Worldwide tablet shipments continue to surge, growing 142.4 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13), according to preliminary data from IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. Tablet shipments totaled 49.2 million units in 1Q13, surpassing that of the entire first half of 2012. With growth fueled by increased market demand for smaller screen devices, tablets have shown no sign of slowing down.
Apple outperformed IDC’s most recent projections for the quarter, shipping 19.5 million units compared to a forecast of 18.7 million units. The company, which historically has experienced a steep drop off in first quarter shipments (following strong holiday sales in the fourth quarter), saw some smoothing of that seasonality this year. Number two vendor Samsung also performed above expectations and managed to grow its shipments over the fourth quarter as more of the company’s smaller-sized tablets began to gain traction in the market. Samsung has also used its recent Android smartphone growth to help bring its tablet product line into new markets and channels, leveraging the opportunity to package and bundle. The strong performance of the two market leaders helped drive total shipments to an impressive 49.2 million units for the quarter.
“Sustained demand for the iPad mini and increasingly strong commercial shipments led to a better-than expected first quarter for Apple,” said Tom Mainelli, Research Director, Tablets at IDC. “In addition, by moving the iPad launch to the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple seems to have avoided the typical first-quarter slowdown that traditionally occurred when consumers held off buying in January and February in anticipation of a new product launch in March.”
So much hope was placed on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology but Apple’s non-adoption of the technology was a major dampener. A few other mobile vendors, such as Samsung, have included NFC is selected models of their devices.
NVIDIA and HP are meeting the demanding needs of professionals with a range of 
Samsung led the smartphone market as smartphones outshipped feature phones for the first time in Q1. According to IDC (see table below), Samsung not only maintained its pole position but widened its market share lead over Apple in the smartphone market. 
Dell has unveiled new solutions that help organisations better plan, deploy and manage mobile and BYOD environments to help drive greater business value from their IT investments.
Adobe Analytics, a key component of 
Hong Kong’s push for innovation has borne further fruits with 13 incubation and partner companies of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) scooping a total of 15 awards at the prestigious Hong Kong ICT Awards. They won with innovations ranging from intelligent interactive advertising display and business solutions for retailers to self-powered smart sensors.
India’s mobile services market is continuing its growth momentum. According to Gartner, it will increase by 8 percent to hit US$2.2b this year. Mobile connections will grow 11 percent to 770 million in 2013.
ZTE celebrated the 15th anniversary of its terminals division with the production of the 500 millionth handset, becoming the first Chinese mobile device brand to achieve the landmark.
Gartner has identified the top ten technology trends affecting the global energy and utility markets in 2013, as the industry faces significant challenges from ongoing environmental sensitivity, changing policymaker attitudes and consumer expectations.
Singapore maintained its second position while Taiwan inched into the final spot in the Top 10 list of the 
Intel has announced new technologies and partnerships aimed at transforming how people experience technology from the device to the cloud. The announcements at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) included details on new data centre product lines based on the 22-nanometer (nm) process technology and the new Intel rack scale architecture, along with details on the forthcoming 4th generation Intel Core processor family.
Five new NVIDIA notebook GPUs deliver a trifecta of technologies that seamlessly and automatically maximise a consumer’s notebook performance and experience. With no effort or input from the notebook user, the technologies work in the background to save battery life, enhance performance and enrich the visual experience — providing the best notebook experience the GPU can deliver. They include:
