figures
Latest
W3C tests HTML5 browser compatibility, crowns IE9 the champ
The World Wide Web Consortium -- you know, the team responsible for certifying and standardizing HTML5 -- has put together its first table of official conformance test results, giving us an idea of how well prepared each of the most popular browsers is for the oncoming web standards revolution. The data show Internet Explorer 9 as the most adroit performer (again), though Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari don't seem to be too far behind in their HTML5 compliance, either. Of course, these checks don't cover the entire spec, which in itself isn't even finalized yet, but they provide us with a glimpse into a brave new world where Microsoft actually cares about coders keen on maximizing interoperability by adhering to web-wide standards. Good stuff. Check out the full results at the source link below. [Thanks, Mehran]
Shocker! Kids spending too much time in front of TV screens, too little in loving parents' embrace
Not that anyone really needed to have this spelled out, but America's tots are apparently spending too much time in front of the telly tubes. The latest study, conducted by the Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, finds that children under the age of five are spending 4.1 hours of each day watching movies or TV, doubling the recommended maximum of two hours a day. Whether you take the slightly arbitrary two-hour RDA to heart or not, it's undeniable that all of us -- not just the young 'uns -- are spending increasingly larger chunks of our time looking at the world through a screen and not through our own retinas. And, if you want an extra topping of alarmist extrapolation, these figures come from a research sample concluded in 2006, today's better-equipped toddlers are very likely to outdo those numbers when mobile devices and the like are factored in. Imagine how bad this would all be if the US didn't have so much quality programming to entertain and educate them with.
Android is number one OS among US phone buyers over the last six months
BlackBerry OS? Dead! iOS? Dead! Symbian? Never stood a chance. Android's exponential growth has today been illustrated by Nielsen's statisticians who present us with the above chart of recent US smartphone purchases. It shows that over the six months leading up to August 2010, 32 percent of American new phone buyers had grabbed themselves a device with Google's OS on board, which is comfortably ahead of RIM at 26 percent and Apple at 25 percent. These results corroborate NPD's figures on the matter -- which peg Android at 33 percent of new US purchases -- and reiterate the idea that Android is headed to a place whose name starts with D and ends with omination. One more chart showing total market share can be found after the break (hint: BlackBerry still reigns supreme overall).
Build-a-Bayonetta model is for filthy rich hobbyists only
It takes a certain kind of person to assemble and paint a 67-piece, 1/4-scale model of Bayonetta. It takes another kind of person altogether to spend ¥48,300 ($575) for the privilege to do so.
Android 2.x now on 70 percent of all active Android phones
Time to get down and boogie if you think the Android fragmentation issue is overblown. Google has dropped its latest platform version stats and Android 2.2, aka Froyo, has managed to corner a healthy 28.7 percent of all active Googlephones (those that accessed the Market within the two weeks leading up to September 1), rapidly closing the gap on version 2.1 and nearly matching in number the handsets still stuck on the Cupcake or Donut diet. When you consider that back in May those pesky 1.5 and 1.6 versions were on a whopping 62 percent of Android mobiles, you'll probably agree that phone makers seem to be getting their act together in terms of delivering Google's latest wares in a timely fashion. Who'd have thought it, the more practice they have, the better they're getting at their jobs!
Android accounts for one-quarter of mobile web traffic, says Quantcast
It's terribly difficult to get reliable statistics, as numbers tend to vary drastically depending upon whom you ask, but if you're inclined to believe that Android is mopping up Apple and RIM's declining mobile mindshare in the US, you'll find nothing but corroboration from Quantcast. The analytics firm reckons a full one-quarter of mobile web traffic stateside comes from devices running Google's OS, though it's important to know that the iOS tallies apparently don't include the web-friendly iPad. You also might want to note that this is mobile web traffic here -- these days, we spend an increasing amount of our internet time in apps -- and since we're on a roll with the disclaimers, let's just add that these numbers have nothing to do with a company's financial success. Nokia can attest to that.
Apple ships 120 million iOS devices since iPhone's launch
Steve Jobs just dropped a few numbers on us. Firstly, that big one above, 120 million iOS devices -- that's iPhones, iPod touches and iPads, for the forgetful in the class -- have been shipped since the original iPhone made its grand debut back in 2007. 230,000 is the next number of significance -- that's the tally of daily iOS activations. Moving down to even more granular stats, Apple says 200 apps are being downloaded every second, which has resulted in the mind-bending 6.5 billion total downloads of iOS applications. This is from a catalog of over 250,000 total apps, with 25,000 of them being available for the iPad. Yeah, Apple's just blowing its horn, but it sure is a big one, ain't it?
(i)Pawn is an iPhone game with screen-reactive pieces
This is one of the cooler things I've seen done with the iPhone's capacitive touchscreen. (i)Pawn is a game of sorts that works with a series of little figures on tokens that actually interact with the touchscreen itself. Most of the time, you need actual flesh to interact with the iPhone's screen, but these figures are also capacitive, so the app running on the device not only knows when and where you've placed these figures down but also which figures are touching, and so on. Unfortunately, it's all in French, so I'm not completely sure what the "game" is. It appears to be a relationship game that has something to do with various personalities passing messages and interacting. And it could just be a demo of some kind, with a video running underneath those figures rather than actually interacting with the pieces themselves. But it's not hard to think of other applications of a system like this (D&D on a touchscreen, anyone?), and a bigger screen like the iPad would come in handy, too. (i)Pawn is scheduled to be for sale in November of this year, so we'll keep an eye out for it and try to find out more about what it is and exactly how it works. Meanwhile, you can watch the videos of the figures in action and dream of all the various ways to use accessories like this. [via TDW]
Gartner and IDC agree: the Android invasion's accelerating around the world
Last quarter we reported on some pretty stellar growth numbers for Android in the global smartphone marketplace. Back then, Google's OS had a 9.6 percent slice of the pie, but today that's ballooned to a robust 17.2 percent, meaning that in terms of end-user sales over the last three months, Android has nearly matched RIM's BlackBerry sales. That's quite the feat when you consider that a year ago the latter was shifting ten times more units than the former. This extraordinary growth rate has narrowed down Symbian's lead at the top, in spite of Nokia's favorite OS actually shipping on more phones this year, while the big loser of the quarter has to be Windows Mobile, which contracted both in terms of market share and actual shipments. Overall, smartphone sales were up by 50 percent year-on-year, according to both Gartner and IDC, while Gartner adds that mobile devices as a whole grew at a tamer 13.3 percent pace. In terms of phone manufacturers' global share, Nokia and Samsung have held on to their top positions, LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola have experienced some uncomfortable shrinkage, and HTC, RIM and Apple have capitalized to expand their portions. Looking over to IDC's smartphone share data shows, again, that all smartphone makers are growing remarkably well, but it does highlight HTC (129 percent) and Samsung (173 percent) as really improving their presence in the sector. The reason? Android, Android, Android.
Reminisce about classic Sonic over this six-pack
If you demand tiny figures of Sonic and his pals, and you demand them to be in their "correct" Genesis-era forms, you're going to be pleased with this set of six from First 4 Figures. Sonic fans can be quite demanding.
Americans prefer to email on the go, social network at home
We do like a pretty chart around here, and these latest ones from Nielsen are positively gorgeous. The internet stat-keeper has come out of a particularly hot and heavy research session with the conclusion that American online habits are a-changing. The unstoppable juggernaut that is social networking (23 percent) leads the way on computers, with online gaming (10 percent) now joining it in second place, and email ousted to an unhappy third (8 percent). The slack in electronic postage is being picked up by mobiles, however, with 42 percent of cellular internet time dedicated to exchanging messages the old fashioned way. Video streaming has shown double digit growth relative to last year, but remains a comparatively small part of what US interneters do. One thing we find humorous in the data is that 34 percent of all web time spent on computers is bundled into Nielsen's "Other" category -- any ideas on what people might be doing during that time?
NPD: Android is now top-selling OS in American smartphones
Step aside, BlackBerrys and iPhones, the American consumer has voted with his wallet and picked Android as his favorite flavor in the quarter just gone. NPD's number crunchers have just announced their findings for Q2 2010, concluding that 33 percent of phones sold during the period had Android on board. This marks the first time in eons (Q4 2007, to be more precise) that RIM has not held the crown of most purchased smartphone OS on US soil, with its BlackBerrys accounting for 28% of the market and Apple's iPhone occupying third spot with 22%. Motorola and HTC are the key suspects fingered for Android's continuing ascent, with the "large screen allure" of their handsets playing well with the buying public. Skip after the break for a more detailed breakdown. Disclaimer: NPD's Ross Rubin is a contributor to Engadget.
Droid X users gobbling up 5x the data of other Verizon smartphones
Been wondering why Verizon would seek to curb its unlimited data plans with bogus restrictions? Wonder no more. Jennifer Byrne, a business development executive director at Big Red, has shared with us the shocking stat that early data usage from Droid X owners is five times what other smartphones are suckling down. Clearly, the jumbo screen is being used to the fullest by those lucky enough to get an X when they wanted one, and Verizon is (outwardly, at least) really, really excited to see such keen use of its network. Enjoy it while it lasts, Droidsters!
Nokia quarterly profits drop 40 percent year-on-year as CEO says speculation must end 'one way or another'
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was already a man in a hot seat and these latest numbers will do little to lower the temperature. Nokia's net profit for Q2 2010 was €221 million, which most companies would be happy with were it not for the fact that this company pulled in €380 million in the same quarter last year -- and that's with 2009, as Nokia's own report indicates, representing an economically tougher environment. Average selling prices for Nokia handsets used to be €64 back then, which dipped to €62 in the first quarter of this year, and is now at €61. Nokia says this has been caused by price pressures, "particularly in certain high-end smartphones," and though the change may appear small, a Euro's difference tends to be amplified when you're shifting upwards of 111 million units each trimester. For his part, OPK has said that the speculation about him being replaced isn't doing Nokia any good and he's determined that it "must be brought to an end one way or another." Guess we better keep an eye on this one then.
Acer gains ground on HP as ASUS bumps Toshiba out of top five global PC vendors
Did you know that since the inception of the great and glorious PC industry the world leader in shipments has always been an American company? The biggest threat to this hometown hegemony right now looks to be coming from Taiwan, as Gartner's latest figures show significant growth from both Acer and ASUS, with the latter improving its global shipments by a stonking 78.5% between this time last year and now. Acer's ascent was a more modest 31.6%, though the whole PC market has taken a big uptick from 2009 with a 20.7% average growth in shipments. That's meant that even though HP and Dell have registered double-digit growth, both lost market share over that time. Toshiba has similarly had a strong showing, but ASUS' exponential growth has relegated the Japanese company to sixth in the world. That Toshibasus merger isn't looking like such a bad idea now, is it Toshiba?
Xbox 360 sales increase 88 percent in June, give it US console crown for the month
Proving once again that in this world it's more important what you look like than what you do, the Xbox 360 has cruised to the title of best-selling console in June on the back of a sexy physical redesign. The latest numbers from NPD show that Microsoft shifted 451,700 units in the US, which ousts the Wii's tally of 422,500 and comfortably dwarfs the PS3's 304,800. Still, if Sony wants any consolation it need only look back to the results of its own console Slimmification last year -- US sales were said to have tripled in the immediate aftermath of the new SKU's release. So Microsoft might have a little bit of catching up to do yet, and let's not forget that the king of all hardware sales remains the DS, which somehow managed to sell more than half a million devices in June, in spite of the whole world and its dog already owning one.
Apple and HTC lead charge as smartphone market looks set to grow and grow
A recent survey of 4,028 US consumers by ChangeWave has thrown up a number of illuminating statistics, which you might consider as predictable as they are informative. The chief takeaway is that people are keen on buying smartphones like never before, with 16% of respondents saying that they'll be taking the plunge within the next 90 days, which marks the biggest increase in the survey's history. Secondly, and crucially for vendor loyalists, Apple and HTC seem to be the biggest beneficiaries (or are they the stimulants?) of this interest, with both improving their share by over 50 percent between March and June of this year. RIM and Motorola have taken a tumble in that same timespan, while Palm has sadly failed to register even a single percentage point. We can definitely see the Droid X and BlackBerry 6 remedying things for the big boys, but Palm's route out of ignominy seems a little less straightforward. You'll find a chart of customer satisfaction -- dominated by Apple in imperious fashion -- after the break, and the full breakdown at the source link.
Assassin's Creed 2 Ezio figure sneaks into view
Looking to intimidate all of the other figurines on your toy shelf? You may want to check out Hot Toys' 1/6th scale recreation of Assassin's Creed 2 protagonist, Ezio Audisomethingorother -- which comes complete with a set of interchangeable hands, knives, swords and even a ponytail. There's no word on price right now, but the figure is planned to launch in Q3. Considering its 30 points of articulation, 30cm height, real metal weapons and complex uniform -- not to mention the going rate on some of Hot Toys' other figures -- you'll probably want to start saving your Florins right now. %Gallery-97079%
iOS has a bigger dev army than Android, but will cross-platform apps rule the day?
We oftentimes hear raw numbers of apps bandied about in mobile OS comparisons, but we rarely get any idea of just how many developers are behind the scenes working for each platform. This is the void of knowledge filled by AppStore HQ today, who have gone to their dev directory -- claimed to be a complete listing of all 55,000+ coders whose work is currently available for consumption in the Apple App Store or Android Market -- and stacked them into neat piles of Apple, Google and Gapple programmers. It's immediately apparent that single-platform development is the norm (with Apple holding the predictable edge), but AppStore HQ also provides a list of some of the most well known (and well funded) apps doing the cross-platform dance, and suggests that a movement is afoot toward making software available for both sets of users. Then again, the BNET article below points out the difficulties faced by smaller outfits, who might struggle to find the resources required to port their content over and maintain the skills required to be multi-platform, resulting in them sticking to one environment, irrespective of what allures others might throw their way. Give them both a read, we say.
Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4s through Saturday, June 26
There you have it. 600,000 pre-orders have turned into 1.7 million iPhone 4 sales through this Saturday. The Sunday transactions haven't even been tallied up yet, but Steve and company already have another reason to look smug. That total eclipses the 3GS' already phenomenal 1 million units sold over a weekend, and stands pretty much head and shoulders above any other launch the mobile world has yet seen.
