• Dolphin HD will come preloaded with add-ons, reveals new beta release
• Sony Ericsson joins HTC and Motorola with low Q4 2011 results, but will revamp strategy as it becomes Sony
• HTC to integrate IBM business solutions on devices in effort to consolidate on the enterprise market
• Apple on path to 20% smartphone sales  marketshare for 2011 after record Q4 2011 results
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz devices on their way, by Samsung
• Mobile payments rushing towards mainstream availability in the US and Europe
• RIM has a new CEO, no strategic changes planned

Dolphin HD was updated to v7.3.1. beta, which adds by default 5 add-ons into the browser: Dolphin Comparison (battery usage optimization tool), Web to PDF, Dolphin Screen Cut (screenshot tool), Dolphin Translate and Shiny Shake Dolphin (theme switcher). The add-on pool for the browser also increased this week, with 2 additions: Skitch (webpage annotation and drawing tool) and Evernote.

Sony Ericsson, the third largest Android phone producer, has announced a 16% drop in device shipments for Q4 of last year, joining HTC, the second largest Android OEM, and Motorola, in experiencing losses. For the next quarters, Sony Ericsson, which in the meantime became Sony, will likely see a revamped production of Android devices, likely to be optimized towards integration with Sony’s other consumer technology products. Motorola, as well, will employ a different strategy in releasing Android devices, pending regulatory approval of its acquisition by Google.

HTC made a partnership with IBM to integrate business-centric software from IBM on its upcoming phones, in an effort to capture the enterprise segment. Given the concerns on the security of mobile platforms and Android in particular, it is expected that mobile devices geared towards the business consumer will likely include significant optimizations to ensure security and privacy of data.

Apple announced its earnings for Q4 of 2011, which surpassed all analyst estimates and produced record revenue for the company. In the quarter Apple sold 37 million iPhones, an increase of 128% year-over-year and 15 million iPads, which accounted for a 111% increase year-over-year. The iPhone produced 53% of total revenue, followed by the iPad with 20% and the Mac with 14%. The record results can be partly explained by the occurrence of the iPhone 4 launch and the holiday season in the same quarter, both events that trigger an increase in sales. Traditionally, Apple has released a new version of its phone in Q3 and this year’s delay was visible not only in Q4 results, but also in Q3 sales, when Apple sold 17 million iPhone units and missed analyst expectations, for the first time in a long time. For the full year 2011, Apple is expected to reach a 20% worldwide smartphones sales marketshare, pending result announcements from other OEMs.

The Samsung Galaxy III, presumably Samsung’s next flagship device, is rumoured to feature a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor and Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone is expected to launch in April of 2012.

In Sweden, the four leading mobile phone companies have formed an alliance meant to bring a combined mobile wallet service to 97% of the country’s subscribers by summer of this year. Using NFC technology, mobile payments efforts are rushing all over the world to mainstream, backed by mobile operators. The US, UK, Denmark, France and Germany are also countries where the main network operators have joined efforts to bring an inter-operable mobile payment solution to their subscribers. In the US, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile will launch the ISIS system in 2012 starting with Austin, Texas. Besides support from mobile operators, mobile payment platforms need collaboration from retailers in adapting their Point-of-Sale payment terminals.

Thorsten Heins is RIM’s  new CEO, who was promoted from the position on COO to replace co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. The new leader of the Canadian phone maker plans to steer the company in the same direction and has not announced major strategic changes. analysts and investors have not shown appreciation for this decision, as they are hoping for new measure that would turn-around the company’s recent drops in sales marketshare and share prices.

• Motorola and Intel entered a multiyear partnership to produce Intel-based Android devices
• CyanogenMod picking up among early-adopters, with the support of OEMs
• Samsung announced the intention to merge Bada and Tizen. no decision yet
• Nokia to reach a 11% smarthphone shipments marketshare in 2012, down to 8% in 2013
• Web-enabled feature phones picking up interest from phone vendors
• In 2010 an estimated 28% of all mobile handsets were smartphones in Western Europe, with an expected 37% in 2012 and 49% in 2015, reveals the European Mobile Observatory

Motorola and Intel announced a multiyear, multi-device partnership in which the OEM will use Intel’s Atom processors to power its Android products. The first device will be launched this year and it will be part of Motorola’s revised strategy of releasing fewer, but more focused devices.

