Saturday, May 18, 2013

India Private Equity Report 2013

In my view, Healthcare, Retail and Infrastructure is where we will see tremendous PE action in 2013.



May 14, 2013
By Arpan Sheth and Sriwatsan Krishnan, Bain & Company

Overview of current conditions
 
Global private equity investment showed no significant increase in 2012, continuing 2011's trend towards flat growth. North America was the strongest-performing market, while activity in Asia fell around 20% over 2011. India saw deal activity fall from $14.8 billion in 2011 to $10.2 billion in 2012. The number of deals, however, increased from 531 to 551 over this period, highlighting a fall in average deal size.

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

Not surprising, limited partners (LPs) are showing increasing caution this year when allocating funds. In fact, 2012 saw 55 funds with a mandate to invest in India, but the total fund value allocated to India was only $3.5 billion, down from $6.8 billion in 2011. All this has been driven by the fact that 2012 was an uncertain year in India both politically and economically. Reported lapses in governance, coupled with a lack of clarity in regulation, raised considerable concerns about India's attractiveness as an investment destination. Despite these challenges, the market is showing signs of maturity with all key stakeholders becoming more comfortable with the idea of private equity (PE) funding. The latter half of 2012 also saw the government become more proactive and bring forward some key pieces of legislation to create greater transparency in the regulatory environment.

Fund-raising

India received only $3.5 billion of the $320 billion funding raised globally in 2012, according to UK research firm Preqin. General partners (GPs) also adopted a cautious approach, holding back to observe the performance of existing investments in a turbulent environment. In 2012, 80% of funding came from overseas investors, a theme that has been observed since the early days of private equity investment in India. There are no indicators that this trend will change soon, with traditional sources of PE capital in India, such as insurance companies and pension funds, inhibited by regulation from participating in this asset class.

Nonetheless, while 2013 undoubtedly holds several challenges for PE firms, raising capital is unlikely to be one of them. Our survey reveals that a majority of GPs rate "difficulty in raising capital" as seventh out of 11 challenges, far below concerns such as difficulty in exiting and mismatch in valuations. What is clear is that GPs will need to differentiate themselves to attract investors and prove they can deliver. They can do this by demonstrating a quality track record in investing and exiting.

Deal making

The volume of deals grew only slightly, from 531 in 2011 to 551 in 2012. At 4%, this increase is very low, in line with the overall mood of caution in the market last year. This restraint, coupled with a decline in the total funds invested, saw deal size significantly impacted, with average deal size falling from $28 million in 2011 to $18.4 million in 2012. Early-stage growth and venture capital (VC) have played a critical role in deal making in 2012, with the number of early-stage deals under $10 million almost doubling to 244. Also, the top 25 deals made up only $4.3 billion, as opposed to $5.9 billion in 2011, and the average deal size at the top 25 dropped by almost a quarter to $175 million per deal last year.

Sectors that attracted the most investment last year were healthcare and IT/ITES. The majority of deals under $10 million were made in the e-commerce space, which was a sector highlighted in Bain's India Private Equity Report 2012. The subsector continues to grow in 2013, following on the nearly doubling of deals valued at less than $10 million in the e-commerce space, from 12% in 2011 to 23% in 2012 of the total deals.

Expectations about deal activity in 2013 remain cautious but still positive on the whole. Our interviews suggest that deal activity will see moderate growth in 2013 throughout the industry. The steps taken towards improving India's legislative framework have made investors a bit more upbeat, and GPs suggest that more deals will close in 2013.

Portfolio management

PE investors we spoke to believe they add value to their portfolio companies in the form of vision and strategy, improving corporate governance and financial decision making. This marks a distinct change in their level of participation. Until recently, the support entrepreneurs sought was restricted primarily to customer access as well as domestic and international expansion plans. On the other hand, with growth and profit expansion hard to come by, PE investors are recognising the value of operating teams. Factor in the lack of exits and these teams become extremely critical to overall portfolio management.

Exits

There was a significant increase in the number of exits in 2012 compared with 2011―115 exits last year versus 88 the preceding year. This accounted for a total value of $6.8 billion, up from $4.1 billion in 2011. The most popular exit route for both VC and PE investments in India continues to be through public market sales, including IPOs.

The financial services sector accounted for around 35% of all exits. High-profile exits occurred from ICICI, HDFC and Kotak through a partial off-loading of stakes acquired from 2003-2007, as these companies moved to cash in on the resurgent Indian stock market.

