Android's Share In Mobile OS Market Crosses 80 Pct In July-September

Shipments of Android operating system-based Smartphones rose to over 211 million in the July- September quarter this year accounting for more than 80 percent of global mobile OS market share, research firm IDC said.

"With a total base of 211.6 million smartphone units shipped during the quarter, Android accounted for 81 percent of all smartphone shipments, marking the first time Android topped 80 percent in its short history," IDC said.

Despite high saturation rates in number of mature markets, the overall smartphone space grew 39.9 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) in the third quarter, it added.

Another major success story was that of Windows Phone OS, which grew by 156 percent y-o-y.

"Granted, volumes started from a small base of 3.7 million units a year ago and overall market share is still less than five per cent. But Microsoft's efforts, with Nokia's support behind it, helped drive the platform into multiple tiers and price points," IDC noted.

Android and Windows Phone continued to make significant strides in the third quarter. Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success, price, IDC Mobile Phone team Research Manager Ramon Llamas said.

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Videocon Launches 3G-Calling Tablet At 8,999

Videocon Mobile Phones, a Videocon Group company, as part of expanding its offerings in budget tablet segment, has launched 3G-calling tablet Videocon VT85C at Rs 8,999.

Equipped with 7" display, the Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) enabled VT85C tablet is powered by a dual-core Cortex A9 processor. It has a heavy duty 3000 mAh battery, a company statement said.

According to research firm Gartner, the budget tablet category is expected to reach 182 million end-user devices by end of 2013, it said.

"With the tablet market in the country expanding every day, we seek to become a strategic player in the mix of things who offers the best of technology at the most affordable of pricing to consumer.", Videocon Mobile Phones, Product Planning and Development, Head, Khalid Zamir said.

The tablet comes with a 5MP rear camera and VGA as the primary camera. The memory comes with upto 32GB expandable memory and has a 1GB RAM facility, the statement added.

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Motorola Unveils Budget Smartphone; India Launch In January

Motorola wants to equip the world with the latest smartphone technology at less than a third the typical price.

The new Moto G phone starts at $179 in the US without a contract requirement. That compares with $600 or more that people must pay for phones without traditional two-year service agreements.

Motorola, which is owned by Google Inc, said today that it will target an estimated 500 million people worldwide who cannot afford phones costing more than $200.

In the past, the company said, those consumers were limited to phones with technology that is at least a year old and thus unable to run the latest apps and services.

The company is targeting not just emerging markets, but budget-conscious consumers in the US.

Although people can often get phones with contracts at the lower price, service fees are higher because they include the cost of subsidising those phones. And many people do not have good enough credit to qualify and are limited to so-called pre-paid plans, which are not eligible for the subsidised prices.

With the Moto G, Motorola is trying to offer a device that is closer to what is available on leading high-end phones, although it will not work on the faster 4G LTE networks emerging around the world. That is in part because many target customers are still on 3G or even older technology.

The phone starts selling in Brazil and parts of Europe on Wednesday. It will be available in Canada, parts of Asia and the rest of Europe and Latin America over the next few weeks. It is expected in the US, India, the Middle East and additional markets in Asia in January. Motorola expects to start selling it in selected African markets early next year.

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