In Google’s Q4 2012 earnings report Larry Page talked about the current issues of “managing supply” of hardware (meaning the problems with LG not being able to deliver as many Nexus 4 devices as are ordered) and of Motorola’s opportunities for innovation. He mentioned battery life and durability as possible areas of focus. Page mentioned that at the moment of acquisition Motorola had a 12 – 18 months product pipeline that Google still needs to deliver on.

Opera announced Opera Ice, a Webkit-based browser for Android and iOS, to be launched in February. Opera Ice will probably replace Opera Mobile for its 20 million users. Its main value proposition is a more intuitive, human user interface that ditches menus and focuses on gestures and prioritizes common language to communicate to the user. (Opera Mini, the proxy-browsing version with 200 million users will remain available.) With Opera moving away from using their own rendering engine on client on mobile, this leaves Mozilla as the only important player on Android to have a different engine on client than Webkit and maker our web compatibility effort harder. The only other engine on mobile / touch is IE’s, but that one still has a long road ahead before becoming significant in market.

 
Huawei will release a mid – end Android device in Germany. The Ascend G615 is rumoured to be available next month and has a quad – core processor, 1 GB of RAM and run on Ice Cream Sandwich, with a possible upgrade to Jelly Bean. It will be sold exclusively through online retailers.

Deloitte issued a report claiming that average modern smartphones (Android, iPhones or Windows Phones) generate 35 times more data traffic that a typical cellphone. This data surge will produce a 50 fold increase of wireless traffic by 2016 and will intensify the congestion of operator networks, especially in urban areas in developed economies.  To avoid degradation of customer experience, network operators will continue to invest in technologies to offload some of the connectivity burden to landlines, through WiFi, Femtocell, or WiMax. This points to convergence of the mobile and landline / desktop markets, not just at the device (tablets), but also at the connectivity level.

This week is about updates in the Android ecosystem (Play Store, version distribution), a view of mobile industry leaders of HTML5, stats about big screens on phones and regulation initiatives in the European telecommunications space.

Google now allows all developers to reply to comments directly in the Android Play Store, a feature available until now only to those considered top developers.

Google released the Beta Channel of Chrome to the Play Store. The release claims better HTML5 support and JavaScript performance. The app has an average rating of 4.1, same as the Chrome stable channel and has been reviewed ~ 2,600 times.

Sony announced waterproof Android phones: the Xperia Go (called Advance in the US), on Gingerbread, and the Xperia Arco S, with Ice Cream Sandwich.

Updated numbers for the Android version distribution as reflected by visits to the Play Store maintain Gingerbread on top with 47.6%, followed by Ice Cream Sandwich at 29.1% and by Jelly Bean at 10.2%. The data was collected in the 2 weeks previous to the 3rd of January. ICS and JB both jumped more than 2 points compared to the period of late November, at the expense of Gingerbread, who dropped from 51%.

A survey of 30 mobile industry leaders conducted by Chetan Sharma Consulting revealed a view of the evolution of HTML5 on mobile among other significant trends in the industry:

• HTML5 is not at the top of breakthrough categories for the year. It comes under topics such as mobile payments, cloud services, mobile commerce, enterprise, health, security and advertising.

• HTML5 does come on top of mobile retail, NFC, wearable computing, home automation and flexible displays.

• The view that “The mobile Web will become more relevant” is less popular at the start of 2013 than it was at the start of 2012.

• HTML5 is the second most likely platform to become a viable and durable 3rd ecosystem and the only major contender, with 36% of the votes, to the likeliest one, Windows (which has 45%). Blackberry is credited with 6% of the votes, Tizen with 3% and None of Them with 10%.

The market share of phones with screens larger than 5 inches will more than double in 2013. In 2012 there were 25.6 million such devices shipped and this year we will see 60.4 million of them. Recent launches include the 6.1 – inch Huawei Ascend Mate and the 5 – inch Sony Xperia Z

The European Commission is taking steps further to harmonize the European telecommunications market with the purpose of streamlining roaming and collaboration across the continent. In the European Union there are more than 27 regulators and 100 network operators.

This week we have updated numbers for Android versions, new focus on business users and yet another Android retail store in Indonesia. ZTE receives funding to expand further into the high-end and Western markets, while the Nokia Lumia line is attacking the emerging markets on both the low and the high end. France Telecom makes a significant investment and partnership with mobile security solution Lookout and tablets forecasts are looking better after series of launches (Windows, Nexus 7 and 10 and iPad Mini)

New Android version distribution numbers put Gingerbread at over half the market (51%), Ice Cream Sandwich at 27.5%, Froyo at 10%, Jelly Bean at 7% with the others accounting for the rest of 4.5%.

