According to Nielsen’s latest numbers from July 2011, 40% of people in the US have smartphones. Out of those with smartphones, Android is top tier with 40% of the share. Compared to iOS which holds 28% and Blackberry still slipping at 19%. It’s surprising Windows Mobile still holds a chuck at 7%, but Windows Phone 7 can’t crack 1%. WebOS/Palm, Symbian and others make up the remaining 5%. Android also holds the lead for people surveyed about  buying a new smartphone. 40 percent of users say their next phone will be an Android compared to 32 percent for iOS.

[Nielsen]

Research firm VisionMobile recently published a study of several different open source platforms including Android, Eclipse, the Linux kernel, MeeGo, Firefox, Qt, Symbian, and WebKit. The study, which was partially funded by the European Union, ranked the various projects on a scaled called the “open governance index” with points scored based on transparency, open governance, inclusiveness, and ease of access to source code. Android was placed at the bottom with a score of 23%, while the next lowest was 58 percent. Eclipse scored the highest with a 58% “openness” rating.

VisionMobile goes on to detail why Android is not as open as other open-source projects:

“Visibility to the roadmap is limited, as there is no Android roadmap publicly available. In fact, development of the Android private branch and the roadmap is controlled by Google, with little input from external parties or the Open Handset Alliance members. When launched, the Open Handset Alliance served the purpose of a public industry endorsement for Android. Today, however, the OHA serves little purpose besides a stamp of approval for OHA members; there is no formal legal entity, no communication processes for members nor frequent member meetings.”

 

The report also specifically cites a quote from an email sent by Dan Morrill describing how Google is “using compatibility as a club to make [OEMs] do things we want.”

[via Ars Technica]

Any takers? Full press release below:

Android Version of the Worlds Most Expensive App
ASiQ releases the Android version of the Worlds Most expensive App

Melbourne, Australia (PRWEB) March 21, 2011

ASiQ Limited Australia announced today the release of the Android version of SafeCell, the world’s most affordable in-flight mobile phone solution for corporate jets.

Ron Chapman ASiQ’s CEO stated that “the development of the Android App follows on from our initial Blackberry and Symbian versions. I am very excited about this version and congratulate our developers on how quickly they were able to develop this platform. We now see why Android has gained such a high consumer acceptance. The App is very fast, which means that making a call at 30,000 feet or sending a message is just as simple as if you were using your mobile on the ground.

No matter which satellite system you have onboard, Iridium, Inmarsat or Thuraya, SafeCell connects you and no more roaming charges. From as little as $12,500 for a single channel licence, up to $17,500 for a multi channel licence, its cheap compared to $350 – $500K for conventional mobile phone technology. Plus you can use SafeCell in the USA and several other countries where conventional mobile phone systems are banned.

The App can be installed on unlimited mobiles at no extra charge however, with a single channel licence only one mobile can log on at a time, whereas with a multi channel licence, up to six mobiles can operate simultaneously. We developed the App this way as the majority of smaller jets only have one channel, whereas the bigger jets have broadband and up to six channels.”

Ron also said, “Our developers are now focusing their attention on the iphone. While it has its own unique set of challenges; it’s more an integration issue rather than reinventing the wheel. This is because the proprietary ASiQ Bluetooth protocol is absolutely unique and has been designed to work with multiple platforms. With the iphone complete we will have every major platform covered, that you could expect on an airline system.”

ASiQ’s new airline system will be licenced by aircraft fleet and the App will be available to passengers for free. The airline App will be restricted to a data service only. Research shows that this is the feature both passengers and airlines really want. The major benefit of this approach is that SafeCell’s airline platform will accommodate unlimited mobiles, with unlimited texting, via a single channel low cost satellite network and will only require around five SMS per flight to recoup the hardware costs.

By using Bluetooth to connect directly into the existing satellites ground stations, you operate outside of the global mobile roaming network, thereby eliminating roaming charges and the requirement for Telco approval. Conventional aircraft mobile phone technology is locked to the global mobile roaming network and when connected via satellite creates one of the most expensive mobile phone services in the world. Even worse, in the USA, where 90% of corporate jets operate, you cannot even install them. This is why SafeCell is unique. Bluetooth is documented as safe for use in aircraft and does not have these restrictions.

SafeCell Bizjets initial target market is around 16,000 corporate aircraft equipped with a satellite link. SafeCell Bizjet is the fore runner of the SafeCell airline platform, which is due for release in 2011.

About SafeCell
SafeCell is patented in-flight mobile phone solution. The SafeCell IP, patent and global patent applications are owned by ASI Entertainment Inc an OTCBQ listed company ticker code “ASiQ”. Under licence, ASiQ Limited Australia has the exclusive rights to commercialise and develop the SafeCell IP globally.

A recent study by GfK Network Intelligence tell us a little bit about ourselves as smartphone users. They measured about 20 million website visits from four European countries to collect the data. Android owners visit about 9.1 different websites per day on average. At the opposite end is Symbian users, with only 5.2 sites on average.

