Android Hits 73% of Global Smartphone Market

"Gartner's released a report on worldwide numbers of 2012 3Q phone sales and the staggering results posted from Android have caused people like IW's Eric Zeman to call for sanity. Keep in mind these are worldwide numbers, which might be less surprising when you realize that the biggest growth market of them all is China, which is more than 90% Android. It's time to face the facts and realize that Android now owns 73% of the worldwide smartphone market. While developers bicker over which platform is best for development and earnings, the people of the world may be making the choice based on just how inexpensive an Android smartphone can be. This same time last year, Gartner reported Android at 52.5% of market share and it now sits at 72.4% market share with over 122 million units sold worldwide."

A New System Architecture Speeds Up the Use of Mobile Phone Applications

Aalto University (06/11/12) 

Smartphone users will be able to download mobile applications in just a few seconds using an open system architecture that allows for a new type of high-speed wireless Internet access. Developed by researchers at Aalto University, the architecture is designed to generate a battery-free smart tag that is used to download digital content directly to the phone faster, with less power use, and without using the telephone network. Iiro Jantunen and his research group have demonstrated the connection at a speed of 112 Mbps, but say they can scale it to a faster speed. "We developed the technology based on the user needs: For example, we started with a user's desire to download and run a three-minute video clip on a phone display with a wait of less than 10 seconds," Jantunen says. "Earlier that time was needed just to initiate a 3G connection or start Wi-Fi, to say nothing of how long it took to actually download the data." Jantunen built an apparatus to test and develop a lighter Bluetooth technology for devices with a smaller power source. The system architecture also makes it possible to use short-range wireless sensor networks for health-related applications.

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