For the PC, heavily impacted by the rise in popularity of tablets, it was the worst showing for a holiday quarter in more than five years. PC sales were down 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. Read more »
Looking for a Windows 8 slate on the cheap? Dell removed the active digitizer and swappable battery from its Latitude 10 tablet for an Essentials model that starts at $499. Aimed at educators and students, the tablet is much less than Microsoft’s $899 Surface Pro. Read more »
Broadcom is generally known for its wireless technology prowess, but don’t be surprised to see the company be the chip that puts the smarts in your smartphone or tablet. It signed a licensing agreement with ARM to design and build powerful application processors on Tuesday. Read more »
The task-management market is growing, in part because users need to coordinate with teams via mobile. In this case, heavier-weight solutions like Yammer, IBM Connections, and Podio don’t always suffice. But the demand for digital to-do lists that can be shared across project teams is increasing. Read more »
Designing a new class of device, the really big smartphone, Samsung has owned this growing market. Huawei wants in though and it pulled out all the stops: The company’s new Ascend Mate smartphone has a whopping 6.1-inch display that works even if you’re wearing gloves. Read more »
One look at the new Asus VivoTab Smart Tablet and you’ll swear you saw it before. It looks just like Microsoft’s Surface products. It blends some of the best features of Surface RT and Surface Pro, however; priced right, it could be a big seller. Read more »
Tablets keep getting thinner, but how thin can they realistically get? Perhaps no thicker than a few pieces of paper. Plastic Logic is demonstrating its PaperTab project, which is powered by an Intel Core i5 and uses a bendable e-ink display. Read more »
After eight consecutive years of covering the International Consumer Electronics Show, it’s interesting to see how technology has evolved; this year I’m taking less gear than ever before and yet, I’ll likely be more productive. Here’s a glimpse of my CES gear bag over time. Read more »
For the first time since passing the 50 percent market, less than half of all Android devices are running version 2.3. Instead, nearly 40 percent use Android 4.x. It’s easier to get digital magazines in Google Play and a pic of the Galaxy S4 popped up. Read more »
My pick for Android app of the year? AirDroid, which provides wireless management of your Android phone or tablet from any browser on the same Wi-Fi network. You can manage files, videos, music, ringtones and more on any computer, making for a great free companion application. Read more »
Goodbye Eee PC and all other netbooks from Asus; the company is no longer producing the small laptops. Acer followed Asus into the netbook market and is following it out as well. What happened to this once quickly growing market? Tablets disrupted the space. Read more »
Signaling traffic growth is outstripping mobile data traffic by 30 percent to 50 percent and threatening the stability of mobile networks. However, the growth in signaling traffic is not only an indicator of success but also shows that mobile data has come of age. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Christmas Day, the biggest day for mobile device activations, lived up to its billing, said Flurry, which noted that device activations hit 17.4 million devices, up from 6.8 million a year ago. Tablets edged out smartphones for activations. Read more »
The Pew Research Center reported that almost a quarter of Americans are reading ebooks. But more of the growth in ebook reading devices is happening on tablets than dedicated e-readers. Read more »
The 1,000 backers of a cancelled Kickstarter project got an early holiday gift: Apple has revamped its Lightning adapter guidelines, and the POP device charger is now a go. The POP uses Apple’s own 30-pin interface as well as micro-USB for charging phones and tablets. Read more »
One expected debut for next month’s Consumer Electronics Show happened a little early as a Huawei exect showed off the company’s newest smartphone. The device has a whopping 6.1-inch display which is great for most mobile activities, but won’t likely fit in a front pants pocket. Read more »
As the year comes to a close, its time to look back at predictions for 2012. I made 16 of them last December and while I got a fair number right, there were a few clunkers. It’s time to dust off the crystal ball for 2013. Read more »
The year 2013 may bring real disruption to the mobile industry. Upstart carriers are embracing noncellular technologies to provide cut-rate services, third-party developers are gaining traction with cheap (or free) alternatives to SMS, and a major U.S. operator is preparing to drop handset subsidies. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Android users of Flipboard have a tablet-optimized version of the popular newsreader now. Instead of a scaled-up version of the popular news reader, Android tablet owners get a magazine-like experience similar to that of Flipboard’s 2010 debut on the Apple iPad. Read more »
