Tag Archives: iOS

Tech Trends: Time-Management Apps

Posted on by in Strategy | 872 Comments

 time-travel2-photo-courtesy-of-junussyndicate-on-deviantART

Is it in your hand to control your time?  Time.is passing so quickly, life is busy and at the end of the day you come up with lots of to-do lists.  Lift, a free iPhone app with Web and Android versions due out this year, lets you set daily goals and track your progress. Lift was a big help. But I worried that manually checking off my activities would grow tiresome. That’s where Chronos comes in. The free iPhone app uses your phone’s accelerometer, GPS, and other location services to track your activities for you

 

 

Microsoft Paying Developers Up To $600,000 To Make Windows Phone Apps

Posted on by in Technology | 8 Comments

If hardware is the backbone to any good smartphone, then apps have become the lifeblood with many consumers judging a device on what they’re able to download for it. Microsoft know this and because it’s playing catchup with its competitors, iPhone and Android, it’s turned towards funding developers to ensure apps are created for them.

The New York Times reports that Microsoft is financing the development of well known apps, costing anything between $60,000 to $600,000 depending on the complexity of the app. Developers are reluctant to dedicate time and money into a platform that is both small and unproven so Microsoft is adapting different methods to incentivise developers. Alongside funding their app’s development, the company also provides developers with free phones and the promise of prime spots in its app stores and in Windows Phone advertising

Microsoft only has an estimated 70,000 apps for its Windows Phone platform. Comparing that the iPhone has roughly more than 600,000 apps in its store and Android has almost 400,000 apps, the company is very much trying to bridge the gap between themselves and speed up the process. Their other initiative is teaming up with Nokia to open up an AppCampus in Finland, where over €18 million will be invested into the project over three years, but the company has a lot of work ahead of them if they seriously want to be in a position to challenge the big two.

Even Canadians Aren't Buying BlackBerrys Anymore

Posted on by in Technology | 47 Comments

Once upon a time RIM was the shining star of Canada. Hailing from the Great White North, BlackBerry phones were the country’s dominant smartphone. But times have changed and RIM has not changed with them. That’s a recipe for failure and it seems that based on data compiled by IDC and Bloomberg, Apple shipped more phones in Canada last year than RIM.

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM shipped just 2.08 million BlackBerry smartphones last year in Canada, where Apple shipped 2.85 million units. This changing of the guard is a long time coming. As Bloomberg notes, in 2010 RIM bested Apple by half a million units and outsold Apple five to one in 2008.

RIM is seeing sales declines worldwide. BlackBerrys are still popular in the Middle East and Indian markets but Android, led mostly by Samsung phones, is quickly becoming the dominant player. Canada, where the company is based, was one of RIM’s last strongholds.

Canadian sales dropped 23 percent in the third quarter. Even though RIM introduced seven new handsets in 2011, Canadian consumers turned their backs on their hometown team. Now, in 2012, with a new CEO in place, the company is betting that its QNX-powered BlackBerry 10 handsets will stop the bleeding.

RIM’s glory days are behind it. Sheer arrogance led the company down its current path of misery. All is not necessarily lost, however. As long as RIM can produce BB 10 handsets on schedule, it might still be able to save the lucrative enterprise market from defecting to iOS or Android. But “on schedule” is not a phrase associated with RIM lately.

Symbian finished 2011 over 11 percentage points ahead of iOS

Posted on by in Technology | 51 Comments

Using StatCounter’s figures for mobile operating systems we charted the main mobile operating systems during 2011. To summarize, Symbian finished stronger than it started, iOS dropped a little bit, Android gained a lot, and BlackBerry was all but decimated.

A few notes about how the mobile OS market developed over 2011:

  • Symbian started and finished 2011 as the undisputed king of mobile OSs. Going from 30.25% in January to 33.59% in December, Symbian made a resurgence in the last two months of the year.
  • Apple may take in the bulk of the profits in the mobile industry but in terms of share of mobile operating systems it had a pretty flat 2011. Starting out with 25.02% it falls in the first six months and made a slight recovery to 22.56% in December.
  • The Google juggernaut that is Android made a considerable market share improvement from 14.61% to 21.74%. If this development keeps up it won’t be long until Android takes the number two spot from iOS, a position it held for a short time in August 2011.
  • The real loser in 2011 is RIM’s BlackBerry OS, which fell from 15.03% to 7.86%. Actually BlackBerry started the year just ahead of Android but fell steadily behind over the twelve months.
  • Samsung is obviously a major player in the Android space, but it showed up with both Samsung OS as well as bada, which finished 2011 with 5.62% and 0.5% respectively.