Android is targeting the enterprise market with improvements to the Play Store which allow companies to set up private app channels. This is only available for clients of Google Apps to make available mobile software only to their employees.

ZTE, one of the two top Chinese mobile equipment and handset manufacturers has signed a five-year $20 billion financing agreement with China Development Bank. The money will be used to fund overseas projects, as the company is expanding its handset portfolio into the high-end to be able to penetrate the developed Western countries. In Q3 ZTE was the 5th largest smartphone manufacturer by shipments with 8 million units and 4.7% of the total market.

The Nokia Lumia line has been expanding its portfolio for the emerging markets on both the low and high end with the 620 and 920 T models. The 620 is the Windows Phone 8 version of the 610, with increased specs to support the more demanding operating system. It will first be available in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa at $249 before taxes.  The 920 T is the adaptation of the existing high-end 920 model China Mobile’s TD-SCMA standard. It will be available in the country by the end of the year and cost $739 without a contract.

France Telecom, owner of Orange, has made an investment in Lookout, a mobile security solution.  The partnership includes bundling the app on Android devices it sells in France, Slovakia, Spain and the UK starting in early 2013. France Telecom has made investments in other mobile services, such as Deezer. The network operator declared interest in positioning itself closer to the issues of security and privacy existent in the mobile space. Awareness of mobile security is considered to be still emerging, but increasing over time by Lookout. A study by MIT  revealed that there is significant disconnect between many people’s perception of the security and privacy of data on their smartphones, and the reality.

Following quite an active second half of 2013 on the tablet market, IDC upped its shipment forecasts for the segment. Out of a total 122 million units sold through-out the year, the market research agency says that 54% run iOS and 43% Android, with almost 3% on Windows. For 2013, there will be 172 million units sold, a number to reach 283 million in 2016, when iOS is predicted to capture 49% of the market, Android 39% and Windows 10%.

This week is about the opportunities and sources of innovation present in emerging economies for the mobile industry due to the under-development of infrastructure, about Nokia, who is taking more steps to optimize their Asha series to the needs of users in the emerging markets and about network operators in Spain taking seriously the thread of Over The Top services to traditional telecommunications and are launching the RCS suite under the Joyn brand nation-wide.

TechCrunch published a report on the ecosystem that is thriving in Africa around mobile money and payments, spear-headed by the most famous case study of M-Pesa, a service that handles up to a third of Kenya’s GDP. M-Pesa is an offering of the Safaricom network operator, that is part of the Vodafone Group. The phenomenal rise of mobile payments in developing regions is explained by the under-development of infrastructure and the mobile phone’s ability to take over those functions. Banking is one area that is being transformed by mobile, but not the only one. Health care and medical services are also benefiting tremendously from using mobile devices, particularly in hard to reach areas, as well as the practice of agriculture. These developments in the emerging markets need not be seen as local ones, but as a source of innovation that will touch the developed world as well, like in this example from Switzerland. They mean that in order to  meaningfully engage with the population in the emerging markets, one needs to adapt its solutions, which in turn can offer an innovation advantage to take to the more developed markets. And the example of M-Pesa, which is a SIM-based application, shows that network operators can still play an important role in shaping the mobile revolution together with operating system vendors.

Nokia Asha, the device family aimed at the next billion consumers in emerging markets, gets a hardware Facebook button for 2 of its models, the Asha 205, in simple and the dual-SIM versions. The development is a joint collaboration between Facebook and Nokia, who recognize the importance of social media in the emerging markets. On smart-light devices such as the these S40 Series-based models the services that are integrated by default tend to get more usage and engagement from users that they would typically get on modern smartphone environments such as Android and iOS. This is due partly to the relative scarcity and high costs of bandwidth, GSM or WiFi, in these regions, that limit the user propensity to download a variety of other services. Nokia has also built a feature called Slam in its Asha models that allows for content transfer from one phone to the other through the Bluetooth protocol. This is also a reflection of the unique market conditions in developing economies   in terms of bandwidth availability. The S40 Series platform, that the Asha series is based on, has 675 million users currently, most of which are older devices, as only 6.5 million of them have been bought in the last quarter and the number is trending down.