A vast majority of firms we spoke to believe that exits will increase in 2013 based on the expectations that capital markets will bounce back, which will increase investor appetite for private-equity-backed IPOs.

In focus: The healthcare opportunity

The healthcare sector emerged as a sector of growth in a contracting PE industry in 2012, and this is expected to continue to grow this year. Investments in healthcare almost tripled over the past year, rising from $0.46 billion in 2011 to around $1.3 billion in 2012. Deal volume also rose 50%, with 45 deals done in the sector in 2012.

The overall Indian healthcare market is around $65 billion and has grown 11% in the past five years. However, India remains a highly underpenetrated market in terms of healthcare spending per capita and offers huge growth potential. India's growing population, increased incidence of diseases, greater affordability, expanding insurance coverage and supportive government schemes are the key drivers of high double-digit growth expectations of the PE industry.

About 140 healthcare companies have received investment over the past five years, with 15% to 20% raising more than one round of capital. What this points to is the increasing confidence in the value creation potential of the sector. Even in terms of exits, the picture is promising. Of the $5 billion invested in healthcare, $2.8 billion has been returned, with an average holding period of five years for the top 25 deals.


Sunday, May 12, 2013

Andreas Constantinou, Founder & Managing Director, VisionMobile - LeWeb London 2012 - Plenary 1

New Nokia Asha 501 - One swipe to access everything you love

Nokia Lumia 928 with PureView takes on "The Hurricane"

Tata Docomo teams up with Saavn to offer special data plans for streaming music | News & Video Reviews of Gadgets at BGR India

 Tata Docomo users across the country can also take advantage of the Saavn Music 2G plan that offers 1GB of data and 1000 minutes of music streaming for Rs 104.

Good to see more OTT players and operators working together in India.

Tata Docomo teams up with Saavn to offer special data plans for streaming music | News & Video Reviews of Gadgets at BGR India: "v"

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Windows 8 sells 100 million licenses, SkyDrive hits 250 million users, and more big Microsoft numbers | Windows Phone Central

Sam Sabri, WPCentral
May 7, 2013

  • Windows 8 sells 100 million licenses
  • Windows Store has grown by a magnitude of six since launch
  • 250 million Windows Store downloads in first six months
  • Nearly 90 percent of the app catalog has been downloaded every month
  • 250 million active SkyDrive users
  • 400 million active Outlook.com accounts
  • Over 700 million Microsoft accounts


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PayPal's chief information security officer says passwords' days are numbered

PayPal's chief information security officer says passwords' days are numbered:

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IAMAI-IMRB Digital Commerce Report 2013


Digital Commerce in India is shaping up well with annual growth rates in excess of 30% albeit on a small base.

Differences I foresee in the India story relate to mode of access (mobile/tablet dominated), payments (cash on delivery) & lowering of the entry barrier (financing).

Link to download report

source : IAMAI


Executive Summary

Digital commerce in India has evolved over the past decade in terms of magnitude. Total digital commerce market of India was valued at INR 47,349 Crores ($8.6 bn)* in December 2012 and is expected to grow by 33% and reach INR 62,967 Crores ($11.5 bn) by year 2013. For the purpose of this report we have mapped the following industry segments:-

  • Online Travel – This industry segment consists of Domestic & International Air tickets, Railway tickets, Bus tickets, Hotel Bookings and Tour Packages/Travel Insurance.


  • Non-Online Travel


  1. E-Tailing – This includes electronic retailing of consumer items like Books, Apparels & Footwear, Jewellery & Personal/Healthcare Accessories, Camera & Camera Accessories, Consumer Durables & Kitchen Appliances, Home Furnishings, Mobile Phones & Mobile Accessories, Laptops/Net Books/Tablets and Other products such as Vouchers/Coupons, Toys, gifts, flowers, handicrafts, Stationary etc.
  2. Financial Services – The elements here include Insurance related services, Utility Bill payments including Mobile Bill Payments and Online transactions for Shares & Securities trading
  3. Classifieds – This category includes B2C Classifieds like Online Jobs & Matrimony, Other B2C categories like Car, Real Estate and B2B Classifieds
  4. Other Online Services – This comprises emerging online services like Online Entertainment Ticketing, Online Food & grocery Delivery.

