Apple shipped an estimated 68% of all tablets in Q1 2012

"A steep drop in shipments of Android-based tablets offset a strong quarter from Apple and caused the media tablet market to miss projections for the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12), according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker. Total worldwide media tablet shipments for the quarter reached 17.4 million units in 1Q12, 1.2 million units below IDC's projection for the quarter. While IDC predicted a sharp seasonal slowdown of -34% from the previous quarter’s record-breaking 28.2 million units, the actual decline was slightly steeper at -38.4%. The total still represents a robust year-over-year growth rate of 120%, up from 7.9 million units in the first quarter of 2011.
"Apple reasserted its dominance in the market this quarter, driving huge shipment totals at a time when all but a few Android vendors saw their numbers drop precipitously after posting big gains during the holiday buying season," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Mobile Connected Devices at IDC. "Apple's move to position the iPad as an all-purpose tablet, instead of just a content consumption device, is resonating with consumers as well as educational and commercial buyers. And its decision to keep a lower-priced iPad 2 in the market after it launched the new iPad in March seems to be paying off as well."
Apple shipped 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, down from 15.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, and grew its worldwide share from 54.7% in 4Q11 to 68% in 1Q12. Amazon, which stormed into the market in 4Q11 to grab second place with 16.8% of the market on shipment of 4.8 million units, saw its share decline significantly in the first quarter to just over 4%, falling to third place as a result. Samsung took advantage of Amazon's weakness to regain the number two position while Lenovo vaulted into the number four spot, followed by Barnes & Noble at number five.
Although total Android shipments were down sharply in 1Q12, companies such as Samsung and Lenovo are beginning to gain traction in the market with their latest generation of Android products. IDC expects the segment to rebound quickly as other vendors introduce new products in the second quarter and beyond."

Source:  Data from IDC reported in a press release, 3rd May 2012

Samsung is the largest manufacturer of handsets

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Source:  Data from Strategy Analytics, reported by BusinessWire, 26th April 2012

Apple's app stores generate over $5m in revenue each day

"Apple’s iPhone and iPad App Stores generated $5.4m worth of combined revenues daily in January 2012, according to new research from telecoms analyst, CCS Insight, and app store analytics firm, Distimo.
The findings are the first fruits of a new research offering, App VU Global, developed by the two companies. App VU Global combines extensive data with analysis of the performance of software stores and the global apps market, identifying trends, and offering detailed comparisons across all major app stores.
The research reveals that Apple continues to dominate in terms of download numbers, catalogue size and revenues. The iPhone and iPad app stores generated daily revenues of $3.3m and $2.1m respectively in January 2012. Google Play (formerly Android Market) saw a 31 per cent rise in daily revenue in January 2012, to $679,000, across both smartphones and Tablets. Other platforms are racing to secure third position, with Amazon and Microsoft recording the biggest growth in catalogue size."

Source:  Mobile Marketing, 4th April 2012

Chrome was the world's most used browser on March 16th

"It may only have been for a single day, but according to StatCounter Google Chrome finally managed to surpass Internet Explorer to become the world’s most used web browser.
On Sunday, March 16th, Chrome temporarily slid ahead of IE with a share of just over 32%. Weekends have historically seen a downturn in IE usage. As people wind up their work week and spend more time on their home computers, they’re more likely to use an alternative browser. IE still maintains a dominant position in corporate environments, but that too has begun to change.
Over the past year, Chrome has steadily climbed while IE continues to fall. Initially folks thought that Google’s rapid rise was being fueled by Firefox defections, but Mozilla has only seen a drop of about 5% — while IE is down more than 10%. A second chart from StatCounter tells the story: those IE peaks and plateaus are clearly on a downward trend.
It’s important to note that StatCounter doesn’t correct its usage figures to account for one detail that could skew the numbers slightly in Google’s favor. Speculative pre-rendering (which arrived  in the Omnibox in Chrome 17) and Instant Pages support (which appeared in Chrome 13) both cause Chrome to send additional traffic to web servers that may never result in an actual visit from a user."