Mobile operators in Spain have announced the nation-wide launch of Rich Communication Services under the Joyn brand. This enables users to chat and enrich messaging or voice calls by exchanging images or video simultaneously during calls. It is initially offered through Android apps, with a version on iOs to follow. Additional functions such as VoIP are planned, as well and the first devices with the application already embedded will hit the market at the beginning of 2013. This development is the result of operators seeing diminishing usage and returns from traditional telecommunications services that the smartphone disruption placed upon them and developing solutions to compete with the Over The Top service providers. The Spanish operators behind this announcement: Telefonica, Orange and Vodafone are among the early-adopters of this trend, together with Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCs, who have also adopted Joyn.

Following the US Congressional report on the safety of equipment produced by Huawei and ZTE, the Indian government is also expected to announce soon whether or not it will open investigations into the two Chinese companies.

Jolla unveiled more of their MeeGo-based operating system, called Sailfish,  and announced a partnership with DNA, a Finnish operator. The user interface has a slick, clear, minimalist design and among the top features are advanced multi-tasking and app management tools and minimalization of screen real estate occupied by system indicators. Sailfish is being developed not just for mobile phones, but across the whole range of screen sizes, from TVs to cars, although initial focus is on phones. The operating system is based on the Mer project, also used by Tizen and the application development environment is based on Qt, QML and HTML5. The operating system will be also able to run Android apps, with support from Open Mobile and HTML5 support is provided by PhoneGap / Cordoba.

Although small, Finland is described as one of the most innovative mobile markets. It has a mature industry that is a pioneer in providing advanced data services and one of the first to deploy a commercial LTE service, which now covers over half the population. DNA is the leading operator in terms of LTE coverage in the country.

Analysis International, a Chinese research firm, reported that 90% of smartphones sold in the country in Q3 run on Google’s operating system. Until Android’s rise, the country was heavily penetrated by Nokia’s platforms, particularly Symbian. The phenomenal success of Android in emerging markets such as China limits the opportunity for other operating systems to attract ex-Nokia users, that are used to a more limited smartphone environment.

Also in China, mobile phones became the most common way for people to connect to the Internet with the biggest driver being new users coming online from rural areas. China numbers 538 million connected people, 388 million of which are mobile and 38% of those are mobile-only. This phenomenon is seen more on rural areas, where almost half of Internet users only get online on their phones, as opposed to 29% in the cities. The emergence of smartphones under 1,000 yuan ($157) is the main enabler for Internet penetration across China’s villages. By the end of the year, the country will see 420 million mobile Internet users.

Smartphone install base numbers at the end of Q3 put Android at 48% of the market with 559 million devices, iOS at 19% with 217 million, Symbian at 18% with 213 million, Blackberry at 9% with 109 million, bada at 2% with 24 million and Windows Phone at 1% with 17 million devices. Out of a total install base of 1.16 billion smartphones in use.

Inside Android, Samsung sold the most phones in Q3, 42% of them, followed by Huawei with 13%, Sony with 7%, HTC, LG and Lenovo with 6% each. Cumulative Android shipments are expected to to exceed 1 billion in 2013.

 
Preliminary Q3 results for smartphone shipments are out. Samsung is on top with 56 million sales, followed by Apple (27 million), Huawei (16 million), Sony (8.8 million), ZTE (8 million), HTC (7.8 million), RIM (7.4) million, LG (7.2 million), Lenovo (7 million), Nokia (6.3 million). Biggest changes from Q2 are accounted for by Motorola, who is no longer in the top 10 and the entry of Lenovo.

The numbers reflect 2 key trends: the increasing penetration of computer manufacturers in the mobile device market and the increasing influence of Asia-based OEMs in the top tiers of the industry.

Another emerging trend on the OEM front is reflected in Nokia’s announcement of its revamped maps and location services offering, branded Here. The Finnish company aimes at a horizontal roll-out across multiple smartphone platforms. The move is specific to OEMs who are seeing an increasingly volatile market and declines in results from solely focusing on building hardware and look at providing smartphone services to augment their bottom lines and diversify their potential.

Q3 shipments see Android, the top smartphone platform, increase its distance from iOS. Gartner counted 122 million units and 72% of the market sold with Google’s operating system on them and 23 million with Apple’s. On 3rd place, with 8.9 million there is RIM, followed by Bada (developed by Samsung) with 5 million, Symbian with 4.4 million and Microsoft’s platforms together with 4 million.

