Cameraphone sales to touch 1bn in 2011

Sales of cameraphones will grow to more than 1 billion handsets this year, helped by fast growth at the high end of the market, research firm Strategy Analytics said.

"The growing quality of high-tier cameraphones is making them an increasing threat to the lower end of the point-and-shoot digital camera market," said analyst Neil Mawston.

Sales of cameraphones will grow 21 percent from last year to 1.1 billion handsets, topping the 1 billion mark for the first time ever, Strategy Analytics said.

The research firm forecast for sales of cellphones with 5-megapixel or higher resolution cameras to more than double this year to 361 million phones. At the same time it sees the digital still camera market at 130 million units.

"Smartphone vendors, such as Nokia and HTC, are increasingly loading their flagship models with more megapixels to deliver improved imaging quality for premium operator services like augmented reality," Mawston said. source

Smartphone demand surging, Nokia to tumble

Growing demand for phones running on Google's Android platform will help the smartphone market grow in 2011, boosting companies like HTC and Samsung Electronics who are betting on the platform. 

Android's popularity has helped the Asian manufacturers to rise fast in smartphone rankings, and HTC overtook Nokia in market capitalisation for the first time on Thursday. 

Shares in HTC were worth $33.4 billion at their Thursday close, with Nokia stock worth $33 billion. 

Nokia still has higher volumes, selling 19 phones for each HTC phone sold last year. But its average sale price was just $85 compared with HTC's $360, according to Strategy Analytics. 

Surging growth in the high end of the market, helped in part by new models of HTC, will lift global sales of cameraphones 21 percent in 2011 to 1.1 billion handsets, topping the 1 billion mark for the first time, Strategy Analytics said. 

The smartphone market will grow 58 percent this year and 35 percent the next, research firm Gartner said on Thursday. 

Android, a distant No. 2 to Nokia's Symbian just last year, will increase its market share to 39 percent in 2011, while Symbian's share will roughly halve to 19 percent following Nokia's decision to dump the platform. 

Apple's iPhone platform will be slightly bigger than Symbian this year, while Blackberry-maker Research In Motion will control 13 percent of the market and Microsoft Windows Phone 6 percent. 

Nokia decided in February to start using Microsoft as its main smartphone platform, a move Gartner expected would boost Windows Phone market share to 11 percent next year and to 20 percent in 2015. 

"This is not about giving Nokia too much credit, this is about saying that Nokia will do everything they can to stay in this business. Anything less than this would mean the end of Nokia," analyst Carolina Milanesi said. 

NOKIA RATING CUT 

On Thursday, Moody's cut its credit rating on Nokia, citing the Finnish company's weakening market position and uncertainty over its transition to Microsoft's Windows Phone software. 

Moody's cut its rating on Nokia's senior debt to A3 from a previous A2. The agency also cut the company's short-term debt ratings to Prime-2 from Prime-1, and said the outlook on the ratings was negative. 

"The rating downgrade primarily reflects Nokia's weakened market position in its core business, mobile devices, which has reduced the company's margins and funds from operations," said Wolfgang Draak, Moody's senior vice president and lead analyst for Nokia. 

Standard & Poor's also cut its rating on Nokia late last month. 

"The growing quality of high-tier cameraphones is making them an increasing threat to the lower end of the point-and-shoot digital camera market," said Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics. 

The research firm forecast that sales of cellphones with 5-megapixel or higher resolution cameras would more than double this year to 361 million phones. At the same time it sees the digital still camera market growing a mere 1 percent to 130 million units.source

HTC to invest $40 million in cloud-gaming service OnLive for mobile development

Mobile technology developer HTC invests $40 million in cloud gaming service OnLive.

OnLive is a pretty astounding service, as those who have tried it can attest to. Basically, you’re able to play console-quality video games like Batman: Arkham Asylum andSplinter Cell: Conviction on virtually any computer, as long as you’ve got a reliable Internet connection and, preferably, a USB gamepad. The company’s offering of games is admittedly small in comparison to the enormous library available on proper present-day gaming consoles, but it’s a growing brand that offers high-end gaming for a fraction of the price that one would pay for a comparable console or PC experience. The possibilities offered by OnLive’s cloud-based delivery method are vast, enough to catch the attention of mobile tech firm HTC.

The early Android adopter is once again making moves with an eye toward the future, now with a $40 million investment in OnLive’s mobile development efforts, the Wall Street Journal reports. That is the sum total of the details provided, but anyone who is already familiar with OnLive can probably see where this is heading. The service already has a presence in the mobile world as an iPad app that offers game spectating. Enhanced functionality, such as actuallyplaying said games, has been hinted at and even demoed, but no official solutions have been released yet. HTC’s $40 million investment will presumably going a long way toward reaching that goal.

The cloud gaming offered by OnLive is remarkably simply in concept. Essentially, the company has a series of network relay stations scattered at strategic points around the country. Each of these locations houses all of the computer and graphics processing horsepower necessary to run the latest games along with some hefty networking gear. OnLive subscribers load up the service’s software front-end on their computers and choose a game to play. The nearest relay station then does all of the heavy processing work; the player’s controller inputs are sent to the station and the actual gameplay footage is streamed right back. The lag time related to sending such large amounts of information in real time is the main obstacle, but it’s one that OnLive has been able to overcome for the most part. Multiplayer-focused experiences like Call of Duty will no doubt continue to be most popular on consoles, but the lag issues are almost non-existent for more single player-driven experiences.

OnLive has managed to make some steady gains in an industry that is already crowded with three consoles and two dedicated gaming handhelds (with two more on the way this year), not to mention the long-established PC gaming market and the rising popularity of mobile gaming. In addition to the service’s PC functionality, subscribers also have the option of picking up a $99 MicroConsole (with gamepad), which allows OnLive to be accessed directly from your TV. The company also recently announced a $10 monthly subscription plan for unlimited play access to complement the game-by-game for-purchase and for-rent options that were previously available as well as plans to offer streaming movies. Mobile platforms are undoubtedly the next frontier, and a compelling one for anyone who’s hoping to one day play Batman: Arkham Asylum on a 4-inch screen.source