Gartner’s forecast says Android to become No. 2

Gartner’s forecast says Android to become No. 2 worldwide mobile operating system in 2010 and challenge Symbian for No. 1 position by 2014.

"The worldwide mobile OS market is dominated by four players: Symbian, Android, Research In Motion and iOS," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner regarding their recent study (Gartner Says Android to Become No. 2 Worldwide Mobile Operating System in 2010 and Challenge Symbian for No. 1 Position by 2014).  .

"Launches of updated operating systems — such as Apple iOS 4, BlackBerry OS 6, Symbian 3 and Symbian 4, and Windows Phone 7 — will help maintain strong growth in smart phones in 2H10 and 2011 and spur innovation. However, we believe that market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from CSPs and developers and strong brand awareness with consumer and enterprise customers."

The worldwide mobile operating system (OS) market will be dominated by Symbian and Android, as the two OSs will account for 59.8 percent of mobile OS sales by 2014, according to Gartner, Inc. Communication service providers' (CSPs') marketing and vendor support for Android-based smart phones will drive the platform to become the second-largest platform, following Symbian, by year-end 2010. This is almost two years earlier than Gartner predicted a year ago.

"CSPs and mobile device manufacturers alike will need to revisit their platform strategies and balance the need to pursue platforms with the highest current demand against the need to maintain differentiation with unique devices," Ms. Cozza said. "CSPs will likely reduce the number of platforms they offer, to reduce their support costs and clarify their propositions to market."

 Gartner predicts that by 2014, open-source platforms will continue to dominate more than 60 percent of the market for smart phones. Single-source platforms, such as Apple's iOS and Research In Motion's BlackBerry, will increase in unit terms, but their growth rate will be below market average and not enough to sustain share increase. Windows Phone will be relegated to sixth place behind MeeGo in Gartner's worldwide OS ranking by 2014.

Android became 3rd, HTC enters top ten – Gartner reported

Android became the World's third most popular smart phone operating system. It means over 10 million new users in Q2 2010 and numbers are rising constantly.

Worldwide mobile device sales to end users totalled 325.6 million units in the second quarter of 2010, a 13.8 percent increase from the same period in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone sales to end users accounted for 19 percent of worldwide mobile device sales, an increase of 50.5 percent from the second quarter of 2009.

The second quarter also saw some movement in the top 10 mobile device manufacturer rankings. HTC made its debut in the top 10 worldwide ranking, holding the No. 8 position with 139.1 percent growth year-on-year. This reflects the popularity of its Android portfolio but also a more aggressive branding strategy compared to the same period in 2009.

In the smart phone operating system (OS) market, Android expanded rapidly in the second quarter of 2010, overtaking Apple’s iPhone OS to become the third-most-popular OS in the world. In the U.S, it also overtook RIM’s OS to become the No. 1 smart phone OS in this region.

Smartphone sales to end users totalled 61.6 million units in the second quarter of 2010, a 50.5 percent increase from the same period in 2009. The top four smart phone OS vendors exhibited growth in the second quarter of 2010, and accounted for 91 percent of the worldwide smart phone OS market, up 6 percent year-on-year.

“Launches of updated operating systems will help maintain strong growth in smart phones in the second half of 2010 and spur innovation. But we believe market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from CSPs and developers, and strong brand awareness with consumers and enterprise customers.” - said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

Google introduced "voice action" for Android

With a perfect timing Google introduced a new feature called "voice action" for Android mobiles. The official release starts with a statement could not be argued with: "Our mobile phones have become modern-day Swiss Army knives."

As at a recent news conference Google claimed to be activating more than 200,000 Android devices a day. Google hopes its new "voice actions" feature for Android phones will continue to boost sales. "Voice Actions are a series of spoken commands that let you control your phone using your voice. Call businesses and contacts, send texts and email, listen to music, browse the web, and complete common tasks, all just by speaking into your phone." - wrote Hugo Barra Product Management Director at Google's offical blog.

Google Voice Actions for Android supports the following commands:

- Send text to [contact] [message]
- Listen to [artist/song/album]
- Call [business]
- Call [contact]
- Send E-Mail to [contact] [message]
- Go to [Website]
- Note to self [note]
- Navigate to [location/business name]
- Directions to [location/business name]
- Map of [location]

Furthermore, Google is also releasing an updated version of the Google search widget for Android. When a user types a local search query, like "hungarian restaurants" he'll see suggested restaurants with addresses and ratings. Also, as the queries are typed, users can refine them further by tapping the pencil icon that appears to the right of search suggestions. Both Voice Actions and the new Google search widget require Android 2.2/Froyo and will be pre-installed with the new Droid 2 from Motorola and Verizon. Voice Actions are currently available for U.S. English speakers only.

Also, Google has released its Chrome to Phone extension, first announced back in May. Chrome to Phone is a convenient application that allows users to easily send a web page, Google map, YouTube video, phone number, or text document from a PC browser to an Android.

Secfone 1.0 released!

Secfone AG announced Secfone 1.0 to be available from now on.

"I am proud to see a dream turning into an idea, and an idea turning into a product everybody can buy" - said Gábor Kuti CEO of Secfone, after announcing the availabilty of Secfone 1.0. "As continuosly developed solutions Secfone products have reached a stage, but far not the end of they possibilities. A significant period has come to an end, we can focus now on the future to enable the maximum security and niveau for our clients" - he continued. The company presented Secfone Government and Secfone Industrial at the CeBIT in Hannover end February 2010.