As smartphone shipments continue to trend upwards, Strategy Analytics released some new figures about their sales and adoption. Primarily speaking, global shipments of smartphones globally reached 290.2 million in 2013, up 34% year over year. Android phones reached a 78.4% global share in the fourth quarter, with a 78.9% share across the market for the year. Apple’s iOS dropped to 17.6%, and only had 15.5% of market share for the year. Windows Phone took third, with a 3.2% fourth quarter and a 3.6% share for the year. So although it sometimes might feel like iPhones dominate the market, it’s important to take the data at face value: Androids continue to control the market, and in terms of mobile are the operating system of choice.
Tag: windows phone
GTA: San Andreas Comes To Mobile
Rockstar Games recently launched its hotly anticipated installment to the Grand Theft Auto franchise with GTA V, to much success. Now the gaming giant is planning to re-release Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a classic originally released for the PS2, for a handful of major mobile platforms, just as it already has with GTA III and Vice City. The game has been revamped for the platform, and is sure to score big with mobile gamers who enjoyed the console version. While re-releasing classic games for different platforms is nothing new, Rockstar’s commitment to releasing large-environment games for mobile platforms could serve as an example to other game houses to do the same.
Spotify Finally Arrives for Windows Phone 8
For three months, Windows phone users have been kept from Spotify. The app wasn’t released on the Windows platform immediately, but it’s now up in the store as a beta version. The original Windows Phone 7 Spotify app was built through a third party via Microsoft funding, with the goal being to get the app onto the app store as soon as possible to fuel the demand. The issue for Microsoft was that after the shift to 8, the app had to be rebuilt from the ground up, which explains the three-month lag time. But, the wait is officially over, and the app is ready to download, now across the full spectrum of platforms.