Facebook may be the most visited site in the world, but this is where the survey gets completely reversed. Android users are only 13% likely to be on Facebook’s website, and at the other end of the scale is Symbian again, with 24% chance of browsing Facebook. The other platforms fell somewhere in between. There’s no telling if that’s just the mobile site or if they included the app. But they did measure phones as well as tablets.

[via IntoMobile]

Available now in the Android Market (as well as for Symbian phones), *Spark is a customizable homescreen that attempts to put all the information you want on one screen. From Facebook and Twitter to news and weather and Groupon deals. Sure, there are plenty of widgets that can do all of these, but like FlyScreen and other alternatives, it tries to do everything. *Spark is a home screen replacement, which means you have to choose it over the stock launcher or ADW or aHome, whatever you use. We gave it a quick run through and I just can’t see myself switching from the stock launcher. But I can see the appeal to users that don’t want to go through and find all the widgets to make their home screen look just right.

If you want to try it out, you can find it in the Android Market, or point your mobile browser to m.sparkmyphone.com.

Here’s the full press release:

*Spark, the Real-time Home Screen App for Android Officially Launches with Premier Media Partners

Improves content discovery for mobile consumers. Announces CBS, Sky, and Groupon as partners for Breaking News and Daily Deals.

December 16, 2010 (FREMONT, CA) – HipLogic today announced that *Spark, the full version of its Real-time Home screen app is now available with expanded modules, better Home screen performance and additional integration from premier media partners including CBS News, Twitter, Facebook, Sky (UK), Weatherbug and Groupon Deals. *Spark is now available for Android handsets, and can be downloaded for free at www.sparkmyphone.com or through Android Market.

*Spark makes it easy to get to the things you love. It’s a modern mobile portal that streamlines your content discovery and provides at a glance rich access to content and media that matters to you plus the quickest access to your favorite apps, the web and phone functions.

With mobile social access on the rise, users can now view and update their social status right from their mobile Home screen. *Spark dynamically updates media and social streams in Real-time and delivers content to the Home screen in a clean and organized format. The complete version of *Spark now includes expanded modules, better Home screen performance and Twitter, Facebook, Sky News (UK / Ireland), AP News Content, Weatherbug, and Groupon Deals integration.

*Spark leverages HipLogic’s innovative mobile technology platform to enable a configurable and personalized Home screen experience to consumers. Once downloaded, *Spark replaces the static Home screen with a dynamic interface that updates media and social streams in Real-time depending on the user’s preferences. With this partnership announcement, consumers can now more easily consume and share premier media content without having to open multiple applications.

“More and more, consumers are looking to their mobile devices for the headlines that matter to them. *Spark enables personalized mobile discovery, without a cumbersome search process. *Spark users have easy access to breaking news from CBS News, and are just a click away from the complete story on the CBS News mobile Web site,” said Rob Gelick, SVP and General Manager of CBS Mobile. “We’re confident our collaboration with *Spark will drive traffic to our best-in-class content.”

The full version of *Spark now includes:

Facebook + Twitter Modules — View the latest Twitter or Facebook Streams from your friends, jump directly to links posted on Twitter or Facebook. Post to Facebook and Twitter at the same time directly from the Home Screen. The addition of other popular social networks is also planned for inclusion in social streams.

Headlines (Powered by CBS – US and Sky – UK)—Receive Live News, Entertainment, Politics, Opinion and other news streams from CBS News on your phone’s Home screen and easily share news links and/or post them directly from *Spark to Facebook, Twitter or SMS within the *Spark interface.

Deals Module (with Groupon integration) – Delivers daily deals from merchants in your area directly to your Home screen, based on your preferences and location plus the ability to find deals in the cities you travel to.

*Spark brings a rich social mobile experience delivered through a clean, simple and intuitive interface on 2.x versions of Android & Symbian / Nokia touch screen phones.

“Spark is becoming a vehicle for media and brands to gain discovery, immediacy and engagement with mobile consumers,” said Mark Anderson, CEO, HipLogic “Spark blends an intuitive interface with powerful, multi-tasking functionality. We’re excited to be working with CBS, Sky and Groupon to deliver the best possible mobile experience to consumers.”

ABOUT HIPLOGIC
HipLogic is redefining the mobile user experience; the HipLogic next-‐generation application platform features a rich multimedia client connected to intelligent cloud services, aggregating web content and network operator services to create modern mobile 2.0 experiences. HipLogic is a private company funded by Benchmark Capital, Bay Partners, Stage 1 Ventures and Route 2 Digital. To learn more about HipLogic, please visit us at www.hiplogic.com or follow us at on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/hiplogic.

I would like to mention they made it clear it’s a very early Alpha version, so expect issues and drop a line to android@qik.com with any bugs or feedback.

And of course, let us know in the comments how it’s working for you.

Here’s some screenshots from the Qik Blog:

Thanks to @rabidnerd and @c0z on Twitter for the tip!