3G overtakes 2G mobile sales

Global mobile handset shipments for the first quarter of 2010 powered ahead to 303 million, up 19 percent year-on-year, according to ABI Research.

The first quarter of 2010 proved to a strong quarter for Apple (8.75m, 2.9 percent) iPhones shipped, which is up 130 percent YoY.

iPhone OS release 4, which brings multitasking and in-app advertising capabilities should help to maintain momentum, but Apple should diversify its lineup.

"This bodes well for 2010 as a whole: shipments could well reach 1.3 billion. It is also notable that 3G handset shipments eclipsed 2G handset shipments," says Jake Saunders, VP for Forecasting at ABI Research.

Strongest handset shipment growth was seen in the Middle East and Africa (20 percent YoY) followed by the Americas, particularly the US (11 percent). Europe, on the other hand, is languishing with single-digit growth.

Chart above shows worldwide 3G sales Q1 2010 by manufacturer, market share.

Nokia's market-share stood at 34 percent. New smartphones such as the N8 are helping the manufacturer to shore up its handset portfolio, as its loss of traction in the smartphone sector hit sales hard.

In response, revamped efforts with Symbian ^3 and ^4, are intended to help Nokia regain momentum. Nokia is counting on smartphones expanding into the mid-tier and low tier segments where it believes it has strength.

Samsung had a strong quarter, securing 21 percent. Over the past year, Samsung has been cultivating deeper relationships with US and European carriers, which helped the firm grow its shipments 40.2 percent YoY.

LG's market-share, 8.9 percent, has suffered from a weak smartphone portfolio in the North American market. LG has been traditionally strong in the enhanced phone sector, and has been giving a number of its older enhanced phones a smartphone twist. For example, its Chocolate phone has gone wide-screen. Shipments grew 20 percent YoY.

Motorola is benefiting from its initial success (2.8 percent) with the Droid and it keen to back it up with new products such as the Quench but the market is overtaking it. Motorola is hoping the strong social networking theme to its smartphone line-up will help it to curry favour with the youth and prosumer market.

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Apple's Shutdown of Lala Fuel Rumors of Web-based iTunes

Apple will shut down its Lala online music streaming service on May 31. The move comes just five months after Apple bought Lala for an undisclosed price. Could this indicate Apple is serious about opening up a Web-based version of iTunes software-based storefront based on the Lala platform? Some speculate Apple may announce a Web-based version of iTunes this June at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple has never said why it bought the company or what it planned to do with the service, but the purchase has prompted wide speculation that Apple is planning to introduce a cloud-based version of iTunes .

Lala allowed you to upload your own music library to access your music content from a Web-based interface. You could also listen to songs one time for free; purchase Web-only, non-downloadable versions of singles called Web songs at $0.10 per song; as well as purchase mp3 music downloads. At the time of its purchase by Apple , Lala boasted over eight million songs in its catalog.

What the end of Lala means for you

Lala is no longer accepting new customers, but if you already have a Lala account you will be able to use the service until May 31, 2010--Lala did not specify an exact time for the shutdown. If you have outstanding credit with Lala through its digital wallet service, you can continue to use those credits to make purchases until Lala service ends.

Lala will also be offering iTunes Store credit if you have outstanding wallet credits and unredeemed Lala gift cards. You will also be reimbursed the dollar amount for any Web song purchases you made using Lala. Store credits will be rounded up to the "nearest $1 for refunds under $10, or to the nearest $5 for refunds greater than $10," according to Lala. You can also receive your refund as a check by visiting Lala.com/credit (sign in required) and click on the link in the fine print at the bottom of the page.

If you still have an unredeemed Lala gift card, the company is encouraging you to redeem it as soon as possible here (sign in required). ( Click on image below to enlarge )

iTunes.com at WWDC 2010?

Lala's final day of operation comes just one week before Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where the company has traditionally introduced new iPhone devices and other products. With the end of Lala coming so close to WWDC 2010, the move has sparked some speculation that Apple could introduce a Web-based version of iTunes as early as June. Backing up that assertion is a January report from The Wall Street Journal stating that Apple has been working on a "Web-based version of [iTunes] that could launch as soon as June...tentatively called iTunes.com." Currently, iTunes.com redirects to Apple.com/itunes.

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Apple becomes top U.S. phone maker during 2010 first quarter

After fewer than three years on the market, the iPhone has become the top-selling phone in the U.S.

Mentioned briefly by Forbes in a Motorola first-quarter earnings statement, Apple has become the largest U.S. maker of cell phones. In the first quarter of 2010, Apple sold 8.8 million iPhones, while Motorola slipped from the throne to a close second with 8.5 million phones sold.

However, for a bit of sobering cell phone sales context, Forbes notes that just four years ago when the Razr was all the rage, Motorola claimed the top U.S. phone maker spot with a whopping 46.1 million phones sold in the first quarter.

Further, of Motorola's 8.5 million first-quarter phone sales, only 2.3 million of them were smartphones that actually compete with the iPhone. Motorola's bread and butter seems to still be "dumb" phones (or what are now loosely called "feature" phones), though its Android-based Droid phone for Verizon helped the company to sell more smartphones than even Motorola predicted for its quarter.

Around the world, the iPhone is also selling well. At Apple's iPhone OS 4.0 preview event, the company announced that it has sold more than 50 million iPhones, and 35 million iPod touches worldwide. Over the past year, iPhone sales have shot up 72 percent in Japan, a market previously thought to be almost hostile to the Apple's phone.

Not bad when you consider that, before its launch less than three years ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share."

