Apple’s iOS devices have today been cleared for use on United States military networks by the Defense Department, Bloomberg reports. The move comes after Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 and the latest devices from BlackBerry gained government clearance earlier this month.

The Defense Department said in a statement today that it has approved iOS devices — including the iPhone and the iPad — running Apple’s latest iOS 6 operating system. These will join the 41,000 Apple products already in use by the Defense Department.

The Pentagon has traditionally relied on BlackBerry devices, which are famous for their security, and it has more than 470,000 of them in its network. But BlackBerry’s latest smartphones will now face competition from the Galaxy S4 and the iPhone when it comes to government use.

The military wants its employees to have the freedom to use commercial products on its networks, and it even plans to create its own mobile app store by hiring contractors to build a system capable of handling as many as 8 million devices.

Source: Bloomberg

This post was written by Killian Bell from Cult of Mac.
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See that girl in the MacBook Air on the right? She’s a professional model for stock image site Shutterstock.com, who once did an entire set of images called “Pretty Woman Lying On The Sofa Holding Her Smartphone.” And that smartphone in question is clearly an iPhone 3G/S.

Okay. Now see the image on the left? That’s from a recent Samsung ad, and what do you know? The model’s iPhone has been artlessly photoshopped into a Samsung Galaxy S4… even though that device features a 5-inch display that is so large, the phone’s tiny size in the model’s hand implies a woman who is over eight-feel tall. Here’s proof. 

On the one hand, this is a photo from a stock photo site, meaning as long as Samsung paid for the image, they can do what they like with it. But still…. jeez, Samsung. Surely there’s one pretty girl in the world who prefers her Galaxy to an iPhone that you could track down for a photoshoot, right?

Via: Samsung Copies Apple

This post was written by John Brownlee from Cult of Mac.
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Android and iOS managed to grab a whopping 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013, with a total of 199.5 million units sold worldwide. There are no prizes for guessing which of the two platforms grabbed the most market share.

That’s right, it’s Android, which grabbed exactly 75% of all smartphone shipments with 90.3 million units sold, according to the latest data from IDC. Samsung continues to be the most successful Android smartphone vendor, grabbing 41.4% of those shipments, while other manufacturers had single-digit market share.

Despite seeing its most successful first quarter to date, the iPhone’s market share actually fell during the three-month period, and Apple managed to grab just 17.3% of the smartphone market. In comparison, the Cupertino company secured a 23% share in the same quarter last year.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform overtook BlackBerry to secure third place for the first time. It also posted the largest year-over-year gain among the leading operating systems, more than doubling its size from a year ago with 7 million shipments.

Nokia has contributed 79% of those with its popular Lumia devices, which have now seen more than 20.3 million sales since they were first introduced to the market.

With the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 platform — and the new devices that run it — BlackBerry will be disappointed to see itself slip down into fourth place with 6.3 million shipments and a 2.9% share. However, those devices didn’t really get a chance to make a dent during the first quarter.

BlackBerry has reported promising sales of both the Z10 and the Q10, so whether Windows Phone can hold onto that third spot going forward remains to be seen.

“Underpinning the worldwide smartphone market is the constantly shifting operating system landscape,” noted Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team.

“Android and iOS accounted for more than the lion’s share of smartphones in the first quarter, but a closer examination of the other platforms reveals turnaround and demand for alternatives. Windows Phone has benefited from Nokia’s participation, and BlackBerry’s new BB10 devices have already hit a million units shipped in its first quarter of availability.”

Source: IDC

This post was written by Cult of Android from Cult of Mac.
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Research firm IDC is out with its latest numbers for Q1 2013 today tracking worldwide smartphone shipments by OS and OEM noting Android and iOS combined accounted for 92.3% of all shipments during the quarter.

IDC noted that Apple and Android  shipments combined increased year over year approximately 59.1% with a total of 199.5 million units shipped worldwide during Q1. That’s up from just 125.4 million a year ago. Apple is clearly a large driver of the growth with the report pointing out that iPhone had its “largest ever first quarter volume.” However, despite that, Apple also saw a decline among usage of iOS compared to growth of the industry as a whole, allowing Android to keep its top spot by OS and Samsung to remain number 1 by OEM.

How far is iOS behind Android? According to IDC it accounted for 17.3% of the market in Q1 compared to 75% for Android. Of course this is likely taking shipments (not sales) into account and also doesn’t represent tablet usage that we know iOS continues to dominate. 

Microsoft was able to surpass BlackBerry during the quarter to take third place with Windows Phone growing 133.3% year over year and capturing 3% of shipments (thanks to Nokia) compared to 6.3% for BlackBerry OS. IDC does note, however, that BlackBerry ” shipped more than a million units running on its new BB10 platform.”

As always, IDC doesn’t provided data showing shipped vs sold figures.

This post was written by Jordan Kahn from 9to5Mac.
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Apple has confirmed it will seek to add Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 to its ongoing patent-infringement lawsuit against the Korean electronics giant.

In a statement filed in the U.S. District Court in California on Monday, Apple said it has analyzed the Galaxy S4 and “concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing product.”

The Galaxy S4 is set to join a list of 22 products that Apple believes are guilty of infringing iOS user interface patents. Other devices on that list include the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy S III, the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note II, and a trio of Galaxy Tab tablets.

But in order to add the Galaxy S4 to the list, Apple must “eliminate (without prejudice)” one of the devices already accused in its complaint. Judge Lucy Koh has also ordered that the Cupertino company must limit the number of patent claims and streamline the case ahead of next year’s trial.

Samsung is fighting back against Apple, of course, and its own long list of allegedly infringing Apple products — which includes the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Macs, and even the Apple TV.

Source: U.S. District Court

Via: The Verge

This post was written by Cult of Android from Cult of Mac.
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