Samsung extends lead over Apple in Q2 phone shipments

Samsung bested Apple in phone shipments in the second quarter. But that may change when the next iPhone arrives later this year.

Samsung has widened its lead over Apple in mobile phone shipments in the second quarter, said IDC.

The global mobile phone market grew only 1 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2012, IDC said Thursday. Samsung and Apple shipped almost half of the world's smartphones.

Samsung and Apple have more than doubled their combined market share over the past two years, IDC said.

"Samsung employs a 'shotgun' strategy wherein many models are created that cover a wide range of market segments. Apple, in contrast, offers a small number of high-profile models," said Kevin Restivo, an IDC analyst, explaining how different their strategies are.

Samsung's strategy, at the moment, is winning, said IDC.

In addition to the launching its flagship Galaxy S III, Samsung saw success with its smartphone/tablet hybrid device, the Galaxy Note, IDC said.

(Credit: IDC)

This allowed Samsung to top the 50 million unit mark and reached a new quarterly smartphone shipment record in a single quarter.

But the new iPhone is coming. "What remains to be seen is how the company's smartphones will fare against Apple's next-generation iPhone expected later this year," IDC said.

Apple, on the other hand, posted "an expected sequential decline last quarter, similar to years past," according to IDC.

"The quarter-over-quarter shipment decline came six months after it unveiled its latest iPhone. The decline is not unusual as iPhone shipment volume is highest in the first two quarters after its release."

Nokia, HTC, and ZTE were ranked 3,4, and 5 respectively.

Is Google headed toward an Android Nexus PC?

In this edition of Ask Maggie, CNET's Marguerite Reardon discusses whether Google will use the Android mobile OS or browser-based Chrome OS to take on Apple and Microsoft in computing, and she explains why it's still important to check the coverage of your wireless provider before you sign up for a contract.

Google's Android operating system for mobile devices has gained significant traction in the market. Will Google follow this success up by pushing the OS into more sophisticated computing devices? Or will it use its browser based-OS Chrome to take on Apple and Microsoft in the PC software market?

These are the questions I tackle in this edition of Ask Maggie. I also offer some perspective on why it's still important to choose a wireless based on network performance and reliability.

Googles big strategic decision: Android or Chrome

Dear Maggie,
I was at Google I/O this year, and I saw a lot of developers using Macs. As a hardcore Google/Android fan, this bothered me. I was wondering if you think Google is going to move into the PC operating system market with its own suave version of Android OS and take on Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS that way? If an Android PC comes out, I'll be the first to buy it. So is there any chance of a Nexus PC coming in the near future? Please tell me there is!

Yours truly,
G-man

Dear G-man,
This is a great question. The short answer is that I wouldn't hold my breath for a Nexus PC.

To dig deeper into this topic, I went straight to the experts. I sent your question via e-mail to CNET's OS-guru Stephen Shankland. And I asked Seth Rosenblatt CNET Reviews' expert on all things software to help me answer your question.

Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president in charge of Chrome and Apps, speaking at Google I/O.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

The three of us attended Google I/O this year as well. And we were having a conversation during I/O about this very issue. How long will Google continue to develop the Android mobile OS and the Chrome OS separately? Will the two ever collide? Will one software OS eventually fade away?

Here's what Stephen had to say:

Facebook: 1 billion 'things' shared via Open Graph daily

It won't be long now before Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says 10 billion "things" are shared on Facebook every day.

Facebook's "like" sign

(Credit: Facebook)

There was one big thing that was missed in all the hype surrounding Facebook's earnings report today: Open Graph. Announced at f8 2011, the new class of social apps is responsible for all the "frictionless sharing" you've been seeing on the social network lately. During the investors call today, Facebook co-founder and CEO Zuckerberg unveiled that every day, almost 1 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook via Open Graph.

I would estimate this is coming from some 5,000 Open Graph apps (back in March, Facebook had 3,000). Because Open Graph essentially means automatic sharing on your Timeline, as well as your Facebook friends' Ticker and News Feed, many apps have seen explosive growth

Windows 8 fear and uncertainty kicks in

Is Windows 8 really the makings of a fiasco? True or not, get ready to hear this more and more as the Windows 8 general release approaches.

Surface: one salient symbol of Microsoft's future. Is the company courting disaster?

(Credit: Microsoft)

Windows 8 FUD is starting to hit the fan.

That would be fear, uncertainty, and doubt. As in, "I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space."

That was said yesterday by Gabe Newell, a former Microsoft employee and managing director of Valve Software, which makes games such as Half-Life and created the Steam gaming platform for Windows and Apple's OS X.

Newell's company is now moving Steam to Linux. Thus the comment, "we're trying to make sure that Linux thrives" from Newell (in the same story linked above) before his Windows 8 critique.

You could almost mistake all of the fuss for the fall presidential election, not the general release of Windows 8. "Windows 8 is treason! Linux will win the future!" (or substitute Android or OS X for Linux).

That said, Microsoft is in a hard place.

One, PC makers are no doubt reconsidering -- either casually or seriously -- their commitment to Windows because of the Microsoft-branded Surface tablet due to arrive around the same time as Windows 8 (more on that below).

Two, there is a growing chorus of critics that despise the Metro interface. (I'm not one of them.)

Three, Metro and the Windows Store -- that is, the way users will install apps -- could make Windows less open, as IDC analyst Jay Chou pointed out to me today.

And Microsoft didn't help matters when it stated in its annual report filed today with Securities and Exchange Commission that "our Surface devices will compete with products made by our OEM partners, which may affect their commitment to our platform."

No way around it, that's a prickly statement when it's coming directly from Microsoft.

So, will the FUD stick? It will probably get worse as we get closer to the general release. When Microsoft takes a hard turn to a new operating system, pundits pounce and users revolt (just read some of the comments attached to the Building Windows 8 blogs).

What makes it different this time is the Surface factor and Microsoft's need, apparently, to adopt Apple's and Google's strategies, as Venkatesh Rao writes in a Forbes blog.

Google "is winning using Microsoft's original winning...strategy" (by using an open OS layer of the stack, commodity hardware), he writes. "Google is out-Microsofting Microsoft."

Samsung to reinstate the Galaxy S3's search function

Samsung's Galaxy S3.

(Credit: Samsung)

Never fear, a fix is supposedly near. Samsung confirmed today that the recent "stability update"on the Galaxy S3 that rendered the on-device search function useless was going to be repaired immediately, according to the BBC.

"The most recent software upgrade for the Galaxy S3 in the UK included the inadvertent removal of the universal search function," the company said in a statement, according to the BBC. "Samsung will provide the correct software upgrade within the next few days."

Reports of the bunk update surfaced earlier this month when S3 owners found out that they couldn't use the local search function for the Web, contacts, apps, and other information. They were given no warning that this would happen when they downloaded the software, according to the BBC. The "stability update" reportedly only affected international versions of the phone.