The trend of 3rd-party ROMs to be installed on Android devices continues to pick up, although not at a rate that would significantly impact the Android ecosystem. CyanogenMod, the most popular non-official Android fork, had been installed on more than 1 million devices. The creators of the Cyanogen might also launch an app store for apps rejected from the official Android Market. OEMs, like Samsung and HTC, are responding positively to this trend by providing bootloader unlock tools.

Samsung announced an intention to merge their Bada operating system with Tizen, an open source OS backed by the Linux Foundation and Intel. The OEM did not confirm the decision, but said that it is “carefully looking at the option”. After the potential merge, Bada would be kept as on option for lower-end smartphones, with Tizen for more premium devices. Bada currently has 2-3% of the smartphone shipments marketshare.

Nokia will sell an estimated 37 million Windows Phone devices in 2012, followed by 64 million in 2013. This performance would put the OEM at 11% smartphone marketshare for 2012 and 8% in 2013, down from the 33% it enjoyed in 2010.

Feature phones are becoming smarter, with the creation of a niche for Web-enabled feature phones, who also support applications. Yahoo, Mediatek and the Spice Group, an Indian conglomerate, are some of the actors that are interested in the potential of this market and developing efforts in the area. A platform dedicated to this niche is the Maui Runtime Environment, which runs on MediaTek’s chipsets. The Spice Group, who has already launched an appstore called “S Apps Planet” for the platform, intends to launch research and development for Web-enabled feature phones.  Traditionally, feature phones have been able to access data services through WAP.

The GSMA published the 2011 European Mobile Observatory, which states that in Europe:

• By 2015, the will be more data consumed than any other region on a per capita basis.
• Mobile operator revenue growth rates have been declining for the past few years due to the economic climate, market maturity and greater regulatory interventions.
• Mobile data revenues are partially offsetting reductions elsewhere with strong growth in broadband connected to sales of smartphones and dongles. Data now represents 12% of carrier revenues, up from 4% in 2007.
• Approximately 89% of the population uses mobile services – an extremely high penetration rate. Many customers own multiple SIM cards, which have a penetration rate of 128%.
• In 2010 an estimated 28% of all mobile handsets were smartphones in Western Europe, with an expected 37% in 2012 and 49% in 2015.

Full report can be downloaded here.

• Opera launched a HTML5-based app store solution for TVs
• The Dolphin browser was updated to 7.3 on Android and 3.0 on iOS
• Lenovo to launch first Intel-powered Android smartphone, the K800
• Samsung announced good Q4 2011 results, with 35 million smartphones sold
• Sony announced Xperia NXT, first Android smartphones without Ericsson
• HTC has had poor results in Q4 2011 results, selling less devices than Q3
• 1.67 billion phones will be sold this year, with 3G and 4G chipsets on more than half
• 16 out of the top 25 mobile companies by revenue are network operators
• Nokia confirmed North America focus and Lumia 900 device
• Nokia acquired Smarterphone, a producer of feature phone OS

Opera launched the Opera TV Store, a HTML5-based store solution for connected TVs, where developers can create and publish Web-based TV apps. The store solution’s value proposition is described as “uniting multiple devices with a single, powerful browser engine.” Opera also made a partnership with the Digital Living Network Alliance, an organization who works on standards and solutions for sharing digital content across different consumer devices.Opera will integrate the company’s solution into its Devices SDK, to allow the creation of multiple device management features. Opera also announced a licensing deal with INTEK Digital, a set-top box manufacturer, to include the Opera Devices SDK on the company’s Android-based Hybrid TV product, to launch in the first half of 2012.

The Dolphin browser on Android was updated to version 7.3. Improvements include a refreshed look of the browser chrome and its Webzine feature. Mobotap also released version 3.0 of the Dolphin browser on iOS, which also got its design updated.

Lenovo and Intel announced the first Intel-powered Android smartphone: the K800. The device uses the Medfield chip mobile platform, probably with an Atom Z2460 1.6 GHz processor. The phone will be available in China in Q2 this year.

