Nokia has recently announced that it has sold its 1.5 billionth feature phone – a Series 40 model. The company also said that they sell 12 similar phones very second.

The landmark phone was sold to a woman in Brazil and the phone purchased was a Nokia Asha 303. People who love to nitpick will say that the Nokia Asha 303 is not entirely a feature phone because it possesses features that we have come to associate with smartphones – a touch screen, a 1Ghz processor, social networking apps, the ability to download and install apps, various connectivity options, a QWERTY keyboard, camera and media player.

So what does this mean? Manufacturers are beginning to blur the line between feature phones and smart phones in an attempt to gain more market share and become a stronger player in the mobile phone market. Samsung and Nokia still have strong feature phone model lines – for example, the C1 and X1 models for the Nokia (these are no-frills phones, with some models not even having cameras), and the Samsung E class mobile phones.

But Sony is taking a different tactic by phasing out feature phones completely and just concentrating on smart phones, although this will mean it will now be competing with Apple and HTC in that segment of the market.

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The Nielsen report – which compiles data taken from August through October of 2011 — showed that Apple has a strong 29 percent share of the smartphone market. The second top smartphone manufacturer is actually HTC, which has a 21 percent share. Coming in at third (surprisingly, at least to me) is RIM – the manufacturer of BlackBerry phones – which enjoys a 17 percent share of the market. Fourth place is occupied by Samsung and Motorola, which both have an 11 percent share of the smartphone market.

ComScore has also released figures for the total market share enjoyed by phone manufacturers – this includes sales of all types of phones in the US. Based on these figures, it is Samsung that is the top manufacturer with a 25.6 percent share of the total market. LG suddenly makes an appearance as the second top manufacturer with 20.5 percent. Third is Motorola with 13.7 percent. Apple takes the fourth spot with 11.2 percent and RIM is at last place with 6.5 percent. These numbers have basically remained unchanged from August 2011 although Samsung’s market share rose by 0.3 percent and Apple’s share increased by 1.4 percent.

In terms of market share based on platform, it’s not a big surprise that Android dominates with 46.9 percent, with Apple bringing in second with 28.7 percent. RIM may occupy third place with 16.6 percent but its market share actually dropped by 3 percent over the study period. This is an indicator that RIM is slowly losing ground.

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According to a news report from the Sydney Morning Herald, a request by Apple to appeal the court decision that basically lifts the ban on the sales of the Galaxy Tab was denied by Australia’s High Court. Expect to see the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australian store shelves by next week. According to the same report, the decision that went Samsung’s way was very important because if it had been faced with more delays (if the sales ban were extended, for example) then Samsung will be forced to just pull out this particular tablet model from Australia.

The original court decision to ban the sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was handed down last October. Apple was able to successfully present reasons why there are certain features on the contested device that infringed on some of Apple’s patents. But last month the Federal Court decided to overturn the decision to ban sales after Samsung’s argument that the original judge did not understand and incorrectly applied the basic tenets of the law.

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And it did. Apple has now filed a new motion that seeks to ban Samsung from selling the modified 10.1N tablet. The original ban was promulgated early this year and was made permanent last September. Apple claims that the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s design looks too much like the Apple iPad, hence, Samsung’s attempt to “change” the 10.1N with a modified bezel.

Apple is now asking for a preliminary injunction and looking to have the sales of 10.1N in Germany banned. According to Dow Jones Newswires, the hearing will be conducted on December 22 at Dusseldorf.

Apple’s lawyers are contending that the changes in design from the Galaxy 10.1 and the 10.1N are quite small and thus still infringes on the patents that Apple owns. They will also argue that these changes are insignificant and it is still not big enough to be able to tell it apart from Apple’s iPad.

Samsung has issued a statement saying that Apple’s new legal motions will not have an impact on the sales and distribution of the 10.1N. They may be referring to the fact that until the court rules otherwise, Samsung can still sell the 10.1N, which is still being featured in many online shopping sites in Germany. The 10.1N sells for 530 euros.

Even with the scheduled Dec. 22 hearing, it looks like Samsung eventually did pull a fast one on Apple. The Christmas shopping frenzy will have started to die down by then so Samsung will have definitely squeezed in product sales during that time.