New Android version distribution numbers from Google put Gingerbread at 54% of the market, Ice Cream Sandwich at 26%, Froyo at 12%, Eclair at 3%, Jelly Bean at 2.7% and Honeycomb at 2%. Jelly Bean adoption will accelerate during Q4 due to the holiday shopping season, which will also slow down Gingerbread’s decline, as it is still shipped on new devices in the lower-end that constitute a significant portion of smartphones sold in emerging markets. In December, Gingerbread will have been in market for 2 years.

Africa, the second-biggest mobile market region by subscriptions, is forecasted to reach the 750 million mark this quarter and 1 billion by 2015. The continent is seeing the highest growth rate for new subscriptions (17.5% year-over-year), compared to the 10.7% world average. Only Asia-Pacific tops Africa by this measurement, with Latin America on 3rd place, according to Informa Telecoms & Media.

The Economist wrote a briefing on the high importance of mobile devices for inhabitants of Africa, explained in part by their vital role as (sometimes unique) long-distance communications venue and also mostly unique means of financial transfers.

• 7.9-inch iPad mini launched
• Nexus 10-inch tablet rumored to be revealed at Android event on the 29th of October
• Chrome OS has been ported to ARM architecture
• Nokia launching $199 entry-level Lumia smartphone aimed at emerging markets
• Mobile phones to overtake PCs as most common Web access method in 2013, according to Gartner
• Nearly 2 out of 3 smartphones shipped in H1 of 2012 were on Android, according to Vision Mobile

Apple launched a mini 7.9-inch version of the iPad to be available at a $329 price point. The device will have the same resolution, so that all of the applications created for the bigger version will work with no optimization required. The iPad Mini is “like the iPad, but smaller”, “great for reading your email, responding to your email, surfing the Web”. Also “Great for magazines, books, HD phone calls”.  The expansion into the 7-inch screen size will drive increased sales for Apple in the tablet segment and is meant to slow down its decline in marketshare, from 54% of total tablet shipments in 2012. To what extent this will happen depends on the Android tablet line-up for the Christmas season, which is still to be announced and an important part of which is the Android event on the 29th of October.

Rumours about the up-coming Android event on the 29th of October abound and the most are mentioning the launch of a 10-inch tablet on a new version of the operating system code-named Key Lime Pie. There is also talk of a new smartphone produced by LG that will feature a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor on a 4.7-inch display. The 10-inch tablet launch would significantly increase competition from Android in the 10-inch segment, the only remaining area where Apple maintains a bigger share of the market than Google. With the release of the Nexus 7, Google proved that Android can offer a quality tablet experience and it is following it up with a release directly competing with the iPad in order to show that Android is now fully competitive with Apple on all screen sizes.

An open source, ARM-powered version of the Chromebook has been released, opening the path for Chrome as a runtime on mobile devices. The device will also be available to order on the Google Play Store.

Nokia has unveiled a $199 model in its Windows Lumia line to compete in the emerging markets in the entry-level smartphone segment. India and China are initial target markets, followed by other APAC and Latin America countries. The device signals the move of the Windows Phone offering into the low to middle-end and capitalizes on Nokia’s significant brand awareness in emerging markets. This is Nokia’s first modern smartphone offering to be accessible in high-growth countries. Current offering was the Asha series, which is based on Symbian and retails at $99.

Gartner published a list of what it considers the top 10 strategic technology trends in 2013. The research agency expects that mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide in 2013 and that by 2015 over 80% of the handsets sold in mature markets will be smartphones.

Vision Mobile published an info-graphic on H1 of 2012 in mobile. Highlights include:

• Nearly 2 out of every 3 smartphones shipped in H1 2012 were Android devices
• Samsung is the lead OEM in overall handset and smartphone shipments, with Nokia on 2nd place in the handset business, but with most of their sales in the feature segment
• Apple is on 3rd place by handsets shipped, followed by ZTE and LG

• 2012 stats: 38% of phones sold are under $39, average price of phones went up to $143, in 2013 more than 50% of all phones sold will be smart, 9% of all phones in use have dual-SIM support
• Asia reached 1 billion Netizens, of which 794 million will be mobile users by the end of 2012
• US Congressional report recommends away from business with Chinese network equipment manufacturers
• LG rumored to be next Nexus OEM
• Windows Phone 8 device line-up from Nokia and HTC expected to be available soon
• Nokia introduced data compression app in App Store aimed at emerging markets
• Amazon opened Japan as a market for app submissions

2012 estimates for the handset market have been published by Tomi Ahonen. Highlights include:

