Archive for January, 2011

Samsung Introduces LOVEFiLM streaming to all Blu-ray players

Samsung Electronics Co. UK Ltd, today announces the launch of the new LOVEFiLM application to all Samsung Blu-ray players.

The App, once activated with a LOVEFiLM subscription of £5.99 or above, will allow users to stream thousands of movies on their Blu-ray player via Samsung’s Internet@TV service. The huge choice of films available ranges from Hollywood blockbusters, to the latest Cannes Film Festival nominees and even critically acclaimed documentaries.

The news comes as Samsung Blu-ray players command the European market with outstanding technology and design. According to market research firm GfK, the Blu-ray player products of Samsung Electronics took a European market share of 25% in terms of sales and 24% in terms of units sold for the January-September period in Europe – topping the European market.

Andy Griffiths, Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung UK comments, “Adding the LOVEFiLM streaming service to all Samsung Blu-ray players and Blu-ray Home Theatre Systems is great news for us at Samsung as we’re dedicated to providing our customers with relevant and exciting content, all from the comfort of their own home.”

“The Internet@TV service offers viewers a gateway to access great content in an exciting new way, unlocking the full potential of our connected devices. Services like LOVEFiLM will offer our customers more variety, choice and entertainment from our innovative products.”

Samsung customers can expect the arrival of even more exciting new Apps throughout 2011 following the UK’s first ever Application Developer Day where developers were encouraged to create their own App to populate in the World’s first TV App Store with rich, relevant content.

Posted by: James

BlackBerry is the number one Smartphone brand in the UK!

According to market research experts GfK, BlackBerry was the UK’s number one Smartphone Brand in 2010. To be honest I am not really surprised. Although Android and iOS are still growing I see more and more youngsters carrying a BlackBerry these days. And you cant really blame them. With a BlackBerry data plan only costing £5 per month and devices coming in at under £150 it is perfect for them as well as us older business users.

Here are the facts provided to us direct from RIM:

• BlackBerry had the top-selling smartphone handset in the market in December 2010. GfK estimate half a million Blackberry devices were sold during the busy Christmas month
• BlackBerry was the UK’s #1 smartphone brand in 2010
• BlackBerry captured a record high of 36% share of the smartphone market in December 2010
• BlackBerry was the #1 pre-pay smartphone brand in December 2010 with 51.1% market share
• BlackBerry was the #1 brand for contract/sim free in December 2010 with 23.3% market share
• BlackBerry accounted for over 14.9% of the total mobile handset market in December 2010

More details after the break:

Panasonic changes the Digital Photo market forever

Following a year of great success in 2010, Panasonic is ready to kick start 2011 with a bang as tomorrow marks the launch of the next great Lumix G camera, Lumix GF2, in a store near you.  Already awarded 5 magazine awards since announced in November, the GF2 is the smallest and lightest system camera from Panasonic, boosting DSLR like photo performance and Full HD movies with stereo sound.
At the end of last year we saw that the total changeable lens (DSLR + CSC) market was up 22.8% in December 2010 vs. December 2009. Panasonic believe that this growth has come from a dramatic increase in consumer demand for creative and high quality photos.
1 in 4 changeable lens cameras sold in December came from the new breed of Compact System Cameras (CSC), as product and lens ranges in this developing format grew. CSC actually grew an impressive 194% vs. the previous year (1).  This significant shift can be put down to the smaller size and easier to use attributes of a CSC compared to a DSLR camera – Anyone who enjoys photography can now take professional looking photos without hassle.
The good news for Panasonic is that in December 2010 over 1 in 10 of all changeable lens cameras sold were from the Panasonic Lumix G system camera range, making it the best selling CSC range in Christmas 2010 (2). Panasonic is very proud to hold 11.3% market share with the DMC-G2 as its best selling model.
To prove that anyone can take creative shots look out for the new GF2 which launches on 28^th January and is a must have camera of 2011.

Posted by: James

Everything Everywhere contactless phone payments

Fancy using your mobile to pay for goods on the High Street? Well, you will be able to later this year as Everything Everywhere have teamed up with Barclaycard to allow contactless payments with a new free online credit card processing software.

• The UK’s first commercial contactless mobile payments service, to be rolled out by Everything Everywhere and Barclaycard by early summer (second quarter of 2011)
• The new service will offer consumers greater convenience and control on the high street with over 40,000 stores ready to accept contactless payments
• Industry backed secure SIM-based payments approach, ensures excellent purchase protection for consumers
• Latest move builds on Everything Everywhere and Barclaycard’s ongoing partnership, which has already produced a co-branded contactless credit card and the forthcoming Orange Cash pre-paid contactless card