Source:  Geek.com, 22nd March 2012

The US accounts for 21% of global mobile data revenues

"The US market generated $67 billion in mobile data revenues in 2011 accounting for 39% of the overall revenues for the country. The mobile data market grew 4% Q/Q and 19% Y/Y to reach $18.6B for the quarter. For the year 2012, we are forecasting that mobile data revenues in the US market will reach $80 billion.
The US market accounts for 5% of the subscriber base but 17% of the global service revenues and 21% of the global mobile data revenues. It also accounts for 40% for the global smartphone sales.
[...]
Mobile data traffic growth continued unabated doubling again for the 8th straight year. We expect the mobile consumption to double again in 2012. Data now constitutes over 85% of the mobile traffic in the US."

Source:  Data from Chetan Sharma Consulting, reported on their site, March 2012

850,000 Android devices are activated every day

"With a year-on-year growth rate of more than 250%, 850,000 new Android devices are activated each day, jetting the total number of Android devices around the world past 300 million. These numbers are a testament to the break-neck speed of innovation that defines the Android ecosystem.
Last year at Mobile World Congress (MWC), we announced that there were more than 150,000 apps in Android Market. That number tripled to more than 450,000 apps today, with over one billion app downloads happening every month. Think about the astonishing number of songs Shazam’ed, places Qype’ed and foursquare mayorships! To celebrate the hard work and success of our developer community, we’ve built special “app pods” into our Android stand at MWC. Many of these featured apps demonstrate the latest Android innovations, such as Android Beam, which lets you share content like web pages, videos, directions, and apps—just by touching two Android phones back to back."

Source:  Google Mobile Blog, 27th February 2012

Twitter has 500m registered users

"Twitter has just passed the 500 million user mark, as predicted back in January, just shy of its sixth birthday. It has achieved amazing growth over the last year or so as it has become an indispensable feature of the media and entertainment landscape around the world.
There have been a lot of Twitter landmarks along the way stretching back to the 2008 presidential election through to the Arab Spring and the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Twopcharts reported the 500 million figure a few minutes ago and now predicts it will hit 600 million users in around 108 days."
Source:  The Wall, 22nd February 2012
Note - These are registered users, and many will be inactive or automated bots.  Nut no one is doubting that Twitter is popular these days!

Mobile operators lost an estimated $14bn in 2011 due to consumers using messaging through other channels

"Mobile operators worldwide lost USD13.9bn in lucrative messaging revenues last year, as consumers increasingly contact their friends through social networks on their phones, according to new research by Ovum. The loss widened 59.7% year on year from the USD8.7bn drop that beset operators in 2010, as mobile social networking continues to grow in popularity. The stats highlight the pressure facing mobile operators as consumers increasingly opt for data-hungry smartphones with greater functionality, reducing the need for traditional services such as messaging. As a result, Ovum forecasts that revenue growth for mobile services will slow to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just 1.9% between 2011 and 2016, when it will hit USD1,047bn globally.
Ovum’s research is likely to exacerbate concerns that mobile data revenues will not be enough to offset the decline in traditional revenue streams. The research firm predicts that mobile data revenues will grow at a CAGR of 7.2% between 2011 and 2016 to hit USD419bn, though the total still comprises less than half of overall mobile revenues from mobile services that Ovum forecasts for 2016."

Source:  StrategyEye, 22nd February 2012

Note:  'Estimate' is putting it politely...  Very notional numbers, but interesting all the same.

Smartphone shipments rose 55% Y-o-Y in Q4 2011

"The worldwide smartphone market grew 54.7% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11), as Apple unleashed its iPhone 4S on an eager marketplace. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 157.8 million units in 4Q11 compared to 102.0 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 54.7% year-over-year growth was higher than IDC's forecast of 40.0% for the quarter, and higher than the 49.2% growth in 3Q11.
On a full-year basis, total smartphone shipment volumes reached 491.4 million units in 2011, up a strong 61.3% from the 304.7 million units in 2010. This was higher than IDC's full year estimate of 54.7% for the year, but still below 2010's year-over-year growth of 75.7%. Although this marks a slowdown from 2010, IDC still fully expects continued double-digit growth for the foreseeable future."