• 11% of all handsets shipped this year will cost over $450 (premium smartphones), 13% are between $150 and $449 (mid-price smartphones), 17% between $80 and $149 (low-cost smartphones), 21% between $40 and $79 (feature phones) and 38% under $39 (ultra low-cost phones)
• in 2012 there will be 1.75 billion phones sold that will generate revenues of 250 billion
• the average price of a phone has gone up to $143, although the average price of feature phones went down to $40 and of smartphones also dropped to $289
• the rise in average phone price is due to more smartphones being sold this year than last year, from 30% in 2011 to 41%
• in 2013 we can expect that more than 50% of all phones sold globally will be smartphones
• there are 5.5 billion phones in use, 1.2 billion of which are smartphones
• 9% of all phones in use have dual-SIM support, 23% have a touch screen, 25% have WiFi, 41% support 3G or faster, 79% have Bluetooth and 81% have cameras
• install base for Android at the end of 2012 is estimated at 53% of smartphones, iOS at 20%, Symbian at 11%, followed by Blackberry with 8%, bada with 3% and Windows with 2%

Asia has reached 1 billion Netizens, for many of which mobile is the primary mode of accessing the Internet, according to We are Social, a digital ad agency.

• Asia has a 22% smartphone penetration and is home to more than 3 billion mobile subscriptions
• there will be 794 million mobile Internet users in Asia by the end of 2012
• 18% of all Web traffic in Asia comes from mobile devices
• in China, mobile Internet users (388 million) outnumber PC-based ones (380 million)

A US Congressional report recommends that US businesses do not work with Chinese network equipment manufacturers, the biggest of which are Huawei and ZTE, due to potential influence of the Chinese government in the companies. The report focuses on networking equipment (towers and routers), not on handsets. The 2 organizations denounced the recommendations of the report. Huawei is the world’s second-biggest maker of routers and ZTE is the 5th. In the smartphone market, ZTE ranked 5th biggest OEM by shipments in Q2 of 2012, according to IDC.

Rumors point to LG as the OEM behind the next Android Nexus device, who would possibly share the launch with Motorola. Specs are believed to be a 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm CPU, Adreno 320 GPU, 2 GB of RAM and a 4.7-inch screen that will run Jelly Bean. The device is expected in market for the winter holiday season, the biggest sales period in the phone business.

2 new series of Windows Phone 8 devices, each with a high and a low-end unit, have been announced, from Nokia (Lumia 920 and 820) and from HTC (8X and 8S). They are expected to be available in Europe and the US ahead of the holiday season, with pre-orders beginning on the 21st of October, according to The Verge. Features of Windows Phone 8 are expected to be revealed on the 29th of October.

Nokia introduced its Xpress App for the Lumia line in the Windows Phone Marketplace, an app that is aimed at reducing data usage and with it, costs. The app monitors data and bandwidth consumption, compresses data by up to 85% for browser sessions and allows users to download files to a SkyDrive account instead of on their devices. This is aimed at consumers in emerging  markets, that are particularly sensitive to data costs and also includes an instant translation service, which is a feature that is popular in these markets.

Amazon announced that it now allows developers to submit apps for distribution through its Android app store in Japan. The company usually first opens its app store for new markets ahead of making its Kindle Fire line available.

• Mobile devices account for more than 10% of page views in the US and select European countries
• The average tablet users in the US does not generate more page views than the average phone user, despite longer browser sessions
• Difference in data tracking at infrastructure and device levels exposed in US study
• Upgrade to 4G speeds increases data demand of users
• Rumoured announcement of 7.8-inch iPad Mini in October
• 55% of Androids are on Gingerbread, 23% on Ice Cream Sandwich and 12% on Froyo
• Chrome is default browser on the Motorola Razor M
• 25% of Americans own a tablet, half on iOS and half on Android
• Device with 1.7 GHz quad-core CPU soon available in Europe and North Asia

Mobile devices account for 13.3% of page views in the US, a growing trend from twice less just a year ago. Europe is also seeing good shares of mobile traffic, with the UK seeing 16.4% of its traffic on mobile, followed by Ireland with 11.5%, Russia with 10.4% and Norway with 10%. The rest of Europe nations have less mobile traffic and are spear-headed by Spain, Switzerland and Sweden in the 9% range down to Portugal, Poland and Turkey with 3-1%.

