Buzzin Mobiles

A global survey commissioned by the world’s largest independent app store Getjar, shows a growing demand for the Google based Android mobile devices, with 40% of respondents saying that they will switch to Android when choosing their next phone.

Interestingly the survey revealed that only 18% of respondents now aspire to replace their current handset with the Apple based iPhone, the market leader in the field for the last few years.

While this is hardly likely to be the death knell of the iPhone, the vast range of manufacturers offering the Android based product means that customers have an enormous choice when it comes to replacing their current device, both in price and application.

Apple have also cornered the market for mobile apps during their current reign, but that is all about to change too according to Getjar, who predict that Android apps will outnumber Apple by 2 to 1 in the near future.

Patrick Mork CMO of Getjar says;

“The survey results make it clear that all eyes are on Android, as well as the importance of brand equity in the increasingly competitive mobile app space. In addition, the data also reveals that brand marketers and advertisers also have a reason to be hopeful about consumer’s appetite for in-app advertisement.”

App usage is clearly on the rise with the survey results showing almost 34 percent of consumers spending one hour or more using apps per day, compared to 49 percent who spend the same amount of time watching television.  Fifty-eight percent of respondents use mobile apps more than once a day.

The importance of brand equity was pushed to the forefront, as almost 80 percent said that the quality of the brand’s app makes the brand more trustworthy.  Furthermore, 72 percent of those surveyed said they were more likely to engage with a brand if they had a good app.

Advertisers have reason to be hopeful.  Seventy-three percent of respondents said they have downloaded an app with advertising in it, and almost 60 percent said they’d do it again. Almost one in four made a purchase after having clicked on a mobile ad.

Discovery continues to plague app publishers.  Only 25% discovered the apps they were looking for using actual app stores.  Nearly 50% had actually discovered apps while browsing online and nearly 17% had discovered apps through friends or social media.

Other survey results include:

• Gaming apps are the most popular, followed closely by social networking apps
• The amount of free apps and the ease of search topped the list of things users look for in an app store
• The cost of an app was the biggest deciding factor in whether to download an app or not

Making big waves in the UK mobile market over the last few monthsTesco Mobile have announced that sales of Android based smartphones have eclipsed those of Apple’s iPhone for the first time, during February this year.

Christmas sales at Tesco Mobile were firmly in favour of the market leading Apple device, outselling the Google based Android handsets by two to one, but in January sales of both devices were like for like.

Sales of Android phones eclipsed that of iPhones for the first time in February on the Tesco Mobile Network and there is good reason to believe that this trend will continue throughout 2011.

It is fair to say that the deals offered on new Android phones by Tesco are more competitive than they are able to offer on the Apple device, but as the battle for supremacy in smartphone operating systems continues to make the news, Google’s Android platform appears to be gaining a strong foothold in the market.

In this fast paced and constantly changing market, recent announcements have seen PlayStation herald the imminent launch of its Xperia Play smartphone and Nokia announce that it will be teaming up with Microsoft.

How that will effect the marketplace remains to be seen but as we wait for developments to unfold Android is the clear early winner.

Graham Harris, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Telecoms and Tesco Mobile comments:
“As one of the UK’s leading operators, these sales are a useful barometer for smartphone trends. There is a lot of choice in the market and as a result consumers are driving healthy competition between rival operating systems.
Tesco Mobile prides itself on customer service and offering customers what they want, through a wide range of competitive deals on all platforms. In addition to competitive Android smartphone deals, we also offer iPhone on a variety of fantastic 12 month contracts.
However, we commend this healthy competition between operating systems as we see this as helping to drive consumer choice and flexibility.”

A break in at the Vodafone exchange in Basingstoke, Hampshire in which computer equipment and network hardware was stolen or damaged, resulted in thousands of customers being without a service this morning.

Most of those affected were said to be in the M4 corridor to the West of London, resulting in a flurry of irate calls (by land line I imagine) to local radio stations and plenty of activity via the social networking sites.