Samsung, the world’s biggest technology firm by revenue and largest smartphone producer by volume, announced good preliminary results for Q4, with sales of smartphones rising to 35 million devices, up from 28 million in Q3. The company is predicted to sell 170 million smartphone this year, up from 95 million in 2011. Not all of Samsung’s devices run on Android, but the vast majority does.

Sony announced the first Sony Android smartphones that will launch under the brand after the buyout of Ericsson’s share from the joint venture. The smartphones will be part of the Sony Xperia NXT series, which will start with the Xperia S phone, and will launch in the first quarter of this year featuring Gingerbread, to be updated in Q2 to Ice Cream Sandwich.

HTC, the second largest Android OEM and also Asia’s second-largest smartphone maker, has seen its profits decline for the first time in 2 years. Its income in Q4 of 2011 dropped by 26%, on account of competition from Samsung, as well as a decline in operating margins. For Q1 of 2012, it is estimated that the company’s shipment numbers will continue to drop to 8.5 million, after having reduced from 13.2 million in Q3 of 2011 to 10 million in Q4.

In 2012, phone makers will ship 1.67 billion units worldwide as consumers in emerging markets upgrade their handsets, with 3G and 4G devices making up more than half of total mobile phone market for first time, a report from ABI Research reveals.

16 of the top 25 mobile companies by revenue are network operators, reveals a report by analyst Tomi Ahonen. Among the rest are 5 handset manufacturers and 3 network equipment producers. The top is dominated by mobile carriers:  China Mobile, with revenue of $77 billion in 2010, followed by Verizon (72 billion), Vodafone (66 billion), AT&T (58 billion), Telefonica (55 billion), T-mobile (48 billion) and Orange (47 billion), and followed by 3 handset manufacturers: Nokia (45 billion), Apple (42 billion) and Samsung (40 billion). Regional distribution puts 9 of the biggest mobile companies by revenue in Europe, 9 in Asia, 6 in North America and 1 in Latin America. Country-wise, 5 are from the US, 3 from China, 3 from Japan, 2 from South Korea and 2 from France.

Nokia confirmed the release of the Lumia 900 device in the US, which will feature a 1.4 GHz CPU with 512 RAM and a 4.3 inch AMOLED screen. This is Nokia’s first Windows Phone equipped with LTE technology, and it will run on AT&T network. At CES, Stephen Elop emphasized Nokia’s commitment to the North American market, with products, such as the Nokia 900, designed specially for it. Pricing and timing of the device were not yet announced.

Nokia has acquired Smarterphone, a Norwegian company that builds a licenseable mobile operating system for feature phones, specifically for the $25 to $75 segment. In related news, rumours are yet again surfacing about an acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft.

Summary for this week:

• Opera acquired Handster, a mobile app store solution

• Google is preparing for the Ice Cream Sandwich release

• Samsung and HTC are also concentrating on their own mobile platforms

• Google Wallet, using NFC technology, launched

• The first Windows Phone 7.5 updates to be rolled-out to consumers today

Opera has acquired Handster, a mobile app store solution company which offers a white label platform as well as a Handster-branded store. Opera already operates a mobile app store which is powered by Appia. In June Handster hosted 23,000 apps, with 2,500 added each month. The company also has relationships with major players in the mobile market, such as Ericsson, Huawei, LG, Alcatel-Lucent and MTS. 

Google posted guidelines to help developers prepare their apps for the release of the Ice Cream Sandwhich, expected early November. The blog post explains differences in handling different screen sizes, as the new OS version will support both handsets and tablets. There also was a leak on the first device to feature the next version of Android, which will be made by Samsung. The device is reported to be featuring a dual-core CPU at 1.5 GHz, 1GB of RAM and a 4.6 inch screen.  The native browser is reported to have a redesigned logo, to have moved the tabs at the bottom of the screen and to be performant and responsive.

The top two Android phone producers, Samsung and HTC are reported to be also working on growing their own mobile operating systems. While Samsung is rumoured to be open-sourcing its Bada mobile OS in 2012 in order to accelerate platform growth, HTC has declared that it plans to develop its own mobile platform. 