Inside the US, 9% of the 13% mobile traffic comes from phones and 4.3% from tablets, a ratio which is proportional to the penetration of the 2 form factors in the country. This means that while browsing sessions on tablets are longer than those on phones, they don’t happen as often and an average tablet user does not account for more than 1 phone user in terms of page views.

A study in the US exposed differences in data usage measuring at the device level and at carrier tower level, where there was more traffic counted than it reaches the device. This comes from the fact that data is measured when it comes out of the infrastructure and does not account for lost signal or have a check at the device level, in the region that was used for the study.

20-30GB / month of data is required to meet the needs of the average 4G user, according to CiQual Research. 33% of the data is being used to upload, compared with 11% for 3G customers. Social Media and sharing videos and pictures is changing the balance of downloaded versus uploaded traffic.

Rumors point to the announcement of an 7.8 inch iPad Mini at a press event in October. This release would open up a new market segment for iOS on tablets that has been relatively small and uncompetitive until a few months ago, when the Nexus 7 tablet was launched, followed by a new wave of Kindle Fires

New Android version distribution numbers: Gingerbread at 55.8%, Ice Cream Sandwich at 23.7%, Froyo at 12.9%, rest amount to 7.6%.

Motorola bundles Chrome as the default browser on the Razor M device.

25% of Americans own a tablet, half on iOS and half on Android.

New speed records achieved: the 1.7 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 HTC One X+ will be available in Europe and north of Asia this month.

• New iPhone launch will maintain Apple at ~20% shipment marketshare for 2012
• Amazon continues tablet strategy with new Kindle Fire releases
• Foxconn, Samsung to build factories in Brazil, Indonesia
• Chrome accounts for 2.7% of iOS Web traffic
• First Motorola Intel-based smartphone announced for Europe and Latin America
• Android reached 500 million activations

Apple released the latest version of its iPhone, version 5, a bigger, thinner, lighter and LTE-enabled improvement on the 4S version which will run on iOS 6. The device has been welcomed with positive reviews, although the lack of NFC or USB 3.0 have been mentioned to let some early-adopter audiences down. The new iPhone is expected to sell well and keep in line with previous launches to allow Apple to grow at a similar pace with the market and maintain its ~20% marketshare of shipments it has had for the past years. Q4 sales, which is the biggest season for smartphones, are expected to amount to 58 million iPhones and 25% of the segment, which would help put Apple at 21% of yearly shipments, a 1 % increased from 2011. Samsung is still expected to be the top smartphone device vendor for the year with a forecasted 70 to 75 million devices sold in Q4. The whole Samsung range of devices for the Christmas season is yet to be announced, although the Samsung Galaxy Note II will be out in the US market by mid-Novemeber.

Amazon announced the next devices in its Kindle Fire tablet line, a 7-inch and a 8.9-inch HD version of the first generation Kindle Fire, launched in the autumn of 2011. The new tablets feature dual-core 1.2 to 1.5 GHz chipsets with 1 GB of RAM. With this launch Amazon extended availability beyond the US to Western Europe for the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. This announcement confirms that Amazon is continuing the strategy of producing low-cost and loss-generating hardware to act as a portal to Amazon services and generate content sales. Availability in non-English speaking countries, where the amount of content is more limited, is a bold move for the company. Reviews of the devices are conservative in the context of increased competition in the lower-end Android tablet from the latest flagship tabled launched by Google in co-operation with Asus. The first generation Kindle Fire is expected to have sold between 6 to 7 million units in the US.

Foxconn will be opening an industrial park in Brazil. Construction is set to begin in 2012 and the factory will be online 2 years after that, adding to its existing 2,500 workers facility in Sao Paulo. Foxconn is also rumoured to be planning a presence in Indonesia, another of the high growth BRIC economies, with Samsung already having declared interest in setting up production in the country.

Chitika mobile advertising agency released stats on usage of browsers on iOS claiming that Chrome accounts for 2.7% of traffic. Safari is the dominant browser with 85.1%, leaving the reminder of 12.1% to other unnamed clients.

Intel is making in-roads in the Android smartphone market with the first x86-powered device made by a major manufacturer, in this case Motorola. The 4.5 inch model is the Razr I and it runs on a single core Medfield 2 GHz chipset. The device is slated to launch in Western Europe and Latin America. ZTE has also announced an Intel-powered device, the ZTE Grand X IN, due to arrive this month.

New Android version distribution numbers put Gingerbread at 58%, Ice Cream Sandwich at 21%, Froyo at 14%. Andy Rubin announced that Android reached half a billion activations to date with 1.3 million added every day.