Vodafone were quick to issue a brief statement which said:

“We had a break in last night at one of our technical facilities which resulted in damage done to some of our equipment. We are working quickly to restore these and will be back to normal as soon as we can.”

The company said that the there had been no impact on the security of customer’s private  information.

Vodafone refused to speculate on whether the break-in could be linked to several high-profile controversies involving the company.

It was recently the subject of protests over claims that the firm was let off paying part of an outstanding UK tax bill.

Vodafone was also criticised for shutting down its phone network in Egypt during the recent pro-democracy protests, although the company said it was obliged to comply with local laws.

Leading independent games publisher Chillingo, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., today announced nine brand new titles that will be coming soon to the Apple App Store. The company will provide hands-on demos at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) taking place February 28-March 4 in San Francisco.

“Chillingo constantly seeks partnerships with great indie developers who are pushing the threshold of mobile games with pioneering concepts,” explains Chris Byatte, Co-General Manager of Chillingo. “We have built a solid reputation of polishing these unique gems to perfection and successfully introducing them to consumers worldwide.”

“Since joining EA last fall, we have signed several great new titles that will be revealed in the coming months,” adds Joe Wee, Co-General Manager of Chillingo. “Our GDC slate features a sampling of the most cutting-edge games that are sure to delight the gamer in all of us.”

The following titles will be previewed at the Game Developers Conference:

Painkiller Purgatory
Fight your way through Hell in this first person shooter based on the hit PC franchise. Blow Hell’s demons to bits with a range of devastating weapons.

Anomaly Warzone Earth
Make your way through the alien gauntlet in this gorgeous, futuristic strategy that totally puts tower defense principles upside down to form a tower offense game.

Blobster
Flick a cute little blob across incredible levels, squash enemies, collect cool power-ups and save the environment from a ruthless polluting company.

Quiz Climber
Pit your knowledge against your friends in a new social quiz.  Answer as many consecutive questions as possible to climb the tree and leapfrog your friends in the leaderboards.  Strategize and compete using your lifelines to improve your chance of setting a great score.

Storm in a Teacup
Get ready for a wonderful, magical adventure. Take up the mantle of Storm and guide him in his magical teacup through a dreamlike landscape created by the vivid imagination of his older brother, Clouds in this super fun, physics-based platformer.

Emberwind
Help free the city of Grendale from the evil CandleFinger and his gremlin hordes. Sail through the clouds on your ancient snow owl and deploy your cane of justice to save the kingdom from the underworld in this exciting platform game based on the popular PC and Mac games.

Feed Me Oil
Get the oil from the pipe to the right spot in this ingenious physics based puzzle game. Gorgeous art and mind bending level design makes this a puzzler with mass appeal.

Color Bandits
The colors have been stolen from your world and it’s up to you to get them back. Fight your way across grayscale worlds and destroy enemies to bring the bright colors back in this action packed side-scrolling shoot ‘em up.

Carnage
Speed your car down busy roads without causing a pile up on the highway. Crashes equal points in this visually impressive destruction driving game!

All of these titles will be released in the coming weeks on the Apple App Store.

Smartphones have grown in popularity over the past two or three years, helped enormously by the amazing success of Apple’s iPhone.  But now there is plenty of choice as all the main mobile phone companies are competing for a piece of the Smartphone cash pie.

Today you can choose between several different Blackberry models, Nokia, HTC and Samsung to name a few.  Not forgetting the latest Apple iPhone 4.  But what does a Smartphone allow you to do over a plain old mobile phone, and what should you be looking out for when making your choice?

A Smartphone allows you to do much more than simply send and receive phone calls and text messages.  It is rather like having a mini computer in your pocket.  Whether you need a phone for business or personal use smartphones offer advanced functionality including internet services and can run software programs known as Apps.