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In a recent survey conducted by Strategy Analytics, a respected research company, it was determined that China has now overtaken the United States in the total number of smartphone shipments. Shipments of smartphones to China reached 23.9 million devices in the third quarter of this year, compared to the 23.3 million that was shipped to the United States. The increase in smartphone shipments to China was 58 percent over the figures posted in the second quarter, which is phenomenally significant. Compare this to the United States where shipments dropped seven percent for the same period.

One of the factors for the dramatic increase in smartphone shipments to China could be attributed to the increased availability of smartphones in different avenues like different retail outlets. Another factor is the increased subsidies mobile providers give to smartphones, especially the high-end units like the iPhone. Of course, the increase in the number of low-cost, affordable Android smartphones is definitely one of the biggest factors for this increase. It has come to a point that even a person’s backup phone – which is usually occupied by a barebones feature phone – is now being replaced by another smartphone.

One of the interesting findings in the Strategy Analytics survey is that Nokia enjoys the biggest share in China’s smartphone market. The Finnish phone manufacturer currently enjoys a 29 percent share of the total sales for the third quarter. But Nokia’s dominant position is already being threatened by the rising sales rates for both Apple and Samsung smartphone products.

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8mm Vintage Camera

8mm Vintage Camera offers a stunning glimpse into our photographic heritage. The worst thing about living in the twenty-first century, besides all of that other stuff in the newspapers, is that all of the media is so perfect. Real time this; digitally edit that, who needs it? As Shirley MacClaine exclaimed in one of her popular dance numbers, “phooey!’

Perfection is so boring, what’s left to aspire to? That’s why we’re so lucky that 8mm Vintage Camera is here to the rescue. Take that disgustingly perfect video that you shot and drag it through the dust to scratch it up. Go back in time to your favorite retro era.

Differing film types, lenses, looks, audio effects, herky jerkies and more add to the time dilation.

Instagram

Instagram will rock your iPhone with its proprietary filters and borders. It enhances those stodgy old iPhone stock camera photos into things of beauty. Gorgeous is the term so why fight it. Millions of users already have overflowed the Instagram bandwagon. If the Black Eyed Peas endorse it then you know it’s hot. It’s the app that has the iPhone 4’s front and back camera covered.

This app makes it a breeze to upload your favorite photos to all of the social networking sites that have become so indispensable. Use the geo-tagging feature to help you to remember where you’ve been.

Canopy Camera Tools

Canopy Camera Tools this app adds the missing pieces that the iPhone camera app lacks. New flexibility in choosing your exposure and focus will provide a truer camera feel to your mobile photography. Now you’ll be able to watch that flower bloom with the time-lapse photography mode. You are able to lock your hard-won manual settings to avoid slipping back into automatic mode again.

There is also a video icon to allow your iPhone to be used as a video camera. Sliding controls permit precise adjustment of frames per second during playback and for several categories of settings during recording.

ShakeItPhoto

ShakeItPhoto is the app for those many photo buffs who lamented the demise of the Polaroid brand and who now drive the resurgence of its descendants. Sometimes the older clunky technology is better than the new innovations. With society’s loving embrace of ‘progress,’ so many great products have been thrown by the wayside. The many fans of the Polaroid picture taking process have a new ally in ShakeItPhoto.Just like the Star Trek movies, popular demand has brought back the Polaroid photo process for picture perfect memories on your iPhone. The great thing about this app is all of that money you will save on film.

Guest post brough to you by idacconcpts.com, a blog about business and marketing, startups and Internet news. Follow idaconcpts.com on Twitter at @idaconcpts.

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In a study conducted by WDS, a company that provides specialist managed services for the wireless industry, it was discovered that Android phones were more likely to suffer from hardware problems compared iOS, Blackberry and Windows 7 devices.

The study was conducted over the course of a year and focused on customer service support calls. About 600,000 tech support calls were part of the study. Of that number, 14 percent were calls for Android phones that suffered a hardware failure. This is followed closely by Windows phones, which accounted for 11 percent of the calls. Apple and its iOS powered iPhone came in third at seven percent and lastly, there is BlackBerry, which had six percent of the total calls. The trend here is obvious – it is the operating systems that do not manufacture hardware that are accounting for majority of the hardware failure support calls.

