iOS Devices Dominate Mobile Online Shopping

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AppId is over the quota

The holiday season came a little early for Apple this year, but it's not as if the company didn't already know what it was getting. New statistics released this week from retail analysis firm RichRelevance indicate that iPads and iPhones are the top mobile devices that consumers use to make retail purchases.

By just how much, you ask? According to RichRelevance, 92 percent of all "online non-desktop sales" came from an iOS-friendly device during December. Better still (for retailers), those using their iPhones, iPads, and other iOS devices to shop online spent more, on average, than those shopping via other mobile platforms like Android: $123 for iOS devices versus $101 for Android devices. Even though desktop-based sales crushed mobile-based purchases in volume, the average order value of these purchases only reached $87.

"The numbers across our retailing partners sites demonstrate just how powerful the iOS platform is enabling mobile web shopping and, while still below 5 percent in total conversion, mobile traffic's doubling in eight months is a trend we only see accelerating," said David Selinger, RichRelevance CEO, in a statement.

In total, mobile device-based shopping hit around 3 percent of all online sales analyzed by RichRelevance—more than 3.4 billion sales in total, stretched across the months of April to mid-December. Translated out to raw dollars, mobile-based sales jumped from 1.87 percent of all U.S. online retail spending in April to 3.74 percent in December.

As mentioned, this news should come as little surprise to Apple, as the company has already seen snapshots of iOS mobile shopping dominance. Take, for example, Black Friday: According to IBM, the iPhone and iPad ranked first and second for consumer shopping on mobile devices on Black Friday itself (5.4 percent and 4.8 percent, with Android-based devices taking up third at 4.1 percent). That totals just over 10 percent of the mobile shopping market for Apple's flagship products.

IBM also indicated that the specific Black Friday conversion rates for the iPad—a comparison of online visits versus purchases made—were double those of the mobile device category as a whole (4.6 percent to 2.8 percent.)

Even though Android enjoys a healthy lead in overall global market share for smartphones versus the iPhone—no doubt a result of Android's ability to exist on multiple devices versus the single iOS smartphone product line—it seems that iOS users continue to carry the day for mobile shopping.

For more, see PCMag's Year in Review for Google and Apple.

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More December offers for mobile gamers as GTA 3 on iOS and Android Gets a price drop

Rockstar released monumental classic sandbox shooter, Grand Theft Auto 3, on everyone's radar back in October 2001, as the first game in the series graphic and not only that have full 3D, ridiculously fun game play.

Roll on the tenth anniversary and the game that took the world by storm is back in the minds of the players, as it starts just in time for the holiday season on Android and iOS devices. But wait there's more...

In addition to the improved textures and the price was a bargain at only $4.99 models already, now deals but on the Android market and iOS app store that has hewn out price, a cool $2.99, which, taking account of the game, one is probably the best Christmas app which. You have to be fast because this price drop on another week, last is only set, ending with December 29th.

You will pick it if so head you're here , to the iOS version or here a droid users.

You can get Firefox 9 for desktop and mobile right now, Google-Firefox deal renewed

Firefox was in a precarious position for a while because the search deal with Google was running out – and that was the main source of cash for the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. Firefox fans can breathe a sigh of relief as there’s a new deal that ensures Google sponsorship for another three years.

After reports that Chrome has surpassed Firefox for the second spot in the most popular browser leaderboard, it looked uncertain if Google still had interest in Firefox. It turns out it does and Google will remain the default search provider for Firefox for the foreseeable future.

Mozilla does offer a Bing version of Firefox, but a reported 80%+ of the foundations money comes from the Google deal so it would have been a major hit if they lost that.

To celebrate the occasion, Firefox fans can treat themselves to the latest version of Firefox – version 9 – which boosts JavaScript performance by adding type inference to the engine for about 30% performance gains and two-finger gesture support for Mac OS X. There are bug fixes and improvements in other areas but not ones you’re likely to notice easily.

