gartner

Mobile ads are expected to generate around $3.3 billion worldwide this year, more than double the $1.6 billion the industry took in last year, said Gartner today.

That number is likely to soar ever further, hitting $20.6 billion by 2015. Ads for mobile search and map sites and applications are expected to kick in the largest share of revenue, while video and audio ads will grow the fastest over the next four years, according to Gartner.

As a result, companies are expected to boost their budgets for mobile ads, growing from just half a percentage point of … Read more

Higher tablet demand and lower Netbook sales are likely to take a greater bite out of the PC market this year than expected, according to data released today by Gartner.

Global PC shipments are now forecast to grow by 9.3 percent in 2011, reaching 385 million units, says Gartner. That marks a slight drop from the research firm's previous estimate of 10.5 percent growth for the year.

Gartner blamed the downfall mostly on shrinking demand for Netbooks but also pointed to tablets as shaking up the market.

"Mini-notebook [Netbook] shipments have noticeably contracted over the last several quarters, and this has substantially reduced overall mobile PC unit growth," Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. "Media tablets, such as the iPad, have also impacted mobile growth, but more because they have caused consumers to delay new mobile PC purchases rather than directly replacing aging… Read more

Android and Windows Phone bookended the smartphone operating system market in the first quarter.

Market researcher Gartner said in a report released today that over 100 million smartphones were sold worldwide during the first quarter of 2011. Google's Android OS secured 36 percent of the market, with more than 36.2 million units sold to consumers during the period. Nokia's Symbian took the second spot, at 27.4 percent of the market and 27.6 million units sold. Apple's iOS platform and Research In Motion's BlackBerry came in third and fourth with 16.8 percent and … Read more

The IT services market bounced back from the effects of the global recession to record a 3.1 percent increase in revenue to $793 billion last year, from $769 billion in 2009, according to a new report from Gartner.

Released earlier this week, the study revealed that the majority of end-user spending in the market went toward software support, pushing this sector to clock the highest growth at 6.6 percent. Process management and hardware support saw weaker results, where both segments grew at 1 percent less than projected.

Consulting, development, and integration services performed slightly better than expected as … Read more

We go hands-on with the weirdest Android phone yet, as Justin Eckhouse and Antuan Goodwin finally decide whether the Kyocera Echo is cool. Sprint delivers ringtones, HTC streams movies, and a tablet winner is declared, all that and more on this week's edition of Android Atlas Weekly.

Stories

Sony Ericsson delivers exclusive Android Market channel http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20053628-251.html

HTC enters the movie streaming business with HTC Watch http://androidandme.com/2011/04/news/htc-enters-the-movie-streaming-business-with-htc-watch/

Sprint … Read more

Hurt by demand for the iPad and other electronic gadgets, PC shipments around the world dropped by 1.1 percent in the first quarter, according to preliminary results out today from Gartner.

Global PC shipments fell to 84.25 million during the quarter, compared with 85.18 million a year ago, their first decline in six consecutive quarters. The drop surprised Gartner, which had been looking for a gain of 3 percent. Though PC sales typically slow during the first quarter, the numbers point to this as more than just an expected seasonal dip, in Gartner's opinion.

"Weak … Read more

Despite rising competition from the likes of Android, Apple's iOS-based iPad will continue to lead the tablet market on into 2015, according to a report out today by Gartner.

Looking at the tablet market by operating system, Gartner pegged Apple's share at 84 percent last year and is forecasting 69 percent this year. Though Apple's dominance may ebb over the next few years, it will still maintain its lead, with 63 percent of all tablets sold next year and 47 percent in 2015, according to the market researcher.

Amid any decline in market share, unit sales of … Read more

Google cracks down on fragmentation, but does doing so put the Android Open Source Project's openness in jeopardy? First an app store, then a cloud streaming service, and now is Amazon planning an Android-based phone? What podcatching app do you use on your Android phone? We have the answers to all of these questions, plus Antuan tries to name as many popular Android devices as quickly as he can in this week's episode of Android Atlas Weekly with Justin Eckhouse and Antuan Goodwin.

The Android operating system may soon own nearly 50 percent of the smartphone market, Gartner said today.

According to the market researcher, more than 296 million smartphones shipped last year. Out of that, Symbian secured 37.6 percent market share, followed by Android's 22.7 percent share, and BlackBerry OS with 16 percent of the market. In 2011, the number of smartphone shipments around the world will explode to nearly 468 million units. That growth will help Android snag 38.5 percent market share by the end of the year, followed by Apple's iOS at 19.4 percent, … Read more