Google Wallet launched, an app that uses the NFC chip in phones to process payments. The first implementation of Google Wallet will run on the Nexus S devices from Sprint and store Citi MasterCard credit cards and Google Prepaid Cards. Yesterday Visa also announced that it will join the venture.

The 7.5, “Mango”, update for Windows Phone 7 is rumoured to begin rolling out to users on Vodafone’s network starting today. This would be the first consumer devices to run the new version of the OS.

RIM has announced low results for Q2 of this year and experienced falls in its stock price. There were 10.6 million Blackberry phones and 200,000 QNX tablets shipped last quarter and Blackberry took 4th place in terms of worldwide smartphone sales to end users for the period with 11.7% of marketshare, down from 2nd place (18.7%) which it occupied in the same quarter last year. RIM executives declared that the new lineup of Blackberry 7 devices and the Playbook 2.0 update coming this year will put the company in a good position for the holiday season and decrease the platform’s falling marketshare. 

When we launched Firefox for mobile on Android we were facing new challenges with regards to device compatibility. This was new for Mozilla, because on the desktop you do not need to test the whole range of hardware which ships with the platform you run on. Also our previous mobile efforts, for Maemo, included only 2 device models. But on Android, we had dozens of different phones. And testing all of them would not be an easy task.

So I wanted to see exactly what would be a decent amount of phones that we need to test in order to make sure that we cover a good amount of all Androids that are in people’s hands.

I looked at data of Android devices in market for the US, Western Europe (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy) and Japan and come to the conclusions that:

 there is an average of 57 Android models per country

 17 (35%) of them cover 75% of all of the phones in the market

It turns out that at one given time there are a few top devices which everybody has and then a long tail of others. The other are made up of not so successful models that will never rise to be popular ones and some which were recenly launched and haven’t had time to get owners. You can usually identify the ones in the long tail which are likely to become top devices by looking at how widely they are marketed, or success in other markets.

Summary for this week:

• Opera launched an HTML5 app store aimed at TV and home entertainment devices that run the Opera TV browsing solutio.

• Dolphin introduced Dolphin user accounts with version 6.2 of Dolphin HD, which are used for bookmark syncing

• Net Applications puts Safari as the top mobile browser, followed by Opera Mini. Stats Counter reports differently

• Baidu announced the release of an Android-based mobile OS, called Baidu Yi

• Asia-Pacific leads the world in smartphone use, reveals a survey by Google and Ipsos

Opera launched a trial version of the Opera TV Store, a HTML5 based store solution that runs on TVs, set-top boxes or TV media players. Running on top of the Opera engine, the Opera TV Store supports HTML5, SVG, Canvas, CE-HTML and OIPF based applications. Several content providers have already developed applications for the store, including Vimeo, Funspot, CineTrailer and DriveCast. Opera’s TV devices installed base is 10 million. Opera also has a mobile app store, which it launched in March 2011 and which currently serves over 1.6 million downloads a day on a variety of mobile OSs.

Dolphin HD was updated to version 6.2, which introduces Dolphin user accounts, which can be used for online bookmark syncing using the Dolphin Bookmark Sync add-on, currently in beta. Other features include Webzine landscape view and the ability to share webzine content directly to Facebook or Twitter.

Net Applications has released refined data on mobile browsing for August which points to Safari as the most used browser with 53% of page views, followed by Opera Mini with 21%, the Android browser with 16% and Symbian with 6%. StatsCounter, which also measures the mobile browser market, states that Opera (Mini) is the most used one, with 21%, followed by the Android browser with 19%, Symbian with 17% and Safari with 15%. Both vendors agree, however, on the share of mobile browsing as part of all browsing: 7%.

Baidu announced the release of a mobile OS, called Baidu Yi, based on Android, but customized with Baidu’s cloud-based applications: Baidu Maps, Yue (reader app), Shen Bian (a Places app), Ting (online music service). The search engine company is talking to Qualcomm to produce handsets featuring Yi, which would play in the low-end spectrum of the market. There have also been indications that Baidu is partnering with Dell to produce a tablet running its newly launched OS.

