market

Market researcher Canalys has again put Apple in top spot among PC makers with an overwhelming 20 percent market share.

Apple shipped 27 million units in the fourth quarter, while HP and Lenovo both shipped around 15 million (HP slightly more than Lenovo), putting them in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively.

Samsung is also on the rise: it made an appearance in the top five for the first time, pushing Dell out of fourth place.

All of this is possible because Canalys counts "pads," i.e., tablets, as PCs -- not a ludicrous concept considering … Read more

As Apple appears to be winning the U.S. smartphone race, Google still has a strong hold as the top mobile platform.

New data by ComScore shows that Apple got the rank of "top smartphone manufacturer" by raking in 36.3 percent of the market share, while Google Android was the No. 1 platform with 53.4 percent share. ComScore tallied this data by surveying more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers between September and December 2012.

To date, 125.9 million people in the U.S. now own a smartphone, which is 54 percent of the … Read more

Dozens of lawsuits and investigations emerged after Facebook's initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Market last year. One investigation, initiated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, focused on technical errors in Nasdaq's system that inadvertently delayed trading that first day.

Now, word has it that Nasdaq may be able to settle the debacle with the federal regulators, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sources familiar with the matter have told the Journal that Nasdaq has been in preliminary settlement talks with the SEC. If the two sides do make a deal, it will most likely … Read more

New mobile browsers including Google's Chrome, Microsoft's IE, and Amazon's Silk are gaining a foothold in a market that's growing faster than traditional browsing on personal computers.

The mobile browsing market has long been dominated by three products. Apple's Safari has long held the top spot in usage share measurements by Net Applications, with second place going to Google's unbranded Android browser after it surpassed Opera Mini last year.

Safari had 61.0 percent, the Android browser 21.5 percent, and Opera Mini 9.8 percent of usage in January, measurements released today show. … Read more

As Android tablet shipments surge, probably the best thing that can be said about Microsoft is that it's not going away.

Android tablet shipments totaled about 30 million in the fourth quarter, IDC reported today. And that number (total market) jumps to 50 million if you throw in Apple's iPad.

"There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul," an IDC analyst said today in a statement, trying to put Microsoft's tablet debut into perspective.

In fact, that's probably about as positive a statement that can … Read more

If Singapore and Hong Kong are to be our guides, Apple might be having some trouble in Asia, according to a new report.

Reuters yesterday made some waves in a report outlining Apple's perceived troubles in Asia. The news outlet argued that in the most "trend-setting" areas in Asia, the popularity of Apple's iPhone seems to be dropping off.

To make its point, Reuters pointed to data from StatCounter, an analytics provider that delivers market share data based on page views collected from sites running its platform. At last count, that meant a global sample of … Read more

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