One year after launch, Instagram’s Android app makes up nearly half of its users

Photo-sharing phenom Instagram is celebrating its one-year anniversary on Android with a fun fact: Nearly half of its members are using the Android application.

Instagram launched its Android application on April 3, 2011, a whole 17 months and 30 million users after the popular app for shooting square, filtered photos first debuted on the iPhone. At the time, the service was also just days away from announcing that it would be purchased by Facebook for about $1 billion in cash and stock.

Today's little reveal suggests that Instagram's Android application has at least 50 million active users. The app's Google Play page, which shows a wide range of 50 million to 100 million installs, seems to support the claim.

"We're working hard to make the app fast and easy to use, and we're dedicated to always bringing you the best Instagram experience possible," Philip McAllister of Instagram's Android team wrote in a celebratory blog post. "So to all of our Instagrammers on Android, thank you for helping to make this community amazing. We're glad you're here."

I'm sure they are. The Android application has helped the service become a force to be reckoned with in social-networking land. Instagram has more than 100 million active users and is incredibly popular with teens and tweens who seem to prefer the simplified social experience over Facebook.

Read complete at: cnet.com | venturebeat.com

Android and iOS dominate smartphone market with 91 percent control

It’s official: the smartphone marketplace is a duopoly. Chances are, if you own a smartphone, your device’s operating system is either Android or iOS. Combined, The Register reports that the two operating systems accounted for 91.1 percent of all smartphone sales after 2012’s fourth quarter, according to analysts at International Data Corporation.

Apple fans will be upset to know that the bulk of that dominance belongs to Android, which topped out at nearly 69 percent of all smartphone sales. (To put it into perspective, there were nearly 500 million Android-powered smartphones sold in 2012, versus the 136 million Apple devices sold, giving them nearly 19 percent of the smartphone market.)

Sales of iOS-powered smartphones were highest in the Western markets, and the increased numbers are largely accredited to the lowered prices of the iPhone 4 or 4S after the introduction of iPhone 5. (We should also mention, the excitement over the release of the iPhone 5 also brought in record sales.)

In comparison, Blackberry device sales plummeted more than 36 percent last year. It’s no surprise, considering how long it took for the company to step up its game and catch up with the innovations that have made Android and iOS so popular. BlackBerry 10 was only unveiled a few couple weeks ago.

But Microsoft phones are still at the bottom of the totem pole, accounting for just 2.5 percent of smartphone sales.

It’s tough to say whether or not there’s a chance for any of the current companies to make any headway in the market, but for the time being, if you’re looking to buy a new smartphone, chances are the device you’ll choose will be powered by either Android or iOS – the Windows and Mac, or Pepsi and Coke, of the smartphone market.

Read complete at digitaltrends.com

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Google Play gaining on iTunes App Store in race for most apps available

The war between Apple and Android wages on, and now the battlefield is the online app market. Google Play, the marketplace for Android devices, has always trailed the App Store in number of offerings, even though it launched just three months after the Apple resource. The App Store has 700,000 products up for sale, according to Apple's iPhone 5 presentation on September 12. But Google Play is nearing that total with 675,000 apps available. The platform also passed 25 billion downloads yesterday and held a major sale in honor of the milestone, with several top apps still available for just 25 cents.

While the number of available apps for each operating system is drawing even, there are still major differences in how each store works. Apple requires an approval process before an app can go up for sale on iTunes, but Google Play has no such vetting procedure. There's an up and a down side to that. It means that Apple went without any spam appearing on its store for five years, and the first malware app popped up on the system just this summer. So although there have been complaints that Apple is inconsistent and overly conservative in the content it approves, you're all but guaranteed a safe app when using Apple.

Google Play has a lot more opportunity for developers, but does require a little more effort for shoppers. If you own an Android device, you'll want to research an app's safety and usability before buying. We have a comprehensive guide that can help you track down great Android apps that will best fit your needs.

[Image credit: LAI Ryanne]

This article was written by Anna Washenko and originally appeared on Tecca

iPhone closes in on Android in growing U.S. smartphone market

As of February, smartphone users accounted for nearly half of all wireless subscribers in the U.S., and Apple's iPhone adoption rate saw growth while Android handset activations slipped.


According to new data from Nielsen published on Thursday, sales of Apple's iPhone accounted for 43 percent of all new smartphone purchases over the past three months, a 6 percent increase from the period ending in December, while Android's share fell nearly 4 percent to cover 48 percent of activations.


Riding on strong iPhone 4S sales, Apple's iOS is slowly closing the gap with Google's Android OS and now accounts for 32 percent of all smartphones. The iPhone isn't eating into Android's market, however, and is instead picking up deserters from RIM's sinking BlackBerry platform. 


Android remained top dog and took 48 percent of the smartphone market, while RIM accounted for a 12 percent share. Other devices like Windows Phone and Symbian filled out the list with an 8 percent stake.


The smartphone market as a whole took 49.7 percent of all mobile subscribers, a 38 percent increase form the same time last year when feature phones dominated the landscape.

During the three months ending in February, more than two-thirds of those who purchased a new mobile device opted for a smartphone.