The detailed usage pattern, however, has remained quite uniform and skewed towards online travel over the years. Certain services continue to dominate the overall market while others are slowly matching up to the speeds. The online users in India have continuously exhibited the willingness to make purchases over the Internet. Purchases across categories like Online Travel and e-Tailing have increased drastically over last few years. Whereas categories like Financial Services have evolved recently and shown upward growth owing to the increased awareness.

Out of the total transactions done on the PC as well as mobile :

  • Travel transactions have proved to be the primary fueling factor of the digital commerce industry. As of 2012, among Internet users, online travel leads the pack with 73% share in Digital Commerce (INR 34,544 Crores, $6.3 bn). This segment is estimated to show 30% growth by the end of year 2013 and reach to INR 44,907 Crores ($8.2 bn)


  • Non-travel transactions contribute to the remaining 27% (INR 12,805 Crores, $2.3 bn), out of which:


  1. ETailing takes first position with nearly 50% share (INR 6,454 Crores, $1.2 bn)
  2. Financial Services stands second with 23% share (INR 2,886 Crores, $0.5 bn)
  3. Classifieds segment amounts to 18% of the whole Non-Travel Industry pie (INR 2,354 Crores, $0.4 bn)
  4. Other Online Services contribute to the remaining 9% (INR 1,110 Crores, $0.2 bn)


As a whole, the Non-Travel Industry segment is expected to mature by 41% and reach up to INR 18,060 Crores ($3.3 bn) by December 2013.

The other key findings observed from this edition of the report are:

  • Out of 19.6 million who accessed internet (in the year 2012), for finding details related to a specific product or a service, nearly 73% (14.3 million) actually bought a product or a service in the end


  • The percentage of people who access internet only for looking information related to various products and services have decreased from 45% in 2009 to 27% in the year 2012


  • Out of all the categories bought by the online shoppers, the share of online travel (47%), Apparels & Footwear (20%), Books (19%), and Mobile Phones & Mobile Accessories (17%) was the most
  • Debit cards/Net banking and Credit Cards remaining the top two most preferred modes of payments


  • Technologically, Internet users are averse to making online purchases due to the lack of trust and hindrances in completing a transaction – secured payment is one of the major reasons


  • From the supply side, there seems to be a lack of concerted effort by websites. If the online offerings are targeted well and facilitated appropriately, users will more likely be willing to make purchases over the Internet.


Saturday, May 11, 2013

Indiaproperty.com raises $7M from Canaan Partners & Mayfield after demerger from Matrimony.com | VCCircle

Good investment as the property listings segment though crowded now doesn't have anyone of scale and Indiaproperty.com seems to be doing a decent job

 Sonam Gulati, VCCircle
May 9, 2013

The two VC investors, who have also invested in the parent firm, may participate in the next round of funding, to be raised by the property search portal.

Indiaproperty.com, an online platform listing residential properties for buying & selling and run by Chennai-based India Property Online Pvt Ltd, has been demerged from Matrimony.com Pvt Ltd (formerly Consim Info) and has raised $7 million (Rs 38 crore) from Canaan Partners and Mayfield Fund.

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Thursday, May 09, 2013

Online Video Consumption in India Has Doubled in the Past 2 Years


Mobile video consumption in India is witnessing similar exponential growth as in the rest of the world. Video is clearly the next frontier. Challenges lie around discovery, monetization and optimal delivery give bandwidth challenges

comScore Press Release

comScore Video Metrix Data Shows Surge in Online Video Driven by More Viewers Watching More Often 
Mumbai, May 7, 2013 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latestcomScore Video Metrix report showing that total online video consumption has doubled in the past two years to 3.7 billion videos per month. This dramatic growth has been driven by a sizeable increase in the number of online video viewers, in addition to increasing consumption per viewer. The total online video audience in India has grown 74 percent to 54 million viewers, with the average viewer watching 18 percent more videos and spending 28 percent more time viewing. 
Online Video Viewership in India
March 2013 vs. March 2011
Total India – Age 15+ Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore Video Metrix
 Unique Viewers (000)Videos (000)Videos per ViewerMinutes per Viewer
March 201131,9441,863,92758.3337.8
March 201354,0253,713,11868.7431.5
2 Year % Change69%99%18%28%
“The rapid online video growth we’re witnessing in India represents a significant opportunity for both marketers and media companies in India,” said Kedar Gavane, Senior Director, comScore India. “Even in the very mature market of the U.S., online video has become one of the hottest sectors of because of the value marketers place on video ad inventory. As the Indian online video market begins to realize the value of its existing inventory while continuing its growth in viewers and consumption time, there will be substantial upside for the key players in this market.” 
Top 10 Video Properties by Unique Viewers
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video property in March with 31.5 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 18.6 million, and Yahoo! Sites with 8.2 million. Video ad platforms VDOPIA (6.4 million viewers) and TubeMogul (5.5 million viewers) rounded out the top five, highlighting that these platforms can deliver reach similar to that of the top video content networks. 
Google Sites also led the pack in total video views delivered at nearly 2.1 billion, representing more than half the total online video market in India. Facebook ranked a distant second with 150 million views, followed by Dailymotion.com at 83 million. While Google Sites also ranked at the top in terms of average viewing time, Dailymotion was a strong #2 at nearly one hour per viewer during the month. 
Top Video Properties in India by Unique Viewers (000)
March 2013
Total India – Age 15+, Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore Video Metrix
PropertyUnique Viewers (000)Videos (000)*Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience54,0253,713,118431.5
Google Sites31,5192,068,156257.8
Facebook18,606150,56521.9
Yahoo! Sites8,24337,56614.6
VDOPIA.com6,44423,4921.5
TubeMogul Video Ad Platform5,50729,1131.4
Dailymotion.com4,27583,00259.6
Adotube3,9606,0150.6
Komli Play3,91217,4232.3
Viacom Digital3,72411,6617.1
VEVO2,88013,70413.6
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in digital measurement and analytics, delivering insights on web, mobile and TV consumer behavior that enable clients to maximize the value of their digital investments. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Expanded developer opportunity – new payout markets and billing connections

Windows Phone Developer Blog

May 3, 2013 by Todd Brix
We continue to take steps forward on the path to establish a Windows Phone ecosystem characterized by quality, scale, and developer opportunity. We are seeing strong results for the ecosystem since the launch of Windows Phone 8 with more than a 100% increase in app downloads and nearly 140% increase in paid app revenue. Today I have a few enhancements to announce that can help you expand your app distribution reach and revenue opportunities.
Diverse phone offering and distribution
Nokia’s Lumia 720 and 520/521 phones have just begun to ship across the globe, giving potential Windows Phone customers additional choices in form factor, phone capabilities, and price points. This review from CNET (Nokia Lumia 520 review: One of the best budget phones around) pretty much sums up the sentiment on the new device, stating the Lumia 520 packs an “impressive punch” both in terms of hardware quality and value for the money.
These phones will be available in new markets and distribution channels, given their budget-friendly pricing. In fact, this week the Nokia Lumia 521 paired with an offer from US mobile operator T-Mobile to make its debut on the popular US Home Shopping Network, a first for Windows Phone.
The industry continues to recognize Windows Phone steady growth. According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Windows Phone has already increased its share of all smartphone sales by nearly 2% compared to last year and is attracting first-time smartphone buyers. With over half of the US market (and much of the world) still owning a feature phone, it’s likely many will upgrade over the coming year, which ultimately will contribute to growth for Windows Phone.
Six new developer payout markets
This week we will enable developer payout in 6 new markets via Dev Center bringing the total markets supporting developer payout to 122. The new markets include: Afghanistan, Iraq, Montenegro, Serbia, Timor-Leste, and Ukraine. Developers in these 6 markets will now be able to submit both free and paid apps to the Windows Phone Store to reach customers in 191 markets.
New Mobile Operator Billing Connections
We have added 15 new mobile operator billing partners since August 2012, bringing the total number of supported partners to 25 in 19 markets, surpassing Google Play.  Mobile operator billing gives consumers a payment option with significantly higher conversion rates than credit cards.  On average, an app developer earns 3x more per active user on a paid app published in a mobile operator billing-enabled market than a market that only supports credit card. We will continue to expand this footprint and you’ll be seeing many more connections in the near future.
Simplified app submissions
Finally, I want to point out that we continue to incorporate your feedback and streamline the app submission process. Recently the Dev Center team enabled cancelling submissions, rotating screenshots and automatic screenshot resizing – all items you indicated needed improvement. You can read more about these enhancements on the Windows Phone Developer blog. Next, we’ll add the ability to review your app submission, giving you a chance to make sure everything looks right, before you actually submit. I encourage you to watch for a post from Rushmi Malaviarachchi in the coming week that will provide details on all the latest improvements.
If you haven’t yet developed an app for Windows Phone or if you haven’t updated your app recently, I’d like to encourage you to visit the Dev Center to download the SDK and get started. There’s never been a better time to develop for Windows Phone.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

YouTubers watch more than 6B hours of videos per month

Significant and growing traction - 1 billion unique monthly visitors with 6 billion hours of ideo each month !