The acquisition of Motorola by Google, as well as the IP lawsuits against Android OEMs, are fueling public and private discussions on the long-term strategies of smartphone vendors, such as Samsung and HTC, and their options regarding alternative mobile platforms, such as Samsung’s Bada, HP’s Web OS and Intel’s Meego. While there are plenty of rumours surfacing and pitches being made, there haven’t been announced any strategic shifts. This week announcements continued as usual, with Samsung revealing 2 new Android devices and HTC 2 Windows Phone ones. 

Asia-Pacific leads the world in smartphone use, reveals a survey by Google and Ipsos. Asia-Pacific markets have the highest penetration of mobile phones in the world. Asian users of mobile phones tend to interact more with their phones and more of them find their smartphones more interesting than watching TV than their counterparts in the much further developed regions like Europe and the United States. 

More details regarding Amazon’s upcoming Android tablet have been revealed: the 7-inch screen device will probably be arriving end of November and cost $250. It will include all of Amazon’s services, such as Amazon’s Android app store, a Kindle reader app, its cloud music player and Instant Video player.

A class action lawsuit was filed against Microsoft, claiming that Windows Phone is collecting user data without their consent. Information is collected when the camera application is used and includes the device ID, time and location of the device. Microsoft denies the allegations, saying that the data cannot be correlated to a specific user. When Apple was facing a similar lawsuit concerning iOS, Microsoft sent a letter to Congress stating that Windows Phone 7 will not store any location data without user permission.

Summary for this week:

• Opera reported record results, with most revenues coming from mobile operator deals.

• Mobotap launched an iPhone version of the Dolphin browser with a similar look and feel, as well as key features.

• Samsung presented 3 new Bada handsets and is preparing new Android device announcements tomorrow.

• The first, 7-inch, Amazon tablet is rumoured to be shipping in October, followed by a 10-inch version early 2012.

Opera posted record profits in Q2 of 2011, which increased 47% year-over-year, while revenues rose by 29%. The biggest transformation in the company’s revenues represents the shift from desktop deals as the main revenue source to mobile operator deals. Reported numbers include:

• over 200 million Opera users, 55 of which are on the desktop, 16.2 million are related to Opera Mini agreements with operators, 115 million “regular” (not from operator deals) Opera Mini users, 6 million Opera Mobile users and 10 million on consumer electronic devices such as TVs.
• on Android, Opera Mini had 5.5 million users in June 2011
• 35% of its revenues come from mobile operator deals, 33% from the desktop, 16% from consumer electronic devices, 10% from mobile OEM deals and 5% from its ad-publishing service, AdMarvel
• 260% mobile operator Opera Mini user growth year-over-year

Opera announced that it extended its partnership with the leading carrier in the Phillipines, Smart Communications, to provide a custom version of the Opera Mini browser to augment the mobile Internet proposition to the operator’s over 45 million  subscribers. The Smart-Opera Mini browser was first launched in early 2010 and it has experienced a steady growth of 45% every month since then.

Opera partenered with CreNova Technology, a supplier of set-top boxes, to include the Opera HbbTV browser on products sold across Europe. The boxes offer support for Internet-based interactive TV applications, VOD and catch-up TV

Mobotap, the company behind the Dolphin browsers on Android, launched an iPhone version of the browser, built on top of Safari, a similar strategy to its approach on Google’s OS. The new edition tries to keep consistency with its Android equivalent in look and feel and features. The main propositions are the Webzine feature, gestures, the deeply integrated social features and its Speed Dial new tab page. The browser is not yet available for the iPad, but it will be. Different from the Android version, Dolphin for iOS does not feature add-ons or themes.

Samsung, who is expected to become the top smartphone vendor before the end of the year, has recently announced 3 new phones running its Bada OS, to be launched in October, and is preparing to present new Android devices tomorrow at IFA, in Berlin. The International FunkAusstellung  is one of the world’s leading trade shows for consumer electronics. Samsung created samsungifa2011.com special for the event.