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LogMeIn to Provide Android Mobile Support for HTC

LogMeIn, Inc. has entered into an agreement as HTC's preferred mobile remote support software provider. HTC will employ LogMeIn Rescue--LogMeIn's flagship remote support and customer care offering--across its worldwide call centers, delivering state-of-the-art remote support to HTC customers.


Future HTC devices that run on the growing Android OS will feature LogMeIn Rescue, giving HTC customer care and support staff the ability to remotely configure, diagnose and troubleshoot a technical issue wherever the customer has a data connection. The LogMeIn capability will offer HTC customers with advanced over-the-air mobile support at a moment's notice, virtually anywhere in the world.


"HTC is committed to providing the best and most personal customer experience in the mobile industry, from designing great products to delivering superior after-sales service and support," said Simon Harper, VP of global customer experience at HTC. "We believe LogMeIn's technology, team and vision are a great match for HTC and for our customers and will allow us to continue to create great experiences for our customers."


HTC will pre-deploy a user-enabled LogMeIn Rescue applet on future HTC Android devices, with the mobile operator's consent. The pre-deployed applet gives customers the ability to securely connect their devices to HTC customer care representatives during active support calls. Once connected, HTC technicians can run remote diagnostics, push common device and network configuration settings, and remotely control the customer's device to resolve issues.


"We believe that a focus on the overall customer experience helps to define the most respected brands in mobile," said Lee Weiner, LogMeIn's VP of Customer Care products. "For market leaders like HTC, customer care initiatives can provide key opportunities for differentiation in an increasingly crowded marketplace. By working hand-in-hand with one of the world's most respected manufacturers, we believe we have a great opportunity to create a new standard for mobile customer care."


LogMeIn Rescue gives helpdesks and support staff the ability to remotely configure, diagnose and troubleshoot tablets (iOS, Android), smartphones (Android, iPhone, Symbian, BlackBerry) as well as PCs and Macs. A web-based offering, Rescue combines remote control with device configuration, live chat and diagnostics capabilities, enabling customer service teams to fix common issues on any device with a web or mobile connection, as if the device were in their hands.


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Android gaming needs software more than hardware

You may have noticed our awesome giveaway that starts today: two ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablets, with an extra two chances to win courtesy of SlashGear. The promotion is made possible by NVIDIA, and we thank them kindly. NVIDIA’s probably done more than any other single company (with the possible exception of Google itself) to advance gaming on Android. But here’s the thing: awesome hardware isn’t enough. As great as the Tegra 3 and other next-gen platforms are for gaming, the games themselves have to be the focus if Android is going to be a major contender in the mobile gaming space.


I don’t mean to knock Android game developers – they do a great job and have a variety of awesome titles available. But here’s the thing: for the most part, consumers will buy an Android phone or tablet, then seek out games. That’s the opposite of what happens on iOS, where Angry Birds and Infinity Blade sell more phones and tablets than Siri does. Games make up a whopping 25% of app downloads in the Google Play Store, but Apple still has an undeniable advantage. This is an extremely general statement of course, but the gist is that people seek out games on iOS, while people settle for games on Android.


A perfect example is Mass Effect 3. BioWare’s epic conclusion to its trilogy is easily one of the biggest releases of the year, so naturally they prepared a mobile strategy to go along with it. This includes a paid mini-game and a companion app – but only on iOS. On Android, we have to settle for a live wallpaper (NVIDIA’s influence again) despite the almost certain fact that more Mass Effect 3 players are carrying Android-powered phones than iPhones. A lot of this can be attributed to Android users’ lack of enthusiasm for paid apps, but all the same, it’s a definite dis to players who want the full experience but have the “wrong” mobile hardware. Publisher EA has developers for Android – just today they released two new sports games in the Google Play Store. Where’s the love?


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Tablet War: Can Google’s Android Tablets Overtake Apple’s iPad?

With Apple planning to launch the highly anticipated iPad 3 as early as February of 2012, Google appears to be planning on launching a competing device in the near future. In a recent interview with an Italian newspaper, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt said; “In the next six months, we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.”

Although Schmidt is normally talkative and eager to discuss Google’s future plans, he was uncharacteristically quiet regarding the details of the future tablet. However, many people are interpreting his statement that the tablet will be of the “highest quality” to imply it will compete directly with Apple’s new iPad 3.

The new iPad 3 is expected to be a much more technologically advanced model than the iPad 2 and experts are predicting it will include a high-end quad-core processor and a high-resolution screen display of 2048 x 1536 (similar to the Retina display in the current iPhone). In addition, Apple has been rumored to be considering producing a smaller version of the iPad with a screen size of 7.85 inches.

Read complete at SearchEngineJournal.com

Android: Could 700,000 Daily Activations Be Just the Start?

On Tuesday night, Android chief Andy Rubin noted that Google is now seeing 700,000 daily activations of new devices using its operating system.


That’s up from a 550,000 activations-per-day figure touted in July and the 300,000 per day figure mentioned a year ago.


But that could be just the start. Appitalism CEO Scott Buckingham predicts that by the end of next year daily activations could reach an astronomical 2.5 million per day — a run rate of more than 900 million a year.


“My view is it is just going to accelerate,” Buckingham said in an interview. While he acknowledged that is a pretty aggressive target, he maintains it is achievable given the momentum behind the operating system and its expansion into emerging markets and to other devices, including tablets and televisions.


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