India YouTube video trends @ https://www.youtube.com/trendsdashboard#loc0=ind&feed=views&age0=--

YouTube Blog

May 1, 2013

It has been an exciting year of growth for YouTube and its partners.

We recently announced that YouTube hit an incredible milestone of 1 billion unique monthly visitors, connecting 15 percent of the planet to the videos they love. And those global fan communities are watching more than 6 billion hours of video each month on YouTube; almost an hour a month for every person on Earth and 50 percent more this year than last.

In addition, media companies like Time Warner, The Chernin Group, Bertelsman, Discovery Communications and Comcast have all made significant investments in companies that create, aggregate or service content for YouTube in the last 12 months. And tonight at our Brandcast event for advertisers in New York, another major media company continued that momentum. DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced that his company acquired AwesomenessTV, one of the most subscribed-to, teen-focused networks on YouTube. This acquisition gives DreamWorks an opportunity to align itself with Brian Robbins’ powerful, next-generation, online video powerhouse. By partnering with more than 55,000 YouTube channels that collectively represent more than 14 million subscribers and almost 800 million video views, Brian successfully created a YouTube network comprised of one of the most valuable consumer groups--Generation C. This audience is defined by its desire to be constantly connected, and at the center of creating and curating content for social communities.

DreamWorks Animation’s major announcement underscores a shift in consumer behavior, and now, Nielsen has further amplified this point by concluding that YouTube reaches more U.S. adults ages 18-34 than any cable network. And history--from the transition to radio, then TV, from network to cable--tells us that advertisers always follow the audience. In line with that trend, we also unveiled this evening that the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE)--a group of nearly 40 national advertisers, whose combined ad spend represents 37 percent of all U.S. television advertising dollars--will buy media across 32 channels of family-friendly content on YouTube.

Much like our content creators, we find that brands on YouTube--like T-Mobile, Samsung, Dove and Pepsi--all share a common objective: to cultivate a direct relationship with their consumers--one built on engagement and authenticity. These companies know that on YouTube, it isn’t just about rallying behind one show; it is about reaching the passionate fan communities of Gen C, an audience that influences more than $500 billion in annual consumer spending. As a result, we’re seeing a myriad of brands increasing their media spend, building channels, and discovering first-hand that the interactions they have with their fans on YouTube drive engagement.

Content creators have long recognized the power of YouTube’s platform to connect with an audience. Advertisers are increasingly doing the same. Together we’ll continue to build YouTube as a global destination for the next generation of entertainment.



Robert Kyncl, Vice President, Global Head of Content Partnerships for YouTube recently watched "Brent and Johnson - Equality Street."
To learn more about how brands can reach key audiences on YouTube, please visit our AdWords Agency Blog

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

WPP CEO Sorrell: Google Will Overtake News Corp As Our Largest Media Investment This Year Or Next | TechCrunch

WPP CEO Sorrell: Google Will Overtake News Corp As Our Largest Media Investment This Year Or Next | TechCrunch:

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China's Telcos to Launch Converged Billing SDK

A converged telco billing SDK would be such a boon for India too.

Click for article


Tencent Tech

April 24, 2013


China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom will officially announce their converged billing software development kit (SDK) on May 17. The converged billing system SDK will allow for fully compatible pre-charged call-time payments between all three operators, and aims to enable app developers to easily access the distribution and billing resources of all thee operators.
Once a developer's application has been approved by a single one of the three operators, it will be released through all three operators' distribution channels. The three telecom operators also plan to announce a program to support app developers within China.