This time it’s official, so updating is as easy as going into the About dialog. And if you don’t have Firefox already, you can snatch it from their official site.

Firefox 9 for Android also moved out of the beta channel and right into the release channel. Its developments were in a different direction than its desktop counterpart – it brings the new tablet-specific design, adds access to the camera for web pages and HTML5 form validation.

Check out the new UI on video:

You can grab Firefox 9 for Android from the Android Market. There’s a separate app for the Beta channel if you like being on the cutting edge of browsers.

Scribbles for Gmail mobile adds an artistic touch to your email experience

Gmail mobile just added a solid dash of fun to the user experience, folks. The freshly announced Scribbles feature enables you to quickly put together simple drawings via a lightweight interface, which is embedded right into the email composer – a sharp and fun way to express yourself in a different way than the conventional smileys.

The feature is currently available for Gmail in your mobile web browser, as well as the Gmail app for iOS. The Gmail client for Android is shockingly left out in the cold for the time being.

Check out a few samples below.

Having the feature on board is definitely a nice addition to the already pleasant Gmail experience (especially if you happen to be overly creative). Keep in mind however, that the type of screen on your device will have a serious reflection on the user experience – sensitivity and accurateness can vary seriously among today’s capacitive touch screens.

As always, you are welcome to share your take on Gmail mobile’s latest feature in the comments section below.

Gametel Portable Games Controller for Android aims to bring greater feel to your mobile gaming [REVIEW]

We caught wind of Fructel’s Bluetooth games controller not long ago, designed to give any Android device a little more gaming freedom with its dedicated gaming controls.

Well, now we’ve actually had the chance to take the Gametel games controller for a spin so we can really tell you what it’s all about.

The controller itself is a mix of textured and smooth plastics with a few white graphics on the D-pad and four primary buttons. The whole thing is small enough to comfortably fit in your pocket when fully packed down and it’s light so you won’t notice it when you’re not using it.

The spring loaded clamp on the top allows you to drop in your droid of choice and you’re then ready to fire it up. The start button doubles as the on/off switch and once it’s powered up, the rest of the set up is droid-side, no rocket science here.

Fructel have already created a driver app on the Android Market, which not only allows you to choose your Gametel controller as the preferred input method for your device, an option you will have to switch to and from when you switch to something like your on-screen keyboard, but also shows a list of compatible titles (currently a shortlist of 50 and growing).

So we’ve mounted our device, connected it via Bluetooth using the Gametel app and installed a game that’s fit for purpose, now the fun can begin:

Asphalt 5 HD was our initial guinea pig and the Gametel certainly wowed with its responsiveness. There were no issues with latency or connectivity and it undoubtedly made for a more enjoyable experience than using on-screen controls. Trial Xtreme was the second title (demoed above) and again, the experience was smooth and seamless.

Being a Bluetooth peripheral, the Gametel doesn’t have to be attached to the device and in truth, the bracket won’t allow for much past perhaps a 4? display anyway, but as such, range is safely useable up to around 10 meters, which is decent to say the least.

Depending on the game in play, you can even use four separate Gametels for local multiplayer gaming, which is a welcome feature and actually quite a powerful tool in the Gametel’s repertoire.

It won’t quite equal the likes of the Xperia PLAY in terms of usability, but it does make mobile gaming a viable option for a host more Android devices out there, that otherwise, probably wouldn’t be seeing much action past Angry Birds. Size and weight are minimal, battery life is an impressive 9 hours and it does its job well.

For those of you wanting to enhance your mobile gaming experience, without locking yourself into the Xperia PLAY or forking out the extra cash for a Nintendo 3DS or PS Vita, the Gametel offers a low cost alternative (it retails for £50 on Amazon UK) that might just be right for you, and if you get bored for the day, it’s not stuck on your device for good.

Check out this link for the Gametel’s official site including detailed specs and a link to their Amazon store page. Let us know your thoughts on the prospect of gaming with the Gametel or if you already own one, your experiences so far, in the comments below.