For the busy business person who is always on call and available 24/7, the Smartphone has become an essential ever handy tool that gives you email on the move, to view files such as spreadsheets, presentations and PDF files; while for the personal user it allows you to stream films, store and play music files; and with the growth of free or cheap Apps business and personal users can find a use for Apps covering the London Underground Tube Map, train timetables and keeping up to date with the latest news from around the world.

There’s no doubt that the introduction of the Apple iPhone was as responsible for the growth in smartphones for personal use as the Blackberry was for business users.  But now, more so than before it seems there is less of a distinction between which market smartphones are aimed at, as companies  look to grow in a busy marketplace.  But one of the most important things to consider when choosing a Smartphone is which platform or operating system it uses.

There are six operating systems to choose from for UK mobile phones.  You need to consider not only how good is the platform and how efficient it runs, but how popular it is among software developers who will migrate to new operating systems if there is a market to do so.

Android OS
Android OS is Google’s Operating System, and not surprisingly comes with an excellent web browser as well as integrating online tools effectively.

The Android software is regularly updated and as it becomes more popular is becoming a serious alternative to the iPhone OS as far as software developers are concerned.  The Android OS is ‘open source’ which gives developers free range over application building, unlike the restrictive practises of Apple Apps.  The Android platform can handle a vast array of different programs, including some comprehensive media bundles.

Windows Phone OS
No prizes for guessing the Windows Phone Operating System is owned by Microsoft.  In the past it has been called Windows Mobile & WinMo.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS is designed to mirror the desktop version of Windows in both design and functionality. As you’d expect, it is simple to sync your mobile Smartphone to your PC computer and share contacts and emails with the Exchange server.  Microsoft Office programs and the Windows Media player also come as part of the Windows Phone OS.

The Microsoft application store is aptly named Windows Marketplace where users can update and download an assortment of application software.  Microsoft has strict control over which Apps are available in the Windows Marketplace.

iPhone OS
The iPhone Operating System was developed by Apple for their own Smartphone.  The iPhone has taken the world by storm and as a late entry into the Smartphone arena, has been able to capitalise on incorporating the best of previous mobile phone technology. The iPhone range has regular software updates; and though Apple has a strict control over licensing Apps it is by far the most popular operating system for developers.  The result is the Apple App Store is currently blessed with the largest selection of Apps of all operating systems.

Blackberry OS
The BlackBerry Operating System has been developed by mobile phone manufacturer Research in Motion for its own BlackBerry Smartphones. The original bias of the Blackberry was towards business users with its stylish looks and excellent office applications, internet and email functionality.

The email management software allows you to simply sync your phone with your PC with the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software. Blackberry’s work well with business Apps such as Microsoft Office and the BlackBerry App World has a wide range of applications. Some models now come with a touch screen which has coincided with a growth in personal user popularity.

Symbian OS
The Symbian Operating System is Nokia’s own software, though it is used by other mobile phone manufacturers, too. The Symbian user interface is regularly updated and improved, making it a very easy system to navigate.

A number of different email servers are supported from Microsoft Exchange to BlackBerry Enterprise which makes using the Symbian operation system easy to use when syncing your mobile phone to your desktop email client.  Like Android, Symbian OS is open source making it easier for developers to create and share applications.  Nokia’s own App Store is called the Ovi Store but there are also other websites that offer Apps for the Symbian OS.

Bada OS
The Bada Operating System is owned by Samsung who are promoting their Smartphone range to all users.  Samsung are a relatively late-comer to the Smartphone party but appear to be gaining ground with their latest range of Smartphone models.  Applications and Apps for the Bada OS can be downloaded from the Samsung Apps store.

So, if you are looking for a Smartphone we recommend three steps:

1.    Make a prioritised list of the functionality you are looking for and whether it is for business, personal use or both
2.   Find out which operating system it uses
3.    Look online & in magazines at independent reviews

Do all three steps before you enter a shop or call a mobile phone company to find out about the best mobile phone deals.