The latest official data from Apple reveals that 78 percent of active iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices are running the company's latest mobile operating system, iOS 7, up four percentage points from earlier this month.
Apple is not the only major smartphone vendor with an eye toward a vehicle-integrated future, as Google is reportedly set to announce a collaboration with Audi that would have future cars from the automaker run in-dash systems based on Android.
According to a recent NPD report, Apple hardware took a hit in commercial sales during 2013 while Google's platforms rallied; the largest gainer being Chromebook, which outsold MacBooks five to one.
Tech blogs and mainstream media reports in 2013 consistently presented Apple as beset by a series of unsolvable problems, from flagging sales and slipping market share to a generalized lack of innovation. In hindsight, the media was disastrously, egregiously wrong about the horses it chose to back in the technology market this year. Perhaps they'll do a better job in 2014.
Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has shed light on the complex route Android updates must navigate before hitting customer devices, helping to explain why operating system updates take some time to arrive, and how, for some device owners, such updates never even arrive at all.
LG Electronics is reportedly testing a prototype version of the next generation of its flagship G-series smartphones that will allegedly include a swipe-based fingerprint sensor, countering the Touch ID capability of Apple's iPhone 5s.
Apple's iPhone and iPad represented the vast majority of U.S. online shopping and sales during Christmas, accounting for more than an 83 percent take of sales compared to Android.
The iPhone's 2007 introduction was not only a watershed moment for Apple, but also a turning point for Google's Android team, according to an excerpt from a new book on the subject.
Michelle Lee, who until July was running Google the firm's patent strategy, has been named the deputy director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, and will run the agency until a new director is appointed.
Apple has improved its voice-driven personal assistant, Siri, with the iOS 7 update for iPhone and iPad, though Siri's chief competition, Google Now, has improved enough to be on par, new tests have concluded.
According to a report from mobile analytics firm Flurry, mobile device users logged 1.3 billion app sessions over Thanksgiving weekend, a 68 percent increase from last year, with photo, video and music apps accounting for half of all usage.
In a change to its developer website on Thursday, Apple notes the latest version of its iOS mobile operating system has hit a 74 percent adoption rate as of Dec. 1, a huge share compared to the 22 percent seen by iOS 6.
Oracle's Java infringement case against Google's Android is reportedly nearing a reversal of last year's original finding that defended Android. Meanwhile, Google is focusing new attention on Chrome web apps rather than a continuation of Android's original "embrace and extend" Java strategy.
Android loyalty does not seem to extend to tablets, as new data suggests that 4 out of every 10 iPad units moved during last week's Black Friday shopping event were purchased by customers who use smartphones powered by Google's operating system.
The mid-range iPhone 5c has proven much more popular than its flagship sibling among smartphone shoppers with below-median incomes, and has attracted large numbers of first-time Apple buyers who are largely switching from Android devices, new data indicates.
Just over two months after Apple launched its new iPhone 5s and 5c across Japan's three major carriers, weekly sales rankings list various iPhone models split between the carriers took 9 of the top 10 smartphone slots.
Apple's iOS products not only represented a large chunk of U.S. Black Friday sales, but where also used to place the vast majority of mobile purchases.
For the third quarter of 2013, worldwide ad impressions recorded from devices running Apple's iOS doubled those from rival Android, one report says, once again suggesting higher Web engagement from iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.
Futuremark has delisted the scores of Samsung and HTC products from its public benchmark listings over new allegations of performance doping.
Despite Android's significantly larger installed base, iOS continues to dominate in monetization with a five-times-greater return rate for developers — a sign that Cupertino's market segmentation strategy is paying dividends for application creators.
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Neil Hughes
Shane Cole
Mikey Campbell
Daniel Eran Dilger
AppleInsider Staff
