACE
Smartphone sales exploded in 2012: surveys
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jan 25, 2013


Silicon Valley plant named as Apple manufacturer
San Francisco (AFP) Jan 25, 2013 - Apple on Friday listed a Silicon Valley facility as a location where the California company's Macintosh computers are assembled.

The addition to Apple's list of final assembly plants came less than two months after chief executive Tim Cook vowed to shift some computer manufacturing from China to the United States to catalyze domestic high-tech production.

A Quanta Computer Inc. operation in Fremont, California, not far from where Apple got its start, joined a roster of "final assembly facilities" heavily weighted with plants in China.

Taiwan-based Quanta was listed as operating Macintosh computer and iPod MP3 player assembly plants in China.

Cook, in a pair of interviews given in December, said one line of Mac computers will be made exclusively in the United States, but did not say which one.

Asked why Apple would not move out of China entirely and manufacture everything in the United States, Cook told NBC, "It's not so much about price, it's about the skills."

Cook also told the broadcaster that he hopes the new project will help spur other US firms to bring manufacturing back home.

"The consumer electronics world was really never here," he said. "It's a matter of starting it here."

Global smartphone sales soared in 2012, taking a huge slice of a mobile phone market that was otherwise flat, survey data showed Friday.

A report by the research firm IDC showed a 44 percent jump in smartphone sales for the year, with 712 million units sold. That accounted for 45.5 percent of all mobile phone shipments.

The rest of the mobile phone market was lackluster, suggesting customers were trading in their older handsets for smartphones. The global market for all mobile phones grew just 1.2 percent to 1.7 billion units, IDC said.

IDC said Samsung extended its dominance of the market in both smartphones and overall mobile phones.

The South Korean giant captured 29 percent of the smartphone market, to Apple's 21.8 percent, and 23 percent of the overall market, ahead of Nokia's 17.9 percent.

But a big surge came from Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, which broke into the top ranks of smartphone vendors thanks to growth in emerging markets, IDC said.

Huawei grabbed 4.9 percent of the smartphone market, making it the third largest, and ZTE was in fifth place with 4.3 percent share, just behind Japan's Sony at 4.5 percent.

"The fact that Huawei and ZTE now find themselves among the top five smartphone vendors marks a significant shift for the global market," said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.

"Both companies have grown volumes by focusing on the mass market, but in recent quarters they have turned their attention toward higher-end devices. In addition, both companies have pushed the envelope in terms of industrial design with larger displays and smaller form factors, as well as innovative applications and experiences."

Research firm Strategy Analytics said its survey showed global smartphone shipments grew 43 percent to 700 million units in 2012, with Samsung capturing more than 30 percent of the market.

The report showed smartphones accounted for close to half of the 1.6 billion mobiles sold in 2012. With all phones combined, the market grew just two percent, according to the report.

The report showed Apple holding 19.4 percent of the global smartphone market, trailing Samsung at 30.4 percent.

"Samsung and Apple together accounted for half of all smartphones shipped worldwide in 2012," said Linda Sui at Strategy Analytics.

"Large marketing budgets, extensive distribution channels and attractive product portfolios have enabled Samsung and Apple to tighten their grip on the smartphone industry."

Strategy Analytics data showed Nokia retained its position as the third largest smartphone vendor for 2012 but that its market share fell sharply from 16 percent to five percent.

ABI Research said in a separate report that 653 million smartphones were shipped during the year, more than 40 percent of the 1.6 billion handsets.

That survey showed Samsung with 31 percent of total smartphone shipments to 21 percent for Apple. But ABI said Apple appears to be facing tougher competition.

"It is clear that the iPhone's hyper growth has ended, and ABI Research believes that Apple's market share will peak in 2013 at 22 percent," said analyst Michael Morgan.

"Unless Apple is willing to trade iPhone margins for low cost iPhone shipments, Apple's handset market share will become dependent on customer loyalty."

.


Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








INTERNET SPACE
Goggles fool face-recognition cameras: Japan maker
Tokyo Jan 25, 2013
A "privacy visor" that uses infra-red light to interfere with facial recognition technology has been developed in Japan for people worried about being spotted by computers. The goggles are useful for anyone who wants to avoid their identity being detected by hidden cameras, the inventors say. "Measures for preventing the invasion of privacy caused by photographs taken in secret... are no ... read more


INTERNET SPACE
US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Mission would drag asteroid to the moon

INTERNET SPACE
Opportunity At Work At Whitewater Lake

Thawing Dry Ice Drives Groovy Action On Mars

Mars Rover Curiosity Uses Arm Camera at Night

Possible Clues to Ancient Subsurface Biosphere on Mars

INTERNET SPACE
Iran Manufacturing Hi-Tech Spacesuits

TDRS-K Offers Upgrade to Vital Communications Net

An Astronaut's Guide

Mathematical breakthrough sets out rules for more effective teleportation

INTERNET SPACE
Reshuffle for Tiangong

China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

INTERNET SPACE
NASA to Send Inflatable Pod to International Space Station

ISS to get inflatable module

ESA workhorse to power NASA's Orion spacecraft

Competition Hopes To Fine Tune ISS Solar Array Shadowing

INTERNET SPACE
Azerspace And Africasat-1a "fit" for Ariane 5 launch

NASA Selects Experimental Commercial Suborbital Flight Payloads

Payload elements come together in Starsem's wrap-up Soyuz mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome for Globalstar

Amazonas 3 in Kourou for Ariane 5 year-opening launch campaign

INTERNET SPACE
New Evidence Indicates Auroras Occur Outside Our Solar System

Glitch has space telescope shut down

Earth-size planets common in galaxy

NASA's Hubble Reveals Rogue Planetary Orbit For Fomalhaut B

INTERNET SPACE
New information on binding gold particles over metal oxide surfaces

Researchers Create Method for More Sensitive Electrochemical Sensors

Phoenix Rising: New Video Shows Advances in Satellite Repurposing Program

Novel sensor provides bigger picture




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement