Welcome to our weekly round-up of mobile news and interesting articles to help you start your week up-to-date with the latest from the world of mobile apps and smartphones.
Samsung to become biggest smartphone manufacturer?
Samsung is set to become the biggest smartphone manufacturer, ending the 14 year reign of Nokia, according to a forecast by Namura, which predicts both Samsung and Apple will displace the Finnish company. Kevin Tofel lists the reasons for the growth of Samsung, including the huge rise in Android ownership and the success of the Galaxy S. Of course, this means that current legal action between Samsung and Apple continues the tradition of the biggest mobile manufacturers fighting it out as much in court as in retailers.
App Addiction affects 83% of daily users, with Britain leading Europe:
A study by MTV of 1,300 daily mobile app users found that 83% said they were addicted to mobile apps, with 68% of men willing to give up coffee for a year rather than losing them, while 68% of women would rather go without soft drinks than their favourite apps. And when it comes for what users look for, 55% want updated content in their entertainment applications.
Meanwhile analytics firm Flurry has claimed 17.2 million British monthly active app users (a third of the adult population), higher than the European average of 1/5th of the population using apps every month. Next on the list are France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Google to launch competitor for BlackBerry Messenger:
One of the key uses for BlackBerry phones amongst younger users is BlackBerry Messenger. But following on from the news that Apple will include messaging service iMessage in iOS 5, comes the news that Google has an Android messaging client on the way.
The Wall Street Journal didn’t have any further details, but given the existing platforms of Google Talk and Google Voice, and the rapid increases made by both Android and iOS in market share, new messaging services will only increase their attraction if the right data plans become available. The big test will be whether they have an impact on the hundreds of billions of SMS messages sent every year across all mobiles.
48 billion app downloads – in 2015?
Research firm In-Stat expects mobile app downloads to reach a whopping 48 billion in 2015 with the rapid growth of smartphones predicted to reach 45% of total phone shipments in 2015.
That’s a big opportunity, but it’s also likely to lead to a huge growth in competition for app space on mobiles and tablets, so there’s never been a better time than now to start building your brand and business before it becomes more challenging in the future.
Take advantage of 128% growth in mobile advertising:
A U.S study in mobile ads by comScore has revealed advertisers booking mobile display campaigns has more than doubled in the past two years. And the amount of advertising has increased 128% since 2009 due to smartphone growth and the increase in mobile app popularity.