market

The rise in worldwide subscribers on 4G LTE has far exceeded expectations. In just three years since its nascent beginnings, the mobile technology has skyrocketed -- going from 600,000 users in 2010 to nearly 100 million subscribers in 2012.

Now, in a new report, market research firm IHS iSuppli is projecting that global users will double in 2013 and that by 2016 LTE will claim more than 1 billion subscribers.

"With LTE emerging as a true global technology standard, its ecosystem now faces both challenges and opportunities," iSuppli's senior analyst for wireless communications, Wayne Lam, said … Read more

If the mobile phone giants are looking to strengthen their revenue streams in 2013, developing markets could be the best place to spot.

According to a new report from Nielsen Wire, smartphones still have "room to grow" in several top emerging markets.

Specifically, Nielsen found that feature phones, which researchers defined as "devices with no touchscreen, QWERTY keypad or operating system" are far more dominant in India and Russia, covering 80 percent and 51 percent of mobile users, respectively.

That's definitely not the case in the United States. For example, in another report from Nielsen in 2011, … Read more

HTC will go aggressive in 2013.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in an interview published today, HTC CEO Peter Chou said that he believes the "worst for HTC has probably passed." But how did the "worst" even come about? Chou believes it can be directly attributed to marketing.

"Our competitors were too strong and very resourceful, pouring in lots of money into marketing," Chou said of HTC's struggles last year. "We haven't done enough on the marketing front."

HTC had a strong 2011, making the company feel awfully confident … Read more

Despite a mixed reaction to its arrival at the end of October, Windows 8 continued to grow in market share by the end of December 2012.

New desktop market share numbers released by Net Applications show that Windows 8 jumped from 1.06 percent market share at the end of its first full month on the market to 1.77 percent by the end of December. That's a month-to-month jump of almost 60 percent. Note that these numbers include Windows 8 and Windows 8 on touch screens, but not Windows RT.

For what it's worth, the feature-limited Windows RT … Read more

Are you experiencing a slightly dry feeling in your mouth? Are your limbs offering involuntary jitters and twitches?

The fiscal cliff negotiations can do that to you.

However, Google would like to tell you that it understands the pain of entering 2013 without a sheet to the wind.

Having presented a charming doodle for New Year's Eve (below), featuring so many of the characters from the doodles of 2012 (you can see all Google's doodles here), today it presents the cleanup.

Reality has chimed. The cleaners have arrived. Robert Moog, Moby Dick, and Niels Bohr have all gone … Read more

Looking for alternative options for browsing and discovering new apps other than Google's Play Store? AppBrain App Market is such a tool. This extensive application gives the tech-savvy user another outlet for their needs. It combines a very detailed search tool with a clever social-networking sharing option. The combination of these elements makes this app interesting, albeit a bit cumbersome at times.

After completing the quick and painless setup, AppBrain App Market welcomed us with a clean, detailed and well designed layout. There are not many options in the settings since this software reacts to your input as you … Read more

Chipmakers are preparing for the second-generation iPad Mini and Samsung is on track for a phone with a bendable display and possibly an early intro of the Galaxy S4, according to a research note from RBC Capital Markets.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman -- who is in China visiting chip companies this week -- offered this ambiguous Apple note: "iPad Mini Gen-2: Apple's gen-2 iPad mini is getting pulled-in, and is likely to have several new suppliers, with TXN gaining content."

"Pulled in" would seem to imply that Apple is moving up introduction of … Read more

China is now the world's largest Android market, market researcher Informa said today.

Informa estimates that about 786 million smartphones will be sold worldwide by the end of the year, up 45 percent compared with 2011. Total Android-based smartphone sales this year will hit 461 million units. One-third of all of the Android devices sold in 2012 were sold in China, making it the world's largest Android market.

That figure becomes all the more staggering when one considers that the United States is in second place with 11 percent of all Android device sales this year.

The fact … Read more

Samsung is apparently not keen on letting Apple's recent Maps mishap in Australia go unnoticed, and is poking fun of its rival in downtown Sydney today.

CNET Australia has snapped pics of a little guerrilla marketing by Samsung featuring a muddied-up vehicle with a tent and other camping supplies. Next to it is a sign that says, "Oops, should have gotten a Samsung Galaxy S III. Get navigation you can trust."

The lost vehicle and signage, of course, are referring to recent incidences of people getting stranded in a wilderness area around Australia's Murray-Sunset National Park … Read more