It’s a pretty hackneyed tech cliche to wonder about whether “someone’s mom” will adopt a service. Seems like these days it’s not just tired–its underlying premise is fundamentally flawed. Nielson has just released a whole bunch of stats regarding American mothers and their digital doings, and it turns out moms are pretty into technology. Which you probably already knew if you’ve visited Facebook any time in the last two years. Read More
The New York Times dove into the hyper connected world of 20 something with smartphones this weekend, returning with some shocking revelations about the behavior of this new cyber culture. A few findings:
People are always texting one another on their phones, even when they are out to dinner.
Checking in to venues. Passive aggressively emailing friends who are checking in when you are stuck at work.
To maintain an information edge, the digital youth keeps a device handy at all times. Spencer Lazar, founder of Spontaneously, sleeps with his smartphone, iPad and laptop in the bed. Read More
Google’s surprise purchase of Motorola led a lot of pundits to declare that the window was now open for Microsoft and RIM. They could forge partnerships with some of the manufacturers and carriers who would be wary of allying with a Google that was planning to build its own phone. But the raw data paints a grim picture for the also-rans in the smartphone world.
John Paczkowski at All Things D posted this chart from NPD showing the change in market share when it comes to the smartphones consumers are buying. Android has solidified a massive lead with 52 percent of the market, up from 33 percent this time last year. Apple is the clear second place with 29 percent, up from 22 percent in 2010. Blackberry saw its share dip from 28 percent to just 11 percent. And poor Microsoft saw its last place gap widen, as it fell from 0 percent to just four percent. Read More
The taste ninjas at Hunch sent over this snazzy infographic laying out some of the differences they found between folks who own smarphones with Google’s Android operating system and those who prefer Apple’s flagship phones and tablets running iOS. As the proud owner of the original Motorola Droid (Read More
The bombshell news this morning that Google is trying to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash is not actually that big of surprise. Anyone who read our article about what a nightmare the Android ecosystem has become for consumers knows that Google was having problems with its OEM partners. The real question now is, can Google build its own hardware business and mantain good relationships with its licensees. “No one has ever successfully licensed a platform and competed with licensees at the same time,” tweeted Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg. “Apple tried it (twice) as did Palm & Nokia.” Read More
According to a new study from location-based service provider TeleNav, most people would give up sex, chocolate, caffeine and other vices rather than spend a week without their phones.
We would be more interested in a chart of how long serious geeks would give up their smartphones in exchange for the opportunity to have actual sex with another human being, but lets keep things family friendly for now.
Click through for the big ol’ chart.
This is a guest post by Ben Duchac. You can find his work here.
The other day I bought the newest, fanciest flagship Android phone for my mother and it was an unmitigated disaster. She has an iPhone now, which she loves, and when I read that 30-40 percent of Android devices are being returned, I honestly wasn’t surprised.
With a user experience as bad as I saw on a brand new Android device, I’m considering an iOS device for my next phone, and I’m a big Android fanboy and proud PC owner. Of course, that 40 percent number is very hard to verify and I’d guess that it’s a bit of an exaggeration – but still, something is rotten in Android town. Read More
