Mobile Phones – Global Market Results

Nokia still holds a leader position in the number of handsets shipped during the first quarter of 2010, according to iSuppli, the market research firm. Second place belongs to Samsung and No. 3-ranked is LG Electronics. RIM (Blackberry maker) and Apple’s iPhone positions rose to the fifth and sixth positions in the global market for all types of cell phones, while Motorola Inc. fell to eighth place. That’s another sign of the growing share of the smartphones in the global market. More details on iSuppli website.

Android overtakes Windows

According to research conducted by the technology research group – Gartner, the sales of smartphones using Android operating system have overtaken Microsoft’s Windows Mobile phones for the first time. Android is now on the fourth position, behind Blackberry, iPhone OS and a leader – Nokia’s Symbian. Smartphones sales continue to grow and accounted for 17.3 per cent of all mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from 13.6 per cent in the same period in 2009.

HP Acquires Palm

HP and Palm announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system. The combination of HP’s global scale and financial strength with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm’s unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.

O2 Q1 Results

O2 Ireland revealed its first-quarter key performance indicators (KPIs), reporting a significant increase in bill-pay customers – over 10.000 new postpay customers have joined the network in Q1, to achieve a total postpay customer base of over 700.000 for the first time ever. The prepay base declined by over 18,000 customers in the same quarter. O2's total customer base at the end of March 2010 was 1,705,617.

O2 Broadband Upgrade

The new faster service has already been successfully trialled in four urban locations and will be commercially available from later this summer in key urban locations starting with Dublin, and followed by Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. Download speeds will be significantly improved (up to 21Mbps) as well as faster uplink speeds of up to 5.7Mbps. O2 currently has over 142,000 mobile broadband

Support Your Local GAA Club with O2

O2 has launched O2 Engage, offering GAA supporters the chance to give 5% of their mobile phone spend to their local club. There are 172 clubs across the country registered for the scheme. O2 customers registered with O2 Engage will automatically have 5% of the cost of their rental, voice and text donated to the club of their choice. For example, if a club member registers their support for a club, and spends €50 per month on rental, calls and texts, their contribution to their club would be €30 per year. If that club had 300 people registered for O2 Engage, they could earn €9,000 or more, with no cost to the supporter or the club.

So if you are currently with O2 wish to joint O2 Engage please visit the O2 website.

Non O2 customers can make an even bigger difference - for every supporter that switches from another network, O2 will automatically give €5 to the club they register for and 5% of their rental, voice and text each month thereafter – so if you needed that extra reason to join O2 – call us today.

Million iPads sold in 28 days

Apple® announced that it sold its one millionth iPad™ just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. “One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.” Apple plans to release iPad in Ireland in July. Availability, local pricing and pre-order plans are yet to be announced.

iPhone and iPad on Three

Three Ireland is going to offer the iPhone to its customers, according to Sunday Business Post . Silicon Republic reported that the network is also planning to sell Apple iPod tablet computer device later this year as it rolls out its i-HSPA technology which will enable 14.4Mbps speeds.

Three Broadband Upgrade

3 Ireland revealed plans to trial 21Mbps and 42Mbps broadband speeds this year. At the moment speed of its mobile broadband network is 7.8Mbps and it will double to 14.4Mbps by the autumn. The network deployed Europe’s first i-HSPA (Internet High Speed Packet Access) mobile broadband network technology, following a successful trial by Nokia Siemens Networks. i-HSPA is a the innovative flat network architecture optimized to carry huge volumes of data traffic. I-HSPA also provides greater scalability and a smooth evolution path to the future mobile architectures "Long Term Evolution" (LTE) – providing speeds in excess of 50Mbps.