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Execs to serve jail time for LCD price-fixing

The former president of Chi Mei Optoelectronics has agreed to pay a fine and go to jail for his role in a scheme to fix prices for TFT-LCDs (thin-film transistor-liquid crystal displays), the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

The Taiwanese company pleaded guilty to the crime late last year and agreed to pay a US$220 million fine.

Former President Jau-Yang Ho pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy from September 2001 through November 2006, the DOJ said. He agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and serve 14 months in jail. He also said he'll help the DOJ in its ongoing investigation into the conspiracy.

Ho's colleague, Chu-Hsiang Yang, formerly a director of sales at Chi Mei, also pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme, from April 2004 through November 2006. He was sentenced to pay a $25,000 fine and spend nine months in jail.

The agency said the men, both residents of Taiwan, met with other TFT-LCD makers and agreed to sell the panels at certain prices.

So far, six companies including Chi Mei have pleaded guilty for their involvement in the plan, the DOJ said. They've been ordered to pay fines totaling $860 million. Also, 11 people have been charged.

Other companies that have pleaded guilty include Epson Imaging Devices, which sold TFT-LCD panels at fixed prices to Motorola for use in its Razr phones. Sharp has also pleaded guilty for fixing prices on panels sold to Dell, Apple and Motorola.

Chi Mei's Ho and Yang could have been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison and ordered to pay millions of dollars.

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Comedian tears into Apple over iPhone raid

Apple can ignore the bloggers, but perhaps it can't dismiss the views of Jon Stewart, perhaps the most influential left-leaning satirist in the US and a man well-known to the 'Mac demographic'.

Stewart used an episode of his TV show, The Daily Show, to berate Apple for last week's police raid on the house of Gizmodo writer, Jason Chen, after the journalist leaked details of the next iPhone, a prototype of which had come into his possession.

Apple asked for Chen to return the phone, and California police later raided his home, leaving behind a wake of controversy that has seen Apple and law enforcement alike condemned for their heavy-handedness.

"Apple - you guys were the rebels, man, the underdogs. People believed in you. But now, are you becoming the man? Remember back in 1984, you had those awesome ads about overthrowing Big Brother? Look in the mirror, man!," said Stewart.

"You guys are busting down doors in Palo Alto while Commandant Gates is ridding the world of mosquitoes. What the f**k is going on?

UK readers can view the episode here.

Stewart's show is shown in the UK on Channel 4, where it has a cult following among the intelligentisia desperately looking a way of shining a light into the opaque and usually unfunny partisan battles that characterise current US politics. People listen to Stewart.

The launch of the next iPhone could yet become a publicity disaster if Chen ends up being charged and his case is turned into a cause clbre. Judging by the 1,200 news stories connected to Stewart's comments on Google, Apple might have cause to hope the matter goes no further.

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Apple iPad 3G out in US

Apple has begun selling iPads that are able to connect to the Internet over AT&T's data network. Customers who pre-ordered the more expensive models of the tablet were set to receive them yesterday.

Priced from $629 to $829, the 3G-enabled iPad went on sale at Apple's retail stores and most Best Buy stores at 5 pm local time. The company's stores closed between 4pm and 5pm to prepare for the sales start.

The debut of the 3G iPad follows the April 3 launch of the WiFi-only models. The 3G iPad cost $130 more than the corresponding WiFi-only model, a price increase that at least one expect has called "ridiculous." According to research firm iSuppli, which did a physical teardown of the WiFi model, the additional parts required for 3G connectivity cost an estimated $24.50.

AT&T prepped potential iPad 3G customers earlier this week when it released details ( download PDF ) about the two data plans that users can access: a $15 per month plan that allows 250MB of data to be transferred to and from the iPad, and a $30 per month unlimited data plan.

Unlike typical cell phone data plans, such as the one that AT&T markets to iPhone owners, the iPad plans are month-to-month deals that can be dropped without penalty. Users who subscribe to the $15 per month plan are warned by the iPad when they have reached the 20%- and 10%-remaining milestones.

Apple also published instructions on its support site today to outline the steps iPad owners take to sign up with an AT&T data plan.

According to Web analytics firm NetApplications, the iPad has captured 0.04% of the worldwide online usage market, meaning that 4 out of every 1,000 devices used to browse the Internet are iPads. The iPad's share of the global online usage market is on par with Research In Motion's BlackBerry and smartphones powered by Google's Android operating system.

Apple has said it sold more than half a million WiFi-only iPads in the first week of availability, while other estimates -- including Chitika Labs, which calculates sales by tracking unique iPad IP addresses that access its ad network -- are currently as high as 1.17 million units.

The tablet's brisk sales caught Apple by surprise. Earlier this month it said it was adding production to meet the strong demand. Most analysts argued that the shortages forced Apple to delay the international introduction of the iPad to the end of May.

Customers who order a WiFi+3G iPad today at Apple's online store face a week-long wait before their tablets are shipped, according to the company's site.

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Steve Jobs makes Time 100 for fifth time

So far this year he's championed organ donation, launched the iPad, and taken Flash to task--and now, Steve Jobs has once again made Time 100's list of most influential people.

This isn't Jobs's first appearance--the Apple CEO has been mentioned repeatedly on the list throughout the past decade, in 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008. As of 2010, Jobs has been listed five times--tied with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama--and is only three behind Oprah Winfrey, who's been on the list a whopping eight times.

Categorized under "Thinkers," Jobs is written about reverently by sculpture artist Jeff Koons:

"As a young man, Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, decided to be the Beatles of computing. I once said that I make what the Beatles would have made if they made sculpture, and I can appreciate how Steve, 55, applies their ethos of optimism to his work... It's great to see Steve stay true to his vision."

Jobs is featured in Time this month alongside politicians, doctors, bankers, figure skaters, and artists. Check out the full list online.

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