Vision Mobile - Developer Economics 2013


Monday, April 29, 2013

Budweiser cup makes toasting drinkers instant friends on Facebook

Interesting leverage and convergence of technology and social media

Click for full article

Sam Byford, The Verge 


As if alcohol weren't enough of a social lubricant already, Budweiser has figured out a way to help it add to your Facebook friends list. The Buddy Cup, unveiled by the company's Brazilian arm, contains "high-tech chip technology integrated with Facebook" that makes two people friends on Facebook when they clink their glasses together in a toast. The cup is paired with a Facebook account by using a QR code printed on the bottom, and a red LED serves as confirmation that you have a new friend.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Rising Value of Facebook Brand Fans Validates Social Marketing Investment


Very interesting piece. Highlights the power and value of social media. Fans’ tendencies to be Super Consumers. Not only do they tend to be brand users first, they spend more, engage more, advocate more, and are more loyal. 

http://www.syncapse.com/rising-value-of-facebook-brand-fans-validates-social-marketing-investment/#.UXvZ7aI3uSo


17th April 2013, by Max Kalehoff
The past few years have been characterized by hype and a competitive race to acquire the most Fan connections, but brand marketers are sobering up and asking hard questions around the ROI of social marketing. And perhaps no question is asked more often than “What is the value of a Facebook brand Fan?”
According to new Syncapse empirical research, the average value of brand Fans in key consumer categories has increased 28% to $174.17. This effect is amplified considering the number of Fan memberships for most brands in our study has doubled, tripled or more. Top brands in the 2013 study have well over 15 million Fans, with some like McDonalds and Coca-Cola with 25 million and 60 million, respectively.
The latest installment of this report, The Value of a Facebook Fan 2013, examined 20 top global consumer brands in terms of their Facebook Fan performance. It replicates and enhances the seminal research Syncapse conducted in late 2010 that first measured Facebook Fans value as drivers of shareholder value.
The increase in average Fan value is driven by Fans’ tendencies to be Super Consumers. Not only do they tend to be brand users first, they spend more, engage more, advocate more, and are more loyal. The significant and increasing value of a Facebook brand Fan affirms past social marketing investment and mandates deeper commitment and accountability in the future.
Value of Fan Report 2013 - Main Chart
The Value of a Facebook Fan 2013 report includes prescriptive advice and insights:
  • Fan Value of 20 Top Global Consumer Brands
  • Factors that Determine the Value of a Fan
  • Fan Behaviors and Attitudes
  • Reasons for Becoming a Fan
  • Outlook for Facebook Marketing

More Smartphones Were Shipped in Q1 2013 Than Feature Phones, An Industry First According to IDC

I doubt we will have feature phones in 2 years time!

Click for full article

IDC - Press Release
More Smartphones Were Shipped in Q1 2013 Than Feature Phones, An Industry First According to IDC

25 Apr 2013

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. April 25, 2013 – The worldwide mobile phone market grew 4% year over year in the seasonally slow first quarter of 2013 (1Q13) as smartphones outshipped feature phones for the first time. According to the International Data Corporation (IDCWorldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 418.6 million mobile phones in 1Q13 compared to 402.4 million units in the first quarter of 2012 and 483.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012.

In the worldwide smartphone market, vendors shipped 216.2 million units in 1Q13, which marked the first time more than half (51.6%) the total phone shipments in a quarter were smartphones. The market grew 41.6% compared to the 152.7 million units shipped in 1Q12, but 5.1% lower than the 227.8 million units shipped in 4Q12.

"Phone users want computers in their pockets. The days where phones are used primarily to make phone calls and send text messages are quickly fading away," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "As a result, the balance of smartphone power has shifted to phone makers that are most dependent on smartphones."

"In addition to smartphones displacing feature phones, the other major trend in the industry is the emergence of Chinese companies among the leading smartphone vendors," noted Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team. "A year ago, it was common to see previous market leaders Nokia, BlackBerry (then Research In Motion), and HTC among the top five. While those companies have been in various stages of transformation since, Chinese vendors, including Huawei and ZTE as well as Coolpad and Lenovo, have made significant strides to capture new users with their respective Android smartphones."

Smartphone Vendor Highlights

Samsung maintained the position it held at the end of 2012: the undisputed leader in the worldwide smartphone market. By the end of 1Q13, Samsung shipped more units than the next four vendors combined. The company revealed its highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 with new features including display, camera, WiFi, and security innovations. What remains to be seen is how Samsung's new Tizen-powered smartphones will look and feel later this year, and fit into the company's overall smartphone portfolio.

Apple's smartphone shipment volume hit a new first-quarter high thanks in part to the iPhone 5, with volume growing 6.6% year over year. However, the last time the iPhone maker posted a single-digit year-over-year growth rate was 3Q09. The iPhone maker has held the second spot in the smartphone rankings for the past five quarters. Apple's mix of models shipped to market is increasingly diversified as it tries to reach new buyers.

LG returned to the smartphone Top 5 after a two-quarter absence, reaching record-high shipments in the process. Its smartphone volume for the quarter was driven in large part by its 3G smartphone portfolio, namely the L series and the Nexus 4. LTE-enabled devices, including the Optimus G series, also contributed to its success. LG hopes to continue its upward trajectory with the launch of the F and L series targeting the mid-range and entry-level segments.

Huawei has shown significant improvement from where it was a year ago, when it offered a handful of Ascend smartphones and had more limited presence outside the Asia/Pacific region. Since then Huawei has decreased its dependence on rebranded feature phones while growing its Ascend portfolio to address multiple customer segments with more branded smartphone offerings. The company nearly doubled its unit shipments to regions outside of Asia/Pacific this past quarter when compared to 1Q12.

ZTE's 1Q13 performance continued the trends established last year, with a strong showing in Asia/Pacific and North America, but a small presence in EMEA and Latin America despite its previous success with low-end feature phones there. With a target of increasing smartphone revenue by 30% this year, ZTE will try to grow in North America and Europe. In China, where increasing price pressure has challenged vendors to grow profitably, ZTE will emphasize its higher-price products. In addition, ZTE will be among the first companies to launch a Firefox-powered smartphone this year.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2013 Q1 (Units in Millions) 
Vendor
1Q13 Unit Shipments
1Q13 Market Share
1Q12 Unit Shipments
1Q12 Market Share
Year-over-year Change
Samsung
70.7
32.7%
44.0
28.8%
60.7%
Apple
37.4
17.3%
35.1
23.0%
6.6%
LG
10.3
4.8%
4.9
3.2%
110.2%
Huawei
9.9
4.6%
5.1
3.3%
94.1%
ZTE
9.1
4.2%
6.1
4.0%
49.2%
Others
78.8
36.4%
57.5
37.7%
37.0%
Total
216.2
100.0%
152.7
100.0%
41.6%

Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, April 25, 2013
Note: Data are preliminary and subject to change. Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Now playing: Twitter #music



While Twitter #Music provides people with a striking, and follower-inspired way of listening to music, this isn't just about music !
It is about augmenting its follow graph (hybrid of social and interest graphs), an important asset that sets Twitter apart from Facebook and others, with explicit data on what members care about. It magnifies the follow graph in such a way that the data asset, already valuable, would be hard for others to replicate.


A music app that stimulates more interest-based follows is a way for Twitter to stake a claim to the one true follow graph, the way Facebook has done with the social graph.



Twitter Blog

April 18, 2013

Today, we're releasing Twitter #music, a new service that will change the way people find music, based on Twitter. It uses Twitter activity, including Tweets and engagement, to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists. It also brings artists’ music-related Twitter activity front and center: go to their profiles to see which music artists they follow and listen to songs by those artists. And, of course, you can tweet songs right from the app.

The songs on Twitter #music currently come from three sources: iTunes, Spotify or Rdio. By default, you will hear previews from iTunes when exploring music in the app. Subscribers to Rdio and Spotify can log in to their accounts to enjoy full tracks that are available in those respective catalogs. We will continue to explore and add other music service providers.

So, if you’re interested in the songs that have been tweeted by the artists and people you follow on Twitter, you can navigate to #NowPlaying to view and listen to those songs.

Or if you’re scrolling through a chart and you want to learn more about a band, like Chvrches, you can tap their avatar to see their top song, follow them right from the chart, or tap their Twitter username to go to their profile.

Or if you want to listen to music from the artists Wiz Khalifa follows, you can search for his name using the search icon in the top right corner. Then tap one of the artists you’re interested in and hit the play button to begin listening, or press play on the player to listen to all the artists.

And as you discover new songs that you want to share with your followers on Twitter, simply tap the spinning disc in the lower left corner. This opens the player, and you can tweet from there using the Tweet icon in the top right corner.

You can download Twitter #music from the App Store today, or enjoy the web version, which will be rolling out over the next few hours: music.twitter.com. Right now, the service is available in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Over time, we will bring the service to Android as well as to more countries.

Twitter and music go great together. People share and discover new songs and albums every day. Many of the most-followed accounts on Twitter are musicians, and half of all users follow at least one musician. This is why artists turn to Twitter first to connect with their fans — and why we wanted to find a way to surface songs people are tweeting about. We offered music artists an early look at the service. You can see some of their reactions below. We hope you like it, too.