Tablets : Micromax Sold More Than Apple And Samsung In Q2

In a CyberMedia Research it has been revealed that Micromax leads the Indian tablets market with 18.4 percent share in the second quarter of 2012. Samsung is in second position with 13.3 percent market share. Apple has a market share of 12.3 percent in terms of unit shipments during the 2Q 2012.

India tablet market sales touched 0.55 million units in 2Q 2012, up 673 percent y-o-y.

Entry of new tablet vendors and introduction of offerings from existing vendors at low to medium price points have contributed to the significant growth.

 Though the tablet PC market in India is still at a nascent stage, but at the same time, has become competitive due to entry of new vendors with entry-level offerings, the report said.

Close to 90 vendors launched their tablets till Q2 2012. The average selling value (ASV) in the said period dropped to little above Rs 13,000 from Rs 26,000 in the January-March 2012 period as a majority of vendors launched their products in the Rs 5,000-10,000 price range.

iPhone 4, iPhone 4S to get price cut in India

Reports from various news sources claim that the iPhone 4 and 4S will soon get a price cut in India. The 16GB iPhone 4S is expected to see a price cut of Rs 3,100 to Rs 41,400. The iPhone 3GS, which last saw a price cut to Rs 9,999 via Aircel, has been discontinued.

The 8 GB iPhone 4, now the new entry-level iPhone, gets a price cut of Rs 9,100 to Rs 28,300. According to BGR.in, Apple will not be selling the iPhone 5 through Airtel or Aircel, and has appointed Ingram Micro and Redington for the launch of the iPhone 5 in India.

The phone is expected to launch in India by November. Meanwhile the iPhone 5 is already available online and in the grey market, at starting prices of Rs 60,000 for the 16 GB version and a drop dead rate of Rs 1,05,000 for the 64 GB variant.

The phone uses a nano-SIM, an even more slimmer version of the SIM card than its predecessor, which will have to be sourced from the carrier.

Three Apple resellers in Bangalore gave no confirmation on the availability of stocks and the new prices of the iPhone 4 or 4S.

Mobile Choice Consumers Award 2012: Samsung Galaxy S III best smartphone, Apple iPad best tablet

At the Mobile Choice Consumers Award show in London, the Samsung Galaxy S III took home the trophy as the Best Smartphone of 2012. We don't take sides here, so before some of you riot in protest, we need to point out that the Apple iPhone 5 was launched too late to be included in the competition. On the other hand, the Android flagship did go up against the Apple iPhone 4S, a formidable competitor in its own right. The Apple iPhone 4S finished second ahead of the HTC One X which wound up third. The Nokia Lumia 800 was fourth followed by the Sony Xperia S.

When it comes to tablets, the third iteration of the Apple iPad took home the first place trophy. Finishing in second was the Asus built Google Nexus 7. Asus also had the third place tablet with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) and the Sony Tablet S (not to be confused with the Sony Xperia Tablet S) round out the top 5.

Samsung also took home the hardware for "Most Innovative Device" which was the title awarded to the Samsung GALAXY Note phablet, which sold in excess of 10 million units. The Nokia Lumia 800 was cited for having "The Best Design". You Scrooges out there will be happy to know that "The Best Value" trophy was awarded to the the Sony Xperia U. And the award for "The Best Camera" went to the Nokia 808 PureView, narrowly edging out the Samsung Galaxy S III. The HTC One X was named "The Best Video Phone". The Samsung Galaxy S III was back at the podium for its first place finish as "The Best Media Phone" while the HTC One X was selected the best for social networking.

Samsung was the Manufacturer of the Year, followed by Sony, Asus HTC and Nokia.

Nokia explains how wireless charging works on its new Lumia Windows Phones

The upcoming Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are two of many upcoming Windows Phone 8 handsets, but they are the only ones to come with wireless charging and that makes them really stand out.

As you’ve probably heard, the new Lumias will use inductive wireless charging and now Nokia has taken to its official blog to explain the technology behind it. Basically, what makes it possible are two transmitter coils - one on the charging pad and another one on the back of the device itself. 

From there on the transmitter coil on the charger generates a magnetic field used by the device for charging. Nokia is using the Qi (chi) global standard that is good news for compatibility across the globe. Nokia has perfected the charging pad so now around 80% of it is active and you don’t need to worry too much about precisely placing a phone on its place to charge it.

Sadly, it seems that you can charge only one phone on a single wireless charging pad, so if you plan on just throwing your home’s worth of phones on it, you won’t be able to. Check out the slideshow below to see how the whole thing will work out. The actual charging pads will be available for purchase separately from the phone.

Google outgrows Microsoft to become the second-largest tech company in the world

For the first time today Google surpassed Microsoft’s market evaluation and became the world’s second largest tech company after Apple.

Analysts are taking this as a clear indication of how the web is solving tasks previously reserved for the offline PC, and how the growth of mobile has been a key driver to Google’s success.

Google now has over $249 billion in market cap, while Microsoft fell to around $248.8 billion. The two companies will probably trade positions for a certain period of time, but given Google and Microsoft’s dynamics, it’s expected that in a couple of days Google will firmly establish itself on the second place.

Still, that’s the market capitalization, and this means it’s a hugely volatile measure and one that changes swiftly. Still, it’s definitely telling of investors’ sentiment towards the two company, and right now Google is winning it.

Still, when it comes to market valuation nobody comes even close to Apple's nearly $632 billion. That's much more than Google and Microsoft combined.

Sharp begins production of 1080p smartphone displays: 443 ppi crammed into a 5-inch LCD

Layoffs and loans may be dominating our Sharp coverage at the moment, but that just makes this type of news all the sweeter. The company has announced its LCD panel type 5 -- a 5-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display packing a Retina-busting 443 ppi (just trumping LG's similar 440 ppi LCD). An outcome of its layer-reducing CG-Silicon technology, the smartphone-targeted screen goes into full-scale production this month and will be shown off at CEATEC Japan this very week. We'll try to give it eyes-on treatment at the show, but you can rub your hands together sinisterly in the meantime and just think about the glorious devices which will bear it.