Gartner just released its annual numbers for worldwide mobile phone sales to end users in the year known as two thousand nine. Looking at smartphone OS market share alone, Gartner shows the iPhone OS, Android, and RIM making the biggest gains (up 6.2%, 3.4%, and 3.3% from 2008, respectively) at the expense of Windows Mobile (down 3.1%) and Symbian (down 5.5%). Although Gartner says that Symbian “has become uncompetitive in recent years,” (ouch) it concedes that market share is still strong especially for Nokia; something backed up by Nokia’s Q4 financials and reported quarterly smartphone growth of 5% . Regarding total handsets of all classifications sold, Nokia continues to dominate with 36.4% of all sales to end users (a 2.2% loss from 2008) while Samsung and LG continue to climb at the expense of Motorola (dropping from 7.6% to 4.5% of worldwide sales in 2009) and Sony Ericsson. See that table after the break or hit up the source for the full report. Continue reading Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:05:00 EST

Want evidence for the old saying that there’s always something next to wait around for with technology? We’ve only just reviewed the most bodacious X200 Tablet from Lenovo, yet already there’s a capacitive multitouch display that promises to be that little bit better. LG’s in-cell multitouch technology places the touchy-feely parts inside — rather than as a film on top of — the LCD panel, which we’re told eliminates the loss of picture quality and brightness that regular multitouch results in. It only works with two fingers so far, but LG is still pretty pleased with itself for being the first to gain the Windows 7 Touch Logo sticker with this technology, which was previously limited to cellphone-sized displays . Mass production is set for the second half of this year, and we’ll go ahead and assume that local nemesis Samsung will be using every moment until then to offer its own competing models . Bring on the marginally better touchscreens! LG’s in-cell multitouch laptop displays get unveiled, certified with Windows 7 Touch Logo originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:24:00 EST

In today’s bursting-at-the-seams Remainders: laziness. We’ve got a new Adesso keyboard for the couch-potato web surfer; a Taiwanese truck driver sleeping behind the wheel; a lazily conceived concept car; a demo that takes Farmville procrastination anywhere; and more! WiMaxed Out Every month or so we hear about a new fistful of medium-sized American cities that have been blanketed in the warmth of Clearwire’s snappy WiMax network. Although things are growing slowly but surely here, WiMax is apparently rolling out at a much more frenzied pace pretty much everywhere else. Here are some illustrative numbers, from our friend the Boy Genius: * Asia Pacific: 237 million people covered by 100 network deployments * Europe: 115 million people covered by 153 network deployments * Central/Latin America: 113 million people covered 109 network deployments * Africa/Middle East: 108 million people covered by 142 network deployments * North America: 47 million people covered by 51 network deployments But wait, these numbers don’t see 100% trustworthy. While 47 million North Americans might technically be in a WiMax coverage area, I don’t believe for a second that nearly that many are using the network. So sure, smaller nations with more densely packed populations would reasonably have more “covered” users, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate a worldwide WiMax phenomenon.

Samsung’s the biggest TV maker in the world. It beat Sony 4 years ago. But it’s getting even bigger . Soon it will pass 20 percent marketshare, which the WSJ points out is “a threshold not reached by any manufacturer since the earliest days of the industry more than 60 years ago.” Think about that. Also interesting! Number two is LG. Together, today, they make over 30 percent of TVs

That slick-looking Mini GD880 phone from LG that was introduced last week has been handed some more details for its profile card at MWC. It’ll be the first phone to support LG’s new 3-Way Sync service, Air Sync. It’s a fancy way of saying it continually syncs over the air using that very-2010 term “cloud computing”, backing up browsing habits, photos, videos, calendars and contact details. Information is exchanged from the phone to the user’s computer, with the last 100 websites visited on the PC being transferred to the GD880, embarrassing search results and all.

AT&T, Orange, Telefónica, China Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and several more carriers have announced the formation of the Wholesale Applications Community , which aims to create a viable alternative to Apple’s walled-garden approach to apps. They’ll be joined on the hardware side by LG, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson as they attempt to create an open system for app development and distribution. What they lack in momentum they make up for in mass: combined, the alliance services more than three billion customers worldwide. There’s no question that apps are big business, especially for Apple , but to date it’s been largely limited to Apple and, to a lesser extent, the Android Market . The Wholesale Applications Community plans to initially use JIL and OMTP BONDI requirements to work towards a common standard within a year. Eventually, they hope to establish a common standard where apps can be ported across mobile platforms.

The world’s largest production OLED TV is headed Stateside later this year, said LG reps at the ISE-2010 LG Electronics show this week. LG is aiming for mid-2010, with an expected stratospheric $2,500 price tag. Presumably, given what LG has said on the subject , the 15-inch EL9500 would be a precursor to the 19- and 20-inch OLEDs they alluded to on February 1. In any event, these gorgeous, petite TVs are on track for later this year, with a 40-inch unaffordable-for-the-common-man version arriving in 2012 .

In today’s Remainders: patience. Or at least, it’s what’s required by today’s items, including Lumix camera pricing, Google’s acquisition of Aardvark; LG’s forthcoming e-reader, and the great Palm Pre manufacturing halt that wasn’t. Aardvark Party Google has acquired Aardvark , a unique social search engine, for $50 million. With the internet still buzzing over Buzz, it isn’t exactly surprising to see Google expanding further into the “space between you and every other human being on the planet,” as Jason described it .

In today’s Remainders: patience. Or at least, it’s what’s required by today’s items, including Lumix camera pricing, Google’s acquisition of Aardvark; LG’s forthcoming e-reader, and the great Palm Pre manufacturing halt that wasn’t. Aardvark Party Google has acquired Aardvark , a unique social search engine, for $50 million. With the internet still buzzing over Buzz, it isn’t exactly surprising to see Google expanding further into the “space between you and every other human being on the planet,” as Jason described it .

This LG Mini GD880 is so good-looking it makes my brain hurt at the injustice of it (presumably) running LG’s S-Class OS, and not Android. Still, there’s some nice spec to back up this slim 16:9 phone. Just like the Chocolate phone before it , the display has a 16:9 aspect ratio, in this case at 3.2-inches. LG hasn’t released many details about the internals just yet, but we do know it has a 5.0-megapixel camera with face detection, Wi-Fi, and HSDPA 7.2Mbps connectivity. The lack of buttons, metal finishings and square corners make it look like it’ll be part of their more “premium” range of handsets, so expect to pay a pretty penny if you want it PAYG, otherwise it’ll most likely go for the usual month contract fees when it goes on sale in March in Europe—with worldwide availability expected shortly. I’m going to harass LG for confirmation of the OS, but with Mobile World Congress starting this weekend, I’m sure we’ll find out a whole load more then.