New rumours point to the launch of Amazon’s first Android tablet, to feature a 7 inch screen, in October, with the 10-inch version coming early 2012. The Amazon tablets are expected with interest in the industry as they will present a different value proposition than the usual Android tablet. While Amazon does not have a lot of experience in the software and platform industries, it will attract users with its content, cloud and commerce product lines, which will be tightly integrated into the device. The tablets are also expected to be priced lower than its competitors.

Summary for this week:

• Dolphin announced 9 million downloads and a partnership with Softbank, a Japanese carrier, in launching a 3D phone featuring the Dolphin HD browser.

• Opera launched a co-branded version of the Opera Mini browser with Vodafone Essar, India’s 3rd carrier by number of subscribers.

• The Android team announced that it will bring closer its development of the Android browser and Chrome by making available a slightly modified, open source Android browser port in Webkit.

• Google has released a preview version of a Google TV plug-in for the Android SDK, after buying Motorola Mobility, an important player in the TV set-top box business.

• Microsoft filed a patent lawsuit against Motorola, which can act as a test for the protection that Motorola’s patents can provide to Android handset makers, which was the main reason declared for Google’s acquisition last week.

• HP announced that it will discontinue efforts for the hardware of its Web OS devices and focus on the platform development, which it hopes to license to other hardware makers.

•  Frequent mobile Internet users are happier with their mobile operator, as consumers perceive that the quality of their experience on the device is linked to the quality of service provided by their mobile operator, a survey by On Device Research from April reports.

Dolphin announced that it reached 9 million downloads. The post does not mention which of the 2 versions of the Dolphin browser achieved this, so it can be concluded that the Dolphin HD and the Dolphin Mini browsers together reached this number, however, it is expected that the HD version got the most downloads.

Dolphin announced a partnership with Softbank, a mobile carrier in Japan, to launch a the operator’s “first ever 3D social phone”. The device, called the 3D Aquos 009SH, will feature the Dolphin Browser, together with its social media add-ons, such as Facebook, Twitter, Mixi and Evernote.

Vdafone Essar and Opera launched a co-branded version of the Opera Mini mobile browser, together with a promotional campaign. Vodafone Essar is the third largest mobile carrier in India, by number of subscribers and the partnership was leveraged by Opera’s global relationship with Vodafone, one of the world’s largest mobile operators.

The Android team announced that it will bring closer its development of the Android browser and Chrome by making available a slightly modified, open source Android browser port in Webkit. While Chrome and the Android browser are both based on Webkit, the Android browser was built from an earlier fork of the rendering engine and has been developed separately from the Chrome and Chromium projects. This move raises the assumption that Google might be looking to merge the development of their desktop and mobile browser into one, probably to inherit the Chrome branding. The meta bug for the Android port in Webkit is bug 66687 in the WebKit Bugzilla.

Google has released a preview version of a Google TV plug-in for the Android SDK, allowing developers to build apps optimized for the television sets. This release comes after the announcement of Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which is an important player in the TV set-top box market, and thus gives more credibility to the assumption that Google is looking to accelerate its efforts to significantly enter the TV business. The acquisition is expected to be completed at the end of 2011 or early 2012, as it receives regulatory approval.

The patent wars concerning Android are continuing, as Microsoft filed a new patent lawsuit, this time against Motorola Mobility, claiming that its Android devices infringe with patents held by the Redmond company. As Google claimed that the main reason for acquiring Motorola Mobility is to provide patent protection for Android handset makers such as Motorola, this new lawsuit can act as a test towards the protection that the newly-acquired patents can provide.

HP announced that it will discontinue efforts for the hardware of its Web OS devices and focus on the platform development, which it hopes to license to other hardware makers. Following the news, already released HP Web OS devices such as the Touch Pad have had their prices reduced, which triggered record sales for the platform. Microsoft has publicly reached out to developers of Web OS applications with incentives to move to its Windows Phone platform.

There are now nearly 30,000 mobile applications available for Windows Phone in its Marketplace, which now accepts submissions for the 7.1 “Mango” update of the OS. In Q2 of 2011, Windows Phone 7 was the 6th platform in terms of shipments, with 1% of the total and going down from Q1 of 2011, when it had 2% of total shipments. The Android Market place has 250,000 applications and the iOS app store has 425,000.

