Android claims 75% marketshare in Q3/2012

Googles mobile OS Android is more successful than ever, as recent sales figures show: According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), 75% of all phones sold in Q3/2012 worldwide had Android as their operating systems. Although Nokia is putting great efforts into new products and heavily advertises their Windows Phone 8 devices, sales are still dramatically low at a 2% market share in the same period of time. Let’s see if the distribution of Windows 8 on PCs and tablets will boost sales of devices with the mobile operating system – to be honest, I hardly believe it.

Mobile communication in Austria, part 2: Most important criteria for making your smartphone users happy

Part two of my series on mobile communication in Austria with several other interesting facts! Today I am going to summarize what makes smartphone users happy and what annoys them – please note that multiple answers were possible in the survey! The majority of users (54%) was unhappy with long loading times. This is a topic I can definitely confirm! Pages which are not optimized for mobile use annoy 48% of the smartphone users, followed by too little screen sizes with 44%, too expensive roaming fees with 27% and too complex handling with 20%. So, let’s summarize this! Always keep in mind to provide your smartphone users with a website clearly optimized for mobile devices that needs as little resources as possible – users love fast page load times. Furthermore, have your mobile website or application tested by your target group at an early stage. By doing that, you can make sure that your product meets the customers expectations and still be able to make adaptions with reasonable efforts. My personal favorite of a high quality mobile website that combines all the positive criteria mentioned above is http://m.chevrolet.com – have a look and make up your own opinion! Source: Mobile Communication Report 2012 from the Mobile Marketing Association, study made by mindtake Research, sample size = 1.001 people.

Mobile communication in Austria, part 1: Use of smartphones, spread of brands and operating systems

Today I came across a highly interesting study about mobile communication in Austria. It’s not only interesting but also brand-new as it has been published just a week ago. Most important facts in a nutshell: 69% of the Austria population up to 59 years of age already own a smartphone. The highest penetration of smartphone users among a certain age range can be found within people from 20 to 29 years, where 85% own a smartphone at the moment. Of course I expected the percentage in this age range to be quite high – let’s say around 70 to 75% – but I was really suprised to learn that it is that high. Another finding: Samsung dominates the Austrian smartphone market at the moment: 40% of all smartphones currently used were produced by the well-known South-Korean company. Second place goes to Apple with 22%, HTC comes third with 11%. Third finding: 53% of all smartphones used in Austria run Android as their operating system, second is Apples iOS which is installed on 22% of all devices. Source: Mobile Communication Report 2012 from the Mobile Marketing Association, study made by mindtake Research, sample size = 1.001 people. Here you can find the study: http://startmobile.mmaaustria.at/html/img/pool/2012_MMA_Communication_Report_kostenfreie_Praesentation.pdf

The difference between iOS and Android

“Apple’s way of getting you to buy a new phone is to make you really happy with your current one, whereas apparently Android phone makers think they can get you to buy a new phone by making you really unhappy with your current one…” (Michael Degusta, theunderstatement.com). Quite interesting read, compares different phone models sold in the US during the last three years and how long they have been supported with the latest OS versions.