Smartphones

What a difference just a few months makes. If you don’t recall, it was only last September when Apple’s (AAPL) share prices were blasting past $700 and bullish analysts were proclaiming that the company was well be on its way to having a $1 trillion valuation and dominating the tech industry for years to come. All that’s changed now as Apple has lost its spot as the world’s most valuable company and investors are panicking that the company’s growth rate may have peaked. This isn’t to say that Apple is doomed (and sorry, Apple haters, but it isn’t) or that it can’t return to the lofty heights it achieved last summer, but for the time being it no longer seems destined to mop the floor with its competitors for years to come. More →

There are new signs of European consumer spending finishing the year 2012 on a very weak note. Could this mean that consumer electronics sales from video game consoles to smartphones will face an outright slump in the first quarter of 2013? The latest — and worst — indication of a European consumption freeze comes from the automobile industry. Car sales in the European Union dove more than 16% in December. This is far worse than the annual 8% slump for the full year, indicating that the EU retail environment may have taken a turn for the worse. The 2012 tumble in car registrations was the biggest decline since 1993, even steeper than what the region suffered after the 2001 downturn or the 2008 global debt crisis. More →

Smartphones are where the money is at in the mobile industry right now, but growth is expected to decline again next year after having slowed in 2012. According to research from Digitimes, which can be more plugged in than some research firms thanks to its close ties with device manufacturers and parts suppliers, global smartphone shipments are expected to grow 30% to 865 million units in 2013. The site lists “relationships between platform providers and hardware makers, support from telecom carriers for new models, and key developments or decisions by some vendors” as factors contributing to the slowed growth. Approximately 665 million smartphones will have shipped in 2012 according to Digitimes’ estimates, representing annual growth of close to 40%. According to earlier figures from Digitimes’ research arm, smartphone shipments grew more than 60% annually in both 2010 and 2011.