Source:  Data from IDC reported in a press release, 6th February 2012

Smartphone shipments exceeded PC shipments in 2011

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Source:  Data from Canalys, reported in a press release, 3rd February 2012

Mobile phone shipments for full year 2011

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Source:  Data from IDC, reported in a press release 1st February 2012
Lots of analysis and also Q4 data in the press release

5m guest reservations have been made on Airbnb

"Airbnb, the online marketplace where you can rent out your house or spare room to travelers, announced today it has reached a milestone of five million guest reservations overall. The company also celebrated its strong international growth, with property listings in more than 19,000 cities in 192 countries around the world.
In terms of reservations alone, 2011 was a great year for Airbnb. The company launched in 2008 and it took about three years to reach one million bookings. In the last year alone, more than four million reservations were made, bringing Airbnb’s total to a cool five million.
The company also brought in some serious funding in 2011. Last July, investors gave Airbnb $112 million at $1.3 billion valuation, bringing the company’s total funding to $119 million dollars.
[...]

The online listing and booking service is paying off for many in a big way; earlier this week we reported that New Yorkers are making an average of $21,000 per year by renting out their spaces to travelers. The legality of renting out spaces for short periods of time is questionable in some cities, but people have flocked to the service none the less."

Source:  VentureBeat, 26th January 2012

The number of people subscribing to legal music streaming services rose by 65% in 2011

"The number of consumers subscribing to legal music streaming services globally increased by nearly 65 per cent in 2011, according to new IFPI estimates.
Paying subscribers of streaming services hit 13.4 million in the year, according to the IFPI’s new Digital Music Report 2012 – up from 8.2 million in 2010.
Spotify reports it has 2.5 million paying subscribers worldwide, including over 400,000 in the US market since its launch there in July - and that it sees its expansion in the US as a springboard to international markets.
Ken Parks, chief content officer, says: “We were very focused on how Spotify, which had been a European service, would translate to the US. Now, having seen the acceptance in the biggest music market, it gives us a huge degree of confidence and optimism to expand elsewhere.”
Subscription streaming services have caught on "exceptionally well" in certain markets, says the report, particularly in Scandinavia.
In Sweden, says the report, subscription accounted for 84 per cent of digital revenues in the first 11 months of 2011, boosted by its national champion Spotify. Other markets saw sharp growth in subscription revenues, including France which saw an increase of more than 90 per cent in the first 11 months of 2011 (SNEP)."
Source:  Data from the IFPI's Digital Music Report 2012, reported by Music Week, 23rd January 2012
See the full report here

Google+ has more than 90m users

"Google’s big push into social networking appears to be gaining traction, with the news that Google+ now has over 90 million registered users, according to CEO Larry Page, who announced the figure during Google’s earnings presentation on Thursday.
While this number tells us nothing about engagement, including time spent or number of visits per user, Page did claim that “engagement on Plus is also growing tremendously.” Again, this statement is entirely relative so it doesn’t tell us much, beyond the fact that Google+ is indeed growing.
The latest figure for registered users is more than twice the last number, 40 million, disclosed by Google on October 13. It is also a good deal higher than the independent estimates provided by Paul Allen of Ancestry.com based on his analysis of surnames: Allen pegged Google+ at 62 million users in late December, and forecast growth to over 80 million by February. Meanwhile comScore says that Google+ attracted 67 million unique visitors in the month of November alone -- a figure more in line with Google’s own estimates."

Source:  MediaPost, 20th January 2012

60 hours of video are updated to YouTube every minute

"YouTube, Google Inc's video website, is streaming 4 billion online videos every day, a 25 percent increase in the past eight months, according to the company.
The jump in video views comes as Google pushes YouTube beyond the personal computer, with versions of the site that work on smartphones and televisions, and as the company steps up efforts to offer more professional-grade content on the site.
According to the company, roughly 60 hours of video is now uploaded to YouTube every minute, compared with the 48 hours of video uploaded per minute in May.
YouTube, which Google acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006, represents one of Google's key opportunities to generate new sources of revenue outside its traditional Internet search advertising business.
Last week, Google said that its business running graphical "display" ads - many of which are integrated alongside YouTube videos - was generating $5 billion in revenue on an annualized run rate basis.
Still, most of the 4 billion videos that YouTube now streams worldwide every day do not make money. Three billion YouTube videos a week are monetized, according to the company."

