Smartphones Markets (First Part)

Today I will show some of the most important smartphones markets :

                                                               


                                 Let's start!(First part)






                                                     1.Android (operating system) :

Android is an operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It is developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google.

Google purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005.  The unveiling of the Android distribution on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 80 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software license. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android.

Android consists of a kernel based on the Linux kernel, with middleware, libraries and APIs written inC and application software running on an application framework which includes Java-compatible libraries based on Apache Harmony. Android uses the Dalvik virtual machine with just-in-time compilation to run compiled Java code. Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of the devices.  Developers write primarily in Java. There are currently more than 250,000 apps available for Android. Android Market is the online app store run by Google, though apps can also be downloaded from third-party sites.

Android was listed as the best-selling smartphone platform worldwide in Q4 2010 by Canalys.

          

    2.App Store :

The Apple/iOS App Store is a digital application distribution platform for iOS developed and maintained by Apple.

The service allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iOS SDK or Mac SDK and published through Apple, Inc.. Depending on the application, they are available either for free or at a cost. The applications can be downloaded directly to a target device, or downloaded onto a PC or Mac via iTunes. 30% of revenue from the store go to Apple, and 70% go to the producer of the app.The App Store opened on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes. On July 11, the iPhone 3G was launched and came pre-loaded with iOS 2.0.1 with App Store support; new iOS 2.0.1 firmware for iPhone and iPod Touch was also made available via iTunes.As of June 6, 2011, there are at least 425,000 third-party apps officially available on the App Store.As of January 18, 2011, the App Store had over 9.9 billion downloads, which was announced via the company's "10 Billion App Countdown".At 10:26 AM GMT on Saturday, January 22, 2011, the 10 billionth app was downloaded from Apple App Store. At early July 2011, 200 million iOS users have downloaded over 15 billion apps from its App Store.The mean revenue per application is estimated to be US$8,700, although data is not publicly available. As of May 2011, Apple approved its 500,000th app and 37 percent of all apps are free with the average price $3.64. The distribution of price follows a power law distribution (theZipf–Mandelbrot law). Prices can be freely chosen by sellers at multiple of US$1 minus 1 cent (99c, $1.99, and so on).

After the success of Apple's App Store, and the launch of similar services by its competitors, the term "app store" has been adopted to refer to any similar service for mobile devices.However, Apple applied for a trademark on the term App Store in 2008 which was tentatively approved in 2011 .Later, in June 2011, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who is presiding over Apple's case against Amazon, said she'll "probably" deny Apple's motion that seeks to bar the Web retailer from using the "App Store" name. Later on July, 6th, Apple was denied preliminary injunction against Amazon's Appstore by a federal judge.

The App Store is accessible from the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad via an iOS application by the same name. It is also the only way to directly download native applications onto an iOS device without jailbreaking the device. Web applications can be installed on these devices, bypassing the App Store entirely, but they tend to have less functionality. The store is also accessible through iTunes, and then on any operating system for which iTunes is provided (Mac OS X and Wind)

The term app has become a popular buzzword; in January 2011, app was awarded the honor of being 2010's "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Society.Apple does not hold a trademark on, or claim exclusive rights to the term app, which has been used as shorthand for "application" since at least 2002, for example Google Apps (first introduced in 2006).

                                                                  3.Ovi Store(Nokia) 

The Ovi Store was launched world wide in May 2009.Here, customers can download mobile games, applications, videos, images, and ringing tones to their Nokia devices. Some of the items are free of charge; others can be purchased using credit card or through operator billing in selected operators. The content in Ovi Store is sorted into the following categories:

• Featured (previously recommended)
• Games
• Personalise
• Applications
• Audio & video

Ovi Store is intended to offer customers content that is compatible with their mobile devices and relevant to their tastes and locations. Customers can share recommendations with their friends, see what they are downloading, and let them see items of interest.For content publishers, Nokia offers a self-service tool to bring their content to the Ovi Store. Supported content types include: Java ME, Flash applications, widgets, ringtones, wallpapers, themes, and more for Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices and also Symbian^3. Nokia offers a 70% revenue share of gross sales, net of refunds and returns, less applicable taxes and, where applicable, fixed operator billing costs.Ovi Store replaces the older Nokia services, Widsets, Download!, and MOSH.The daily number of downloads reached 9 million in August 2011. Despite the recent decision for Nokia to use Windows Phone 7 as their primary Operating system, Ovi store will still be available to present and future Symbian phones, whereas Ovi store and Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will be merged on the Windows Phone 7 platform. There are 50,000 apps as of April 2011.