Global mobile phone sales stagnant
Global sales of mobile phones in the first quarter ending March 31 remained stagnant despite a surge in smartphone sales, according to a recent report by information technology research and advisory company Gartner. Global sales in the first quarter of 2013 were 436 million units, just 0.7 per cent more than in the corresponding period in 2012. However, smartphones, which earn higher margins for handset manufacturers, increased by 43 per cent over the same period.
During this period of declining demand for mobile phones, demand increased by 6.4 per cent only in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Gartner. Significantly, sales in China accounted for a little over one-fourth of all mobile handsets sold across the world.
Samsung was, by far, the leader among handset manufacturers, selling more than 100 million handsets during the first quarter. The company had a market share of 23.6 per cent, 2.5 percentage points more than in the previous year. Nokia was a distant second, with a market share of 14.8 per cent, but its market share had eroded by a full five percentage points. Apple enjoyed a market share of nine per cent, up from 7.8 per cent a year earlier. In the smartphone segment, Samsung was way ahead of the pack with a market share of almost 31 per cent, over 12 percentage points more than Apple, the next highest. Android was the operating system of choice during the quarter; three out of four mobile phones sold worldwide runs on the Android OS, compared to 57 per cent a year earlier.
Indians are hooked to mobile phones: study
Indian mobile Web users spend an average of 2.25 hours a day on their mobile devices, according to a recent survey by Bangalore-based InMobi, a mobile advertising network. The findings of its Mobile Media Consumption Report for India are based on a survey of 15,000 respondents from across the world, including 2,000 in India. Not surprisingly, it found that Indian Internet users use mobile phones as the prime vehicle to tap the Web. Interestingly, it found that 63 per cent of users now actively spend time on mobile devices while watching TV, compared to 26 per cent in 2012; about 57 per cent of the users use social media even as they are “watching” TV.
‘Meet-ups’ with entrepreneurs
Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure (India) recently announced multi-city coffee meet-ups with entrepreneurs, starting from May 27. The Accelerator program team will travel to the four key start-up hubs of India — Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai — to meet entrepreneurs and answer all their queries related to the start-up ecosystem in India as well as for the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure (India) program. A similar meet-up will be conducted in Bangalore also.
The company, in a statement, said it had received more than 400 applications for the winter batch that commences on July 15. Mukund Mohan, CEO-in-residence, Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure (India), said these five cities are home to “the maximum number of start-ups and start-up aspirants in India”.