Frequent mobile Internet users are happier with their mobile operator, as consumers perceive that the quality of their experience on the device is linked to the quality of service provided by their mobile operator, a survey by On Device Research from April reports. Other findings:

• As the mobile Internet becomes more important to consumers lives and is used more frequently, people become happier with their device.
• As the mobile Internet becomes part of consumers daily lives, the increased engagement with the device increases satisfaction with it, which in turn creates happier customers for mobile operators.
• Different content services have varying levels of influence on operator satisfaction, with social networking showing the biggest difference towards more satisfaction with carrier
• In India, Opera browser users are 9% less likely to state that they want to stop using their mobile operator, compared to users of other browsers

Summary for this week:

• Google intends to buy Motorola Mobility to consolidate its mobile patent portfolio and potentially also to enter the TV equipment business.

• Android now accounts for 20% of the smartphone installed base of 750 million.

• Opera announced partnerships with: 
  • Telling Telecom, a mobile phone distributor in China, with whom it launched a mobile browser called Oupeng
    
  • MTN, a carrier operating in South Africa and 20 other African and Middle Eastern countries
    
  • Terra, a Brazil-based Internet company which operates a Web portal and an ISP in the US, Spain and 16 Latin American countries

• Samsung is rumoured to be looking to significantly enhance its software capabilities as it competes with Apple in the smartphone business

• Fusion Garage launches an Android kernel-based mobile OS, named Grid, which will be featured on a 10-inch tablet and a 4-inch handset

Google made public its intent to buy Motorola Mobility for $ 12.5 billion, pending regulatory approval. The deal is expected to be finalized at the end of 2011 or beginning of 2012. The main reason for the acquisition is said to be the gain of over 17K patents that would help Google defend the Android ecosystem from more patent-related lawsuits, but also Motorola’s TV set-top box and pay-TV equipment business, which could be used to make Google a significant player in the TV market. With the new acquisition Google will also be able to produce its own Android devices, which might push the other OEMs to look at more diversification of the platforms they support. For more details, please see yesterday’s email on the topic.

Google announced that there are now 150 million Android devices in the market. This puts Android’s installed base at 20% of the total ~750 million smartphones in use at the moment.

Opera, in collaboration with Telling Telecom, launched Oupeng, a mobile browser based on Opera technology aimed at Chinese consumers. The new browser runs on Symbian, Java and Android and its interface resembles that of Opera Mini. Telling Telecom is a mobile phone distributor in China, controlling over 40,000 retailing outlets across the country

Opera has announced a partnership with MTN, a carrier operating in South Africa and 20 other African and Middle Eastern countries and serving 150 million mobile subscribers. As part of the deal, Opera will provide the network operator with a customized version of Opera Mini, optimized for MTN’s portals, in each of its 21 markets.

After striking a partnership with Globo, a leading latin American portal, Opera announced a deal with Terra, a Brazil-based Internet company which operates a Web portal and an ISP in the US, Spain and 16 Latin American countries. Terra is owned by Telefonica, the world’s third largest telecommunications provider in the world. Opera also has a relationship with Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile telecommunications company

Dolphin HD 6.1 was released, featuring Webzines to allow for online content subscriptions on the browser’s home page, as well as social media integration. Mobotap also released a new version of Dolphin Mini, v2.2, featuring bug fixes.

Samsung is rumoured to be looking to significantly enhance its software capabilities, as it competes with Apple in the smartphone business. This comes after sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, its flagship tablet based on the extremely successful Samsung Galaxy series, were temporarily banned from selling in the EU due to a patent legal battle with the maker of iOS.

Grid is the name of a new mobile OS based on the Android kernel and developed by Fusion Garage. The company will launch a 10 inch tablet, called the Grid 10, and a 4 inch smartphone, called the Grid 4, beginning with September, in the US. The new tablet and phone specs are in line with today’s high-end mobile devices. So far, reviewers are moderately pozitive about the new venture and are expecting to see the market pick-up of the devices.

Summary for this week:

• Dolphin HD was updated to v6.1 beta and voted No.2 on CNET’s Top 100 Android apps.

