It is hard enough to know what you will have for lunch tomorrow, much less try to figure out what the cellphone market will look like in 2013. Still, research firm IDC is predicting that smartphone sales will be greater than 390 million units by that year. Peering deeper into its crystal ball (singular, please), IDC sees that Nokia remains the top selling smartphone throughout the world (minus the U.S., of course). That will allow the Symbian OS to remain number one worldwide. Number two will be a fast moving, comparatively new kid on the block, Android. Google’s open source OS will be powering 68 million smartphones by 2013 according to IDC. Starting in 2008 with just 690,000 handsets, growth to the estimated 2013 figure would represent an annual increase of 150% in Android owners. The iPhone OS, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile will round out the top 5 while Linux mobile trends lower and webOS grabs a limited share despite steady growth. So when the next 3 years go very quickly, don’t forget to refer back to this article and we will see if IDC nailed it. By the way, didn’t they pick the Jets to win the Super Bowl this year?
source: IDC via UnwiredView

Last Friday we informed you of a rather unexpected move by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, saying his favorite gadget is the Android-powered HTC Nexus One and not the iPhone. Apple fans can now breathe easy though, as it turns out that Mr. Wozniak didn’t really have this in mind. He has left a comment on Gizmodo’s post about his preference, letting everyone know that he still likes his iPhones the most and he’s just said that the Nexus One is a pretty cool gadget – nothing more. Here’s the full comment by Steve Woz:

“Actually, everyone got it wrong. My favorite phones are my iPhones. When asked what my favorite gadgets were I took it to mean new gadgets I was playing with (that I considered good). I am not a switcher but I’m not going to tell people that the Nexus One is not a good gadget. Same for the Droid. I continually buy and play with new hot gadgets because I gets asked about them all the time. I have had prior Android phones that I didn’t consider good. I usually have between 2 and 6 different cell phones on me, more when there are interesting product introductions.

I try mainly to make good comments but I’m honest about flaws too. I don’t get into arguments trying to claim that there are objective reasons that make one person’s phone better than another’s. It’s subjective. You can’t win such arguments, only have a stressful life doing so. I have no problem praising and learning from non-Apple products as well as Apple products, when they are good.”
source: Gizmodo

It’s very unlikely to find some handsets not offering GPS as one of its standard set of features. Location based services have seen a steady increase in usage thanks partly to their simplicity in getting things accomplished. Google is also taking advantage of this concept and slowly integrating search queries from their web site based on your specific location. Fortunately for Android and iPhone users, Google will start offering suggestions based on the phone’s current or last location – simplifying the experience and making the suggestions more relevant. So if you’re stuck in an unfamiliar spot and want to look up the nearest pizza place, you don’t have to put in specific pieces of information to narrow down choices that are close by. In order to take advantage of this new feature, you have to turn on “Save recent locations” and “allow use of device location” under the Settings link on the google.com web page.
source: Google Mobile Blog

Call it irony or something else, but one of Apple’s co-founders has openly admitted in admiring one of Google’s products as their most beloved gadgets. Steve Wozniak has confessed to saying that Google’s Nexus One phone tops his list as his favorite gadget – easily beating out some of Apple’s innovative products. He went as far as ditching his former beloved iPhone in favor of the Android flavored Nexus One. In recent years though, Wozniak hasn’t been too forgiving with some of Apple’s decisions – like how the original iPhone wasn’t 3G when it first launched or how the platform wasn’t being as more open to developers. Maybe all those repressed feelings culminated in the latest turn of events that have unfolded. Even with the change of heart, there still may be a glimmer of hope with Apple in Wozniak because it’s still being told that he still owns not only one, but two iPhones.
source: NBC via Gizmodo

The mobile version of Google.com keeps on evolving and offers various services to smartphone users. The latest novelty feature called “Near me now” is still only available for the browsers of the iPhone and Android-based handsets. It allows people to take a look at information on nearby objects (via the option „Explore right here”) or search for area specific venues like restaurants, cafes, pubs etc. To properly utilize „Near me now” you would need an iPhone running software version 3.0 or newer or Android handset equipped with OS 2.0.1 or newer. According to Google, the service is only accessible from the US, but customers from the UK state it works just fine, provided you use Google.com instead of .co.uk. We hope the extra feature becomes available in various languages soon and, of course, functional on a global scale.
source: Google Mobile Blog

Back in November, Vimeo announced that they added support for the iPhone and Android-based devices, which allows playback of all videos in their Staff Pics and HD Video Showcase. Starting the end of January, Vimeo will expanded this for their Plus members and will allow 1080p streaming and viewing on mobile phones, which Plus members can select as an option when uploading their video. Unfortunately, a 1-year membership to Vimeo Plus costs $59, but might be worth it for consumers looking for 1080p content.
source: Androidandme

If you’re looking to spend a small fortune to be one of the first Chevy Volt owners sometime in the next 12-18 months, then you’d be interested to know that the you’ll be able to have some limited control of the car via apps for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone. While it wont make you 007, as you can’t drive with an app, you will be able to monitor its charging status, set a specific time to charge, honk the horn (just for fun?), check driving statistics, lock/unlock doors (alarm too), but most importantly you can start the car up. All of this is nice, but you’ll have to subscribe to the GM OnStar service for it all to work. In the mean time, owners of the Motorola DROID and BlackBerry Storm (v5.0) can download a demo version by visiting the OnStarMobileDemo web site in their phone’s browser, while iPhone users can get the demo from the App Store. Our only question now is where’s the support for Windows Mobile smartphones?
source: OnStarMobileDemo via Engadget