Source:  Reuters, 23rd January 2012

Earlier - 48 hours every minute - May 2011

YouTube Official Stats (not yet updated with the new numbers)

The reasons for eliminating a home TV subscription

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Source:  Taken from The Converged Lifestyle by KPMG, January 2012
The countries researched were:  Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dubai, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Suadi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, US

The 2010 World Cup Final had an estimated TV audience of 700m

"Spanish broadcasters said Ole! to record ratings as nearly 17 million fans watched the country's one-nil victory over the Netherlands in the finals of football's World Cup, part of about 700 million viewers estimated to have caught the match on small screens worldwide.
Some 16.8 million Spaniards -- 91 percent of the TV audience -- caught the highlight of the match, when Andres Iniesta rocketed in the winning goal in extra time giving Spain its first-ever World Cup win. On average 15.6 million people in Spain, 86 percent of the audience, watched on the three channels broadcasting the match, an all-time average record, according to ratings agency Barlovento Comunicacion.
Similarly in the Netherlands, 91 percent of the TV audience tuned into public broadcaster NOS as their Orange-mantled team failed in its third World Cup final. An average of 8.5 million Dutch caught the match, with millions more watching in pubs and public squares across the country. (Spain's population is 46 million vs. 17 million for the Netherlands.)
Though final figures aren't available, soccer's governing body FIFA estimates around 700 million people watched the final live. If that is correct, the match would beat out the estimated 600 million that caught the opening ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and would be on par, or slightly above, the 700 million that watched the World Cup final four years ago."

Source:  Reuters, 13th July 2010

Note - Neilsen say that over 2 billion saw the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony

Over 2 billion people watched the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony on TV

"Based on television audience data collected from 38 markets around the world,  The Nielsen Company estimates that just over 2 billion people - almost one third of the world’s population - watched the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.
The Nielsen Company drew the data from 38 key markets in all regions around the world including host nation China, the United States, Brazil, South Africa, Italy and Australia. Viewing level varied across regions and markets, impacted by factors such as time zone and broadcast time differences.
Comparing regions, the highest audience reach was in Asia-Pacific, where more than five in 10 people watched the Opening Ceremony, followed by Europe (30%) and North America (24%). Looking at individual markets, the percentage of people tuning into the Opening Ceremony varied widely – from the expected high of host nation China, followed by South Korea (where 44% of people watched), Greece (43%) and Australia – all recent hosts of the Summer Olympics (Seoul 1988, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004). Lower numbers of people tuning into the Opening Ceremony were reported in markets such as Indonesia (8%) and Argentina (11%). Viewing levels were also impressive in the United States, where it is estimated that 65 million people tuned into the broadcast."

Source:  Press release from Nielsen, 14th August 2008

Methodology:  "Estimates are based on data sourced across 38 markets from The Nielsen Company, AGB Nielsen Media Research, BBM Nielsen Media Research, Finnpanel, IBOPE, TAM India and OzTAM. 2 of 2"

Note - This is thought to be the largest ever TV audience - unless you know different!  For example it seems to have been bigger than the 2011 Royal Wedding

YouTube had over 1 Trillion video views in 2011

"YouTube has plenty to brag about as far as traffic trends. Here are a few it touts:
48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day.
More than 3 billion videos are viewed per day.
Users upload the equivalent of 240,000 full-length films every week.
More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the three major U.S. networks created in 60 years.
70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the U.S.
YouTube is localized in 25 countries across 43 languages.
YouTube’s demographic is broad: mostly consisting of 18- to 54-year-olds.
YouTube has 800 million unique users visit each month.
YouTube reached 1 trillion video views in 2011 (compared to 700 billion playbacks in 2010)"
Source:  Mashable, 1st January 2012
Official YouTube stats here

Google sites, including YouTube account for nearly 45% of all online videos viewed

"According to data on worldwide online video viewing from the comScore Video Metrix service, 1.2 billion people age 15 and older watched 201.4 billion videos online globally during October 2011. Google Sites, driven by YouTube.com, ranked as the top video destination with nearly 88.3 billion videos viewed on the property worldwide during the month."

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Source:  data from comScore, reported by MediaPost, 3rd January 2012