• In Q2, smartphone sales experienced 62% year-over-year growth and a re-shuffle of the top OEM positions due to Nokia’s decline from the first place to third.

• Approx. half of smartphones sold in Q2 run Android and their top manufacturers are Samsung (34%), HTC (23%) and Sony Ericsson (11%).

• Alibaba, a Chinese ecommerce giant, released its own mobile OS, which runs Android and Web-based apps.

• Phone Gap 1.0 was released and Nvidia announced tablets featuring its Kal-El quad-core CPUs to be available this fall

Two weeks after the launch of Dolphin HD 6.0, Mobotap pushes the 6.1 beta update, which includes performance and stability fixes. For the final release of v6.1 improvements to the browser’s webzine feature have been announced. Also this week, Dolphin HD was voted No.2 on CNET’s Top 100 Android apps. Mobotap also updated Dolphin Mini to version 2.2.

In Q2 there were 103 million smartphones shipped worldwide, which represents a 62% year-over-year growth, ABI Research reports. Nokia fell from the 1st place as top smartphone device manufacturer to the 3rd place with 16% (16.7 million) of all devices sold in Q2, being replaced by Apple with 19.7% (20.3 million), which is followed by Samsung in 2nd place with 18.4% (19 million). The 4th is RIM with 12.9% (13.3 million) and then come HTC with 10.6% (11 million) and LG with 5.2% (5.4 million). The cause for the radical shift at the top spots is the fall of Nokia’s share, which in Q1 accounted for 24% of all smartphones sold, a share which a year before was even higher, at 38%. Analysts from ABI Research predict that the first position will be occupied by Samsung in future quarters, as the OEM has shown an impressive 500% year-over-year growth, which overpasses Apple’s 142% year-over-year rate. Almost half (47 million) of all smartphones shipped last quarter run Android and were produced by Samsung with a 34% share, HTC (23%) and Sony Ericsson (11%).

Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant releaved its Web-centered strategy for its new mobile OS, which it launched this week. Called Alyiun, the platform can run both Android apps and Web-based ones and integrates a series of cloud services provided by the platform vendor. “Mobile users want a more open and convenient mobile OS, one that allows them to truly enjoy all that the Internet has to offer right in the palm of their hand. [...] The business model on the Web is already established. If you can bring the Web on to the phone, you can basically bring that business model on to the phone.”, a Alibaba exec declared. The OS provides the user with 100 GB of virtual storage where she can sync information like contacts, call logs, messages, notes and photos. The OS can be licensed for free and it is not restricted solely to devices aimed at the Chinese market. The first handset featuring the OS is the K-Touch Cloud-Smart produced in collaboration with Chinese handset manufacturer Tianyu and Nvidia and features a 3.8-inch display with a Nvidia Tegra 2 1 GHz dual-core CPU.

Quad-core tablets powered by Nvidia’s Kal-El chipsets are said to become available this fall, and phones to follow next year. The Kal-El family of the Tegra series features up to 1.5 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 chips, with 12-core Nvidia GPU and it is said to be 5x faster than the Tegra 2 series. Kal-El was Superman’s name on Krypton, his home planet.

PhoneGap 1.0, the open-source mobile development framework enabling developers to build mobile apps with JS, HTML and CSS, was released. With support for a wide range of mobile platforms, such as Android, iOS, webOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian and BB, PhoneGap has been downloaded over 600,000 times at ~40,000 downloads per month. The 1.0 release focused on accessing native device APIs and also included improvements on W3C DAP API compatibility, Contacts API, remote debugging tools, a unifying bridge to add platforms and platform extensions.

The acquisition of the ~ 6,000 patents concerning wireless, data networking, optical, voice and semiconductor technologies from Nortel by a consortium of companies comprising Apple, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony, while approved by courts in the US and Canada, is being investigated by the US Justice Department among concerns that they might be used for lawsuits against other handset makers using Google’s Android.

Windows Phone 7 has a new logo: the green circle around the Windows logo has been replaced by a red square.

RIM announced the worldwide August launch of 5 new devices running Blackberry OS 7. The new phones are from the Bold and Torch series and include bar, slide, as well as touch-screen only models.