ComScore released its most recent U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share report for the three-month period ending in December, 2011. The research firm found that Samsung remained the top mobile phone vendor in the fourth quarter with a 25.3% market share — the same share as it held in the third quarter. LG’s market share dropped 0.6 percentage points to a 20% share for second place followed by Motorola, which fell 0.5 percentage points to 13.3%. Apple had the fourth largest share with a 12.4% market sha...

If you’re signed up for a daily deal service on your phone, odds are you’re from a high-income household. According to new data from comScore, 36.5% of U.S. phone owners who are signed up for a daily deal service have an annual income of more than $100,000. 19.6% come from households that have an annual income of between $75,000 and $100,000, 18.1% have a household income of between $50,000 and $75,000, 16.9% fall between $25,000 and $50,000, and 8.9% earn less than $25,000 per year. ComScore did ...

Apple pulled ahead of HP in the fourth quarter to become the largest player in the client PC market, a new report suggested Monday. The Cupertino-based company shipped more than 15 million iPads and 5 million Mac computers last quarter, and those figures represented 17% of all PCs shipped around the world during the fourth quarter. The report, which comes from market research firm Canalys, said PC shipments grew 16% annually to reach 120 million during the quarter, and the firm’s categorization of ̶...

Apple is now the largest buyer of semiconductors in the world, according to market research firm Gartner. The Cupertino-based company trailed both Samsung and HP in 2010, however Apple’s spending is estimated to have jumped 34.6% in 2011. The company spent $17.3 billion on semiconductors in 2011, or 5.7% of the total share of chip purchases. Coming in second was Samsung, which spent $16.7 billion or 5.5% of all chip purchases, and HP came in third with $16.6 billion. Leading electronics manufacturers...

Tablet owners spend big bucks online according to a new report. In fact, the new study published by Adobe Digital Marketing Insights suggests that tablet owners spend 50% more per purchase than smartphone owners on retail purchases, and over 20% more than PC users. The study found that smartphone owners spent about $80 per purchase on average but tablet owners spent an average of $123. Laptop/PC users spent $102 per retail purchase on average in 2011. Tablet owners are three times more likely to make a purcha...

The monthly price we pay for 4G LTE data could drop drastically over the next five years. Currently, 4G LTE networks are blazing fast but there’s no doubt that the technology comes at a price. 4G LTE handsets sold directly by wireless carriers typically cost more than their 3G counterparts, and tiered 4G data prices are still a bit too costly for heavy data users looking to ditch their cable companies. Verizon Wireless, for example, currently charges $80 for 20GB of data per month while Time Warner Cabl...

The Federal Communications Commission released a 109-page report on Tuesday evening that provides a great deal of insight into what the government agency thought of AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA. However, AT&T has questioned exactly why the government agency decided to release the report since, hours before the report was released, AT&T successfully withdrew its merger application. The FCC said that the acquisition would give AT&T a “unilateral incentive” to inc...

Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 tablets continue to dominate in the enterprise market, according to the Good Technology Device Activations Report for the third quarter of 2011. 4% of all tablet activations in the enterprise were for Android tablets, while the iPad and iPad 2 were responsible for 96% of activations. The iPhone 4 was the most popular handset with 28.3% of all device activations during the quarter. It was followed by the iPad 2 (15.6% of all activations). Sprint’s EVO 4G was the most popular...

According to research recently released by mobile ad network InMobi, 41% of mobile users in North America plan to purchase the iPhone 5. 50% of those planning to purchase the phone will buy it within the first six months after it is launched, which could propel its current 27% smartphone market share to 41%. InMobi added one caveat: if Apple decides to release a minor upgrade to the current iPhone, just 15% of consumers will purchase the new device. InMobi’s research revealed that consumers hope Apple u...

A recent Mobile Insights report from research firm Nielsen suggests that AT&T customers are more satisfied with their phones than any other carrier customer in the United States. “Nielsen’s results reinforce that our customers have the highest device satisfaction compared to all carriers,” AT&T Mobility chief marketing officer David Christopher said. “Our data shows that as of the second quarter this year, about half of our postpaid customers had smartphones — more than any o...

A new report from research firm IHS suggests that Apple’s iTunes share of “consumer spending for movie electronic sell-through (EST) and Internet video on demand (iVOD)” grew during the first half of 2011, the first time since 2009, despite an increase in competition from Walmart and Amazon. iTunes had a 65.8% market share during the first half of this year, up from 64.9% during the first half of 2010. It also had the largest increase in revenue growth among its competitors. “Much of i...

Nintendo posted its first quarterly operating loss ever on Thursday in its fiscal first quarter earnings report. The Japanese gaming company recorded a net loss of 25.5 billion Yen ($328 million), which was on a par with the net loss of 25.2 billion Yen ($324 million) the firm reported during the same quarter last year. In addition, it posted a net operating loss of 37.7 billion Yen ($485 million), down from an operating profit of 23.3 billion Yen ($299 million) during the first quarter of 2010. Nintendo also...

The city of San Francisco has approved an ordinance that will require cell phone retailers to warn customers about the dangers of cell phone radiation, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday. The ordinance, which was passed in a 10-1 vote, asks that phone retailers “post general warnings” about risks. It’s unclear what exactly will be required of the retailers, and researchers have flip-flopped on whether or not there are any real risks associated with mobile wireless devices. On May 31s...

According to research firm DisplaySearch, revenues from touchscreen modules will hit $13.4 billion this year. Projected capacitive screens have seen the largest growth since Apple made them popular on the iPhone in 2007, and DisplaySearch expects capacitive displays to account for 70% of all touchscreen revenues this year. Capacitive display shipments are also expected to jump more than 100% year-over-year. The company said the greatest display growth was in the tablet PC industry, where 26 million touchscree...