juniper research

Apple tops in smartphone sales, but Samsung hot on its heels

Apple won the smartphone wars last quarter, but Samsung was close behind in second place, according to Juniper Research.

Buoyed by the iPhone 4S, Apple sold 37 million iPhones during the December quarter, giving the company a 25 percent share of the market.

Though Samsung lost its top perch, the Korean handset maker still managed to carve out a 21.7 percent share thanks to healthy demand for its Galaxy smartphone lineup.

Samsung's market share has jumped from 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010 to almost 22 percent, forcing Apple to now fight to stay ahead.… Read more

NFC mobile payments could hit $50 billion by 2014

Consumers around the world could generate as much as $50 billion in sales through NFC-based mobile payments by 2014, according to a report released yesterday by Juniper Research.

NFC, or near-field communication, lets consumers pay for goods and services on the go through their mobile phones simply by touching or passing them over another NFC-equipped device such as a register or terminal. The funds themselves are transferred from the user's credit card account stored through the mobile phone.

A variety of industry players have kicked off their own efforts to tap into the potential of NFC.

Google recently announced … Read more

LTE subscribers to hit 300 million by 2015

The number of people who subscribe to LTE next-generation wireless broadband services is expected to reach 300 million by 2015, compared with 500,000 this year, according to a report released Wednesday by Juniper Research.

As the mobile industry attempts to ramp up deployments of LTE, short for Long Term Evolution, the real surge probably won't sink in until 2012, says Juniper's report, "4G LTE Hardware Opportunities: Subscribers, End User Devices & Vendor Strategies 2010-2015." But companies are prepping now as they grapple with strains on their current 2G and 3G networks from data-hungry customers.

Countries … Read more

Report: WiMax subscribers to hit 50 million by 2014

The number of people grabbing their Internet access through WiMax is expected to jump to 50 million by 2014, says Juniper Research.

A report released Tuesday by the British research firm describes the growth in WiMax stemming from areas unreachable or unserved by broadband cable or DSL.

WiMax is a wireless technology that delivers broadband speeds over the last mile, ideal for locations where cabling is not available or feasible. Faster than current wireless 3G technology, WiMax can also serve large metropolitan areas as it covers a wider area than conventional Wi-Fi.

Referenced in the report, the most advanced WiMax … Read more

Daily Tidbits: 'Obama Girl' partners with Stickam for inauguration

Amber Ettinger, better known as "Obama Girl," has teamed up with Stickam for coverage of the presidential inauguration. Live coverage will be streamed live Monday at 8 p.m. EST from InauguralFest, and viewers will be able to see what she is doing all day at the inauguration starting at 10 a.m. EST Tuesday.

Integrated Media Measurement, an online research firm, found (PDF) that women between the ages of 15 and 48 tend to watch a television show and surf the Web an average of 17.5 minutes per day, while men do the same for just … Read more