Many of the biggest stories in the connected consumer space occurred mostly offstage in 2012, from Apple’s new media services to policymakers in Washington. Overall, the past 12 months have laid important groundwork for significant advances in the connected consumer space. The year 2013 should be eventful. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Next year, T-Mobile will abolish smartphone subsidies, opting instead to offer devices with an up-front payment and monthly hardware installments for lower rates. But from Dec. 21 though year-end, the carrier is offering a rebate up to $200 on the up-front investment for popular phones. Read more »
The “mobile first” philosophy is under way today. That means a new generation of mobile-centric data centers will arise over the next three years, with chips, servers, and power architectures customized for mobile workloads. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A flaw in certain Samsung Exynos chips has been verified by Samsung, which is taking corrective action to fix the problem. It’s not likely that many devices have been affected, but the company is taking no chances and plans to close the security hole quickly. Read more »
Amazon’s Kindle Fire makes for a great tablet, so long as you don’t mind the custom user interface and lack of supported Google services. A new custom software installation turns the Kindle Fire into a fully functional Android 4.2.1 tablet and it looks great. Read more »
It’s hard to tell if Microsoft’s Surface RT is a sales hit, but according to the company, retailer interest is high. As a result, Microsoft is expanding production and will be allowing third-party retail stores to carry the device earlier than it planned. Read more »
First smartphones overtook traditional computer sales and now tablets are on track to outsell laptops, according to IDC, which predicts more tablets will be sold than laptops by 2015. Computer makers should be looking to where the growth is as tablets replace laptops for many. Read more »
A lot of people are expected to unwrap smartphones and tablet gifts this month: Tablet shipments are expected to increase 55.8 percent this holiday over last year’s; smartphone shipments are expected to jump 39.5 percent in the same time frame, according to IDC. Read more »
After a few weeks of use, Matt’s Surface RT has replaced an iPad for most purposes. But what bought the Surface Pro: a compelling package or a let down? Hear about portable speakers from both hosts and learn more about the very connected Chevy Volt. Read more »
Now that Amazon has its own devices in the Kindle Fire lineup, downloads from the Appstore are on the rise: up 500% in the past year. It doesn’t hurt that Amazon has added a number of developer-friendly features over the past 20 months, either. Read more »
The mobile-messaging value chain is changing as OTT players upend mobile operators’ SMS business. There will be 27.7 trillion messages by 2016, and most of the growth in traffic will come from IP-based services. Successful carriers will use this new technology to extend reliability and scalability. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple’s iPad app of the year in 2011 lands on Android in 2012 and if you take pictures with your Android smartphone or tablet, you’re going to want it. Snapseed uses a slick touch interface for photo edits and also integrates with Google+ for picture sharing. Read more »
Many factors have driven the recent high demand for IT products and services. However, relentless global economic weakness and uncertainty have resulted in a deterioration of worldwide IT spending through the third quarter and will continue to be an anchor in the fourth quarter. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Gmail for Android gains some great enhancements that everyone will likely want, but only devices running Android 4.0 or better can get right now. Pinch to zoom in email, swipe to archive and fit to screen are some of the more impressive features. Read more »
The company announced several other updates to the Google Maps for Android API on Monday, including vector-based maps, better 2D and 3D maps, as well as indoor mapping. Read more »
The week started with a nifty wireless NFC experiment but not ever Android phone has NFC. Free software accomplishes the same task of toggling Wi-Fi based on location. The Nexus 7 dock makes an appearance as does Xbox SmartGlass for Google’s 7-inch Nexus tablet. Read more »
The photo and video app market is a sizable one undergoing rapid changes right now. With low barriers to entry, this is a market that also consists of a large number of developers and is certainly not limited to a handful of well-financed startups. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
I’m not one to waste battery power on my devices, so I often shut radios off when not in use. Smart WiFi Toggler for Android does this automatically when moving in or out of preferred network range. Best of all: It doesn’t use a GPS radio. Read more »
Publishing giant McGraw-Hill has announced that it will sell its education division to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $2.5 billion. The news comes months after the publishing company said it would split its education and financial services units. Read more »
About that Nexus 4 with no LTE. Turns out it has LTE, but only on a single band. Android owners got a Skype update this week and can expect to see more AirPlay-like features in the future from Google for media and apps. Read more »
Here’s our roundup of the best Black Friday deals on ebooks, tablets and e-readers. We’ll update this post throughout the weekend. Read more »
