Samsung GALAXY S III Headed to Mobilicity - MobilEgypt

Samsung has confirmed Mobilicity is among the Canadian carriers that will offer the Galaxy S III this summer. Although the South Korean company has yet to announce the complete schedule for the Galaxy S III launch in Canada, rumor has it that the device might arrive as early as June. Europeans will be able to purchase the Galaxy S III beginning May 30, but the North American variant will be released a bit later and most likely with a different specs sheet. Given the fact that the Exynos 4212 Quad chipset that powers the recently announced Galaxy S III does not feature LTE support, which is mandatory for the US smartphone market, Samsung is forced to replace it with another chipset that offers this feature. According to the latest hearsay, the Galaxy S III will arrive in the US with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chipset that features LTE technology. However, it appears that at least one Canadian carrier won’t be coming with the said chipset manufactured by Qualcomm. As we reported yesterday, Rogers Galaxy S III will pack LTE support and Samsung’s “new Exynos processor,” a Google ad claims. There’s no telling whether this is a mistake or Samsung is indeed on its own all-in-one solution for the Galaxy S III. While Mobilicity confirmed it would add the Samsung Galaxy S III to its portfolio of Android devices, the carrier did not disclose any details regarding the phone’s availability or pricing. No other information on the model specifications has been announced for the moment, but more details might leak in the following weeks. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter. “Mobilicity is excited to be working with Samsung on the Canadian launch of the Galaxy S III smartphone. It’s a state-of-art device that’s sure to take user performance to smart new heights, made affordable on our unlimited talk, text and data network ,” said Stewart Lyons, president and chief operating officer.

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Samsung has winning U.K. strategy, but users want more - MobilEgypt

Samsung has been on a real roller coaster here in the United Kingdom in the last few months. Its phones are selling well in lots of countries, but the British seem to have a particular affinity for its Galaxy line. Last week the company chose London for the world launch of its flagship model, the Galaxy S3 , staging one of the largest tech events I have seen in this country. CNET did a great job of covering it in a live blog, but what might not have come across was the sheer scale of the event. Samsung hired Earls Court, a venue that's more commonly used for big concerts and massive exhibitions than product launches. During the 2012 Olympic Games, it will host volleyball. Samsung used the entire space to launch a single product. In front of a thronging, buzzing crowd, a ridiculously large projection screen flashed through the presentation as an orchestra added pomp to the proceedings. At the end of the presentation, the huge screen lifted to reveal another vast hands-on area behind, along with Samsung's new pop-up shops. I stood at the back next to a local retailer who was watching open-mouthed at the whole thing unfolding. The scale of the launch reflected a company that's feeling confident about its position, and to a large extent that confidence is justified. According to some numbers at least, Samsung is winning the smartphone war. Last week, IDC released figures that showed Samsung overtaking all other players in terms of smartphone shipments. What's really interesting to me though are the numbers from Kantar Worldpanel, which show just how strong Android is in the U.K. compared to Apple's iOS. Kantar Worldpanel's numbers put Android's share of smartphone sales at 49 percent, compared to 29 percent for iOS. Contrast that with the U.S., where Android has 43 percent to Apple's 47 percent. There are many reasons that Android phones are so strong in the U.K., but one of the most important is the strength of the Samsung Galaxy portfolio. As I argued for CNN last week , Samsung's strategy seems to be winning over Apple's here. However much money you have to spend on a new phone, whatever sized screen you need and no matter how gargantuan your hands are, Samsung has a Galaxy phone that will fit your needs. People like me often complain that the range is confusing because there are so many similar models, but consumers don't appear to mind. In this space, infinite choice seems to be winning, at least for now. It hasn't all been good for Samsung here recently though. The rapid expansion in sales has led to some real growing pains. Recently the company generated a ton of vitriol from its own customers in the U.K after messing up the Ice Cream Sandwich software upgrade process for its Galaxy S2. Re-hashing all of its mistakes here would take up too much space (you can get a sense of the frustration caused from this piece ). Suffice to say there's only one British non-swear word that can sum the whole episode up: omnishambles. Once upon a time, this sort of software mess- up would have passed under the radar unnoticed, but Samsung's popularity has produced a legion of vocal customers that are all too ready to complain when they are messed around. But the company now knows that people are watching, and is strongly hinting that everything will be better next time around. Provided it can avoid creating too many customer service problems for itself in the future, my best guess is that the two-horse smartphone race is set to continue, in Britain at least, with the likes of HTC, Sony, Nokia, and RIM left to pick up the crumbs.

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Cricket shifts full throttle with high-end Android phones, LTE - MobilEgypt

NEW ORLEANS--Cricket subscribers have spoken -- they want more premium phones -- and now the prepaid carrier is ready to deliver. Cricket customers are beginning to care much more about technical specifications like larger screens, faster processors, and better cameras. Significant sales of the Huawei Mercury, which leapt to an over 10 percent adoption rate in the course of two weeks, proves it. With that in mind, Cricket is going full-speed ahead with plans to expand its smartphone road map to include arrange of smartphones, from entry-level to the premium, with many more high-end smartphones on their roster, for a total of 10 new phones by October. In general, the device mix will include more screens 4 inches or larger, with a 1GB processor or better. The goal is to sell entry level phones in the $100 range and high-end devices upwards of $300 without a contract. In addition to launching new phones with top- tier manufacturers, Cricket also plans to release LTE-capable smartphones, and plans to launch at least two before the end of the year. Although Cricket hasn't deployed LTE, it did start a commercial trial in Tucson, AZ at the end of last year. By 2014, the carrier intends to cover two-thirds of its population with 4G LTE, both on its own and with the help of it network or roaming partners, including Sprint. In tandem with ramping up the number of smartphones on offer, Cricket will also scale back their number of feature phones. Last year, there were 9 feature phones and by the end of 2012, they'll have launched only three. As for Windows Phone, Cricket senior vice president of device, Matthew Stoiber, says they've made no commitment yet, but adds, "We're confident in Windows Phone 8 as an operating system that will be very marketing, and we are working with both Microsoft and a couple of OEMs to determine what the best device to go to market is." Stoiber added that offering devices with diverse operating systems is important to Cricket. If you're wondering about the iPhone, Stoiber says, "It sounds like Apple will reach out to prepaid when it fits their strategy." Muve Music a key player A loftier device mix isn't the only element that attracts new subscribers. In 2012 and beyond, every Android device Cricket unveils will support Muve Music, its all-you-can-download music and ringtone rate plan. Muve Music's product roadmap will increase the social features over time: integrating Facebook, and adding "novel" integration features later this year. The carrier also plans to implement what it calls a "lean-back listening experience" to complement its current on-demand downloading. Cricket's senior vice president in charge of Muve Music, Jeff Toig, sees opportunity to curate a mobile social experience through music that's much more involving than what we see today. Cricket has momentum on his side. Muve Music has over 600,000 subscribers, which Toig says makes them the second largest music subscription service in the U.S., behind Rhapsody. Its also in talks with international operators to license the Muve Music platform, opening up an additional revenue stream. There's also great opportunity to expand Muve Music beyond the tunes and develop similar a similar service rental for video, books, and games. They could also take the platform to tablets and cars. Is that in the stars? Maybe, but for now, Cricket is focused on building up music. "One day we hope that music will be voice mail," says Toig. "You wouldn't buy a phone without voicemail."

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