Day: December 14, 2011

As Android and Apple continue to dominate the U.S. smartphone market, RIM and other smartphone manufacturers have made moves to reclaim lost market share.
PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, December 13, 2011 – According to The NPD Group, a leading market research company, Android’s operating system (OS) share of smartphone sales grew to command more than half of the U.S. smartphone market (53 percent) from January through October 2011, as Apple’s iOS share grew to reach 29 percent of the market, and RIM’s OS share declined to 11 percent. RIM and other companies that were formerly on top of NPD’s smartphone rankings, however, have made critical business decisions this past year in a quest to shore up their U.S. smartphone businesses.
“The competitive landscape for smartphones, which has been reshaped by Apple and Google, has ultimately forced every major handset provider through a major transition,” said Ross Rubin, executive director, Connected Intelligence for The NPD Group. “For many of them, 2012 will be a critical year in assessing how effective their responses have been.”
Google acquires Motorola
Motorola’s share of smartphone sales once reached more than a third of the smartphone market (36 percent) in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2006; however, the company’s smartphone market share dropped as low as 1 percent by Q3 2009. After adopting Android, Motorola’s share of smartphone sales rose to 16 percent of the market in Q4 2010 before settling back down to 12 percent by Q3 2011. “Android has helped Motorola climb back into the smartphone market; now, though, Google will seek to use Motorola’s patent pool to help protect other Android licensees,” according to Rubin.
The fall of RIM
“Few companies have felt the impact of the shift to touch user interfaces and larger screen sizes as negatively as RIM, but the company is beginning anew with a strong technical foundation and many paths to the platform,” said Rubin. Back in Q2 2006, RIM comprised half of all smartphone sales; however, by Q3 2011 the company had fallen to 8 percent. As it prepares to introduce smartphones on its next-generation platform, RIM has already made some important incremental improvements this year with the release of the BlackBerry 7 operating system. RIM is now is ranked fifth among smartphone OEMs, behind Apple, HTC, Samsung, and Motorola.
Nokia does Windows
One of the biggest news stories of the year was Nokia’s agreement with Microsoft to use the Windows Phone operating system on its smartphones. “Nokia and Microsoft must build from almost nothing to carve out success between the consistency of the iPhone and the flexibility of Android,” according to Rubin. Even though Microsoft’s former smartphone operating system, Windows Mobile, peaked at 50 percent of smartphone sales in Q2 2007, Windows Phone 7 by comparison has not achieved more than 2 percent of smartphone sales since launching in Q4 of 2010.
Information this press release is from “Mobile Phone Track” and “Smartphone Track,” both of which report on the activities of U.S. consumers, age 18 and older, who reported purchasing a mobile phone or smartphone. NPD does not track corporate/enterprise mobile phone purchases.

PRADA and LG, which have in the past, jointly developed mobile phones with maximum functionality and elegance reveal, today launched the PRADA phone by LG 3.0, the latest must-have smartphone. The highly anticipated phone is the third resulting from this collaboration, and embodies the design standards of both companies.
The PRADA phone by LG 3.0 combines the unmistakable style of Prada with LG’s innovative technology, including one of the biggest and brightest screens on the market at 4.3 inches and 800 cd / m².
The completely decorated in classic black smartphone meets the clear and straightforward design philosophy of PRADA and is equipped with a large and bright touch screen on the front, and the PRADA Saffiano typical decoration on the back. Every detail exudes a simple elegance, with the special floating mass of Technology LG’s flat shape with the already impressive 8.5 mm thin still further emphasized. To complete the minimalist look of the phone has only a minimum of physical buttons.
The performance of the PRADA phone by LG 3.0 is its stunning appearance in no way inferior: the gigahertz Dual-Core/Dual-Channel-Architektur provides a high-speed performance and dual-band WLAN enables fast browsing on the move.
The high design standards of the smartphone is also evident when it is switched on. The PRADA phone by LG 3.0 offers a specially developed control concept with a unique menu and symbols in black, gray and white. This interface allows users to benefit from the latest features of the Android Gingerbread operating system, an upgrade to Android Ice Cream Sandwich is provided in the future.
The special user interace is presented to users on the NOVA High Brightness display with a size of 4.3 inches (10.9 centimeters) and a brightness of 800 cd / m², where it all their favorite photos and content, even in direct sunlight can enjoy. And true to the motto of LG “Life’s Good” can be customized with the 8 MP camera with up to 8 GB of memory to capture all the beautiful moments in life and play in high quality.
In addition, available to users a full range of PRADA phone accessories like a docking station and a Bluetooth headset with PRADA logo available. You can use your phone by LG PRADA 3.0 also bring in a fashionable Prada bag.
The main technical data:
o Operating System: Android Gingerbread
o Memory: 8 GB
o Screen: 4.3 “/ 10.9 cm
o Resolution: WVGA (800 x 480)
o Display NOVA: NOVA Plus, 800 cd / m²
o Camera: 8 MP
o Dual-Core/Dual channel processor with 1.0 GHz
o Battery: 1540 mAh
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The collaboration between Prada and LG in retrospect
With the cooperation of PRADA and LG, which began in 2006 and the launch of two premium-phones in the years 2007 and 2008 led to the key elements are the focus of a smartphone – starting with software and user interface to design and packaging.
The PRADA phone by LG 1.0, a pioneer of the fashion-house phones on the market was, with more than one million units sold an unprecedented success. This premium mobile phone combined with modern technology, refined design. Thus, the PRADA phone by LG 1.0 a place in the history of product design and conquered is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Shanghai.
The PRADA phone by LG offered to the users also revolutionary new technologies. Thus, the PRADA phone by LG 1.0 was the first mobile phone in the world with a touch screen, and his successor, which provided 2.0, for an entirely new mobile experience thanks to an additional wristwatch with Link technology for the display of caller information, SMS messages, call logs, blocked numbers and alarm indications.