WDS did clear up the study findings by presenting other facts. For example, Android is the most popular OS of the four mentioned, so by sheer number it is accounting for the highest number of tech support calls, including those involving hardware issues. Additionally, the study did not include any figures regarding the cost of repairing the units or refunding the users.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the problems here are based on hardware failures and not on the failure of the operating system, a fact that is not within the control of both Android and Windows – it is only Apple and BlackBerry that manufacture hardware and develop their OS.

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Apps Writing

To develop apps for iOS and list them on the App store is very expensive. It costs about $99 per year and you have to adhere to some strict rules and regulation put in place by Apple. Your app also has to pass a screening process before it can be released Developing apps for the Android Phone is comparatively cheaper and less restricted by rules. Google simple takes a $25 flat fee to shelf your apps, plus an extra $20 if you plan to charge for its usage. Android has a larger market, meaning other app stores are visible for you to display your wares.

Language

Writing apps for iOS means you have to use Objective-C, which is a very dynamic, object-oriented programming language. It is used for writing Mac apps.  Once you download the free Xcode installer from the Mac App Store, you can begin writing code. Android developers are given more freedom to choose the language they want to base their apps on. For instance, you can use either Java (a widely incorporated language) or C/C++ to build your apps. It has been speculated by an online blogger that the reason behind Apple’s dependency on Obj-C is to attract only the best and brightest app developers.  It is far easier to develop apps for the Android stores; it supports HTML, JavaScript, Ruby and SQL.  Since the development and entry of the apps is so simple, a lot of amateurish apps are on the Android Stores.  Android requires users to ‘Download the SDK’, setup ‘Eclipse’ and then, install Google’s ADT Plugin.

Different Phones

Developers know what their app will look like on an iOS platform as the iPhone and Ipad have known screen dimensions. There is no worry about fixing the app to accommodate different screen dimensions. Such a privilege is riddled with uncertainty for Android developers. The screen resolution and dimensions vary over different kinds. The app developers have to think about the different dimensions in the market and how each of them will project their app. It is an issue seeing as buyers will be annoyed that some apps function on certain phones and not others. Finally iOS apps are considered to be more beautiful and practical than Android apps, which is why  users often settle for them. However, Android appears to be growing, seemingly attempting to cross barriers and reach the market.  Nevertheless, it is difficult to foresee a winner as each have commendable and attractive products in their own right.  If there will be a winner, it will be because one of the platforms has taken a critical misstep in its strategy. Until then, it is a very close race.

Robert is one of the contributor for Credit Cards Canada where you may find some great information on secured credit cards .

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In another predictable finding of the report, Apple’s various iOS devices dominated the smartphone and tablet categories. In terms of the tablet segment, the iPad made up 97 percent, while iOS smartphones (the various generations of the iPhone) owned 58.5 percent of the smartphone traffic.

After the iOS devices, Android followed as the largest device types to contribute in non-computer internet traffic with 32 percent. The next closest is the BlackBerry, which only makes up five percent of the total mobile traffic.

The comScore report also revealed that 30 percent of the total number of tablet owners are aged between 25 to 34 years. Surprisingly, about 55 percent of tablet owners are male. This could be a reflection of the fact that men are really more into gadgets and are early technology adaptors. The main use of tablets, based on the report, is in updating various social media sites and browsing for news and other feature stories. The early adoption of tablets does not equate to more online purchases though. Less than fifty percent of tablet owners have purchased from Amazon using their tablets.

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Samsung is basically flinging the same charges that Apple has claimed against the former. The Korean electronics manufacturing giant is claiming that Apple is infringing on its own patents. The company is trying to halt sales of the iPhone 4S in Italy and France. Samsung said that it will be claiming two patent violations in both countries, these violations revolve around the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) standard that is implemented on mobile devices.

Samsung fired off a very strong press statement that claims “Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free ride on our technology, and we will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.”

Samsung’s lawsuit is quite possibly the company’s own way of getting back at Apple for thwarting the sale of some of its own products in different markets all over the world — most notably, the Samsung Galaxy Android tablets, which is a notable competitor in the tablet market, which Apple is dominating.

Samsung’s more aggressive move may have repercussions in the long term because both it and Apple actually have a business relationship, collaborating in manufacturing some components used in Apple’s many products.

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