Phablets: OTT content boosts sales

The phablets - which are the devices with mobile phone capabilities, but with screens from 5.6 inches, reaching up to 7 inches, smaller size of a tablet - will win a share of the market, suggests Juniper Research. Segunod consultancy, in 2013, 20 million units were produced worldwide phablets. In 2018 will be 120 million, which will mean a boost of over 500%.

The reason for the growth is the demand in East Asia, in countries such as South Korea, where there is desire for large screens to run games, and in China, where values ​​a better screen quality for streaming content over-the-top (OTT). With all this, Juniper says the market phablets can become a growth area for suppliers of smartphones already established with target consumers passionate about technology, citing recent launches from companies such as Nokia and Alcatel.

As there is not, at least so far, no representative of Apple in this niche market phablets will be dominated by two operating systems: Android and Windows Phone. Notably, the system will be promoted by Microsoft Lumia line, Nokia, Juniper and believes that this player will have better performance particularly in developing countries. The side of the Google system, the leadership will be the series Galaxy Note, Samsung.

High-risk applications for Android will reach 3 million

By publicizing the annual report forecasts safety - "Mixing Barriers: Forecast Trend Micro security for 2014 onwards" - the company's information security indicates that a large data breach will occur each month and advanced attacks of banking on mobile devices and targeted attacks have accelerated pace. Threats to critical infrastructure and security challenges derived from the Internet of Things and the Deep Web are also highlights.

The forecasts for 2014 in the area of Information Security also highlight:

• Malicious applications and high risk for Android will reach 3 million;  
• Banking through mobile devices will be compromised by increased attacks via an intermediary, making verification inadequate in two steps;
• Cybercriminals increasingly use methods of targeted attacks, such as the research of open source and highly personalized spear phishing;  
• Mobile devices are increasingly targeted by advanced threats, including clickjacking and "watering hole" attacks;  
• Lack of support for popular software such as Java 6 and Windows XP will expose millions of PCs to attack;
• The public trust, compromised by the revelations monitoring ordered by the United States will result in a variety of efforts to restore privacy;
• The Deep Web will continue to explore the lack of capacity of law enforcement to deal with the spread of cybercrime.

The report also focuses on the rise of the Internet of Things, which promises to be the notorious watershed related to personal technology. With increased being delivered by utilitarian and usable technology as watches and sunglasses, the possibility of cyber crime on a large scale deriving from identity theft, reality is a very real possibility as technology continues its proliferation. 

Smartphones: Classes D and E still have much to consume

The C class now accounts for 35% of smartphones sold in Brazil, reveals survey by Nielsen Custom Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). Classes A and B respond, respectively, 12% and 49%. The D and E classes - where telcos have targeted new customers - account for only 4%.
Youngsters make up most of of smartphone users: 17% have between 10 and 17 years, 27% between 18 and 24 years, 28% between 25 and 34 years, 17% between 35 and 49 years, and 11%, 50 or more. With regard to occupation, 63% work full-time and 10% part-time, while 19% are students.
 
The smartphone is the primary form of Internet access for one in four Brazilians who own the product. This importance is higher among young people. 38% of respondents 10 to 17 years and 33% of those aged 18 to 24 showed the smartphone as the primary means of Internet access.

The most used applications are social networking and communicators (77%), email (75%), news (57%), music (45%) and video (43%). Among the communicators and social networks, Facebook was the most frequently cited (94%), WhatsApp (53%), Instagram (36%), Skype (35%) and Twitter (35%).

Data usage grows 40% every generation smartphones

A survey of British Actix - specializing in software for mobile networks - indicates that data consumption is significantly higher with each new generation of smartphones. In numbers, the results indicate that the traffic volume grows 40%.

"The networks have been scrambling to meet the growing demand for data. First with the passage of feature phones to smartphones, now with the upgrade to high capacity equipment. Every generation traffic grows 40% per device, "says the director of global marketing at Actix, Neil Coleman.

The study, which sought to assess the pressures on radio access networks - ie between base stations and handsets - analyzed more than 100,000 equipment used mobile networks in Europe and the United States over the past year.

According to the study, the smartphones of 2013 consumed seven times more data than those launched in 2009 - and 40% more than the year 2012. And yet, that tablet users consume more than twice the data that smartphones.

Equipment with access to hotspots consume nine times more data than in cellular networks. "95% of data is being consumed by smartphones, but with the growth in sales of cheaper tablets operators will be faced with equipment 'hungry' for data," says Coleman.

Other results indicate that handsets Apple consume almost twice as much data per session than the average Android phones. The iPhones were in the top three positions among the smartphones that consume data (4, 4 and 5). Among the 10 models that use more data, four are from Samsung.

Smartphones 'steal' the scene and the place of PCs

Deliveries of smartphones in the fourth quarter of last year totaled 158.5 million units, number 57% higher than the total shipments in the same period of 2010, equanto PC sales in the same comparison basis, rose by 16.3 %, totaling 120.2 million units shipped, according to a survey of consulting and research firm Canalys.

Accumulated in 2011 were 487.7 million smartphones shipped, number 62.7% higher than a year earlier. Have shipments of desktops, tablets, notebooks and netbooks, combined, totaled 414.6 million, a growth of 14.8%.

This is the first time in history that worldwide sales of smartphones beyond the PCsAccording to analysis of the vice president of Canalys Chris Jones, the greatestinterest in tablets resulted in falling demand for PCs Tablets accounted for 15 % of the market for PCs

Sales of tablets increases and Apple's reign is threatened by Android

With the holiday season, sold 27 million units of tablets in the last quarter of 2011, representing an increase of 150% over the same period in 2010. The iPad is still the great leader in consumer demand, but the tablet, Android, gain strength and already represent 39% of the market.

Apple reveals a study published by Strategy Analytics, continues to lead with 58% of the market, but begins to see, yes, competitors approaching, especially in tablets of lesser value. "Consumers want Apple, but how they want to start buying the tablets that are in the market. Popularizes the Android device," says Peter King, director of consulting.

Also according to the survey, Apple led the market by selling 15.4 million units iPad - more than double the amount that the manufacturer distributed at retail in the last quarter of 2010.

But were the models with Android, Google, among them those manufactured by Samsung, Asus and others who had expressive performance - jumped from 3.1 million units to 10.5 million.

"Apple has had an outstanding performance surpassed rivals, but will have to live with more pressure," points out the the executive director of Strategy Analytics, Neil Mawston. In the report by Strategy Analytics in 2011 were 66.9 million tablets sold, an increase of 260% compared to 2010, when they sold 18.6 million units.