numbers

More than a year ago, Google became one of the first tech companies to share data on the diversity of its workforce, and now it has released an updated version of the data. In a post on Google+, the company revealed some of the changes that it has made to improve diversity and the results of those changes. Last month, Google revealed plans to spend more than $150 million on diversity initiatives over the next year.

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Google is kicking off its I/O developer conference today with its usual keynote presentation. The focus this year was the future of Android with a lot of stage time dedicated to Android Wear smartwatches, Android M, its new Android Pay service, and much more. Below we’re rounding up some of the stats and numbers shared by Google execs on stage including updates on the user base for its core services and how its new Android platforms have grown over the last year:
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After releasing its earnings guidance earlier this month, Samsung has just posed its official Q1 2015 earnings. The company reports an operating profit of $5.63 billion off of revenues of $44 billion. These numbers represent a drop in operating profits year-over-year, down from $7.8 billion in Q1 2014.

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Over the past couple of weeks, much virtual ink has been spilled over the Apple Watch’s first-day pre-order sales. If you missed it, the upshot is that an iOS analytics firm released an estimate that over one million Apple Watches were ordered on that first day, and as we told you, this represents more device sales than Android Wear had in all of 2014.

While many good reasons can be given for this disparity, ranging from Apple’s marketing budget to its reality-distortion field, there are a couple of key aspects to this situation that haven’t often been mentioned…
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The latest estimates from Slice Intelligence suggest that Apple sold just under 1 million units of its new smartwatch on the first day or pre-orders, an unsurprising figure considering the fact that the Cupertino company sold 74 million iPhones in Q4 2014. Knowing the number of Apple Watches sold, and assuming it’s correct, we can say with certainty that Apple sold more Apple Watches over the weekend than the combined various OEMs (LG, Samsung, etc.) shipped Android Wear devices in 2014.

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ComScore has released its latest report today, detailing the market share of the major smartphone OEMs and their platforms. Unsurprisingly, Apple is still leading in terms of handsets shipped with 41.7% of smartphones shipped, while Android is still leading the mobile operating system market with 52.8% of the market.
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The latest numbers from Canalys suggest that Android Wear is definitely not taking off as fast as many would have hoped, and that devices running Google’s smartwatch operating system haven’t exactly sold like hotcakes. Over the entirety of 2014, somewhere in the realm of just over 720,000 Android Wear device were grabbed up by consumers, making up almost 1/6 of the total 4.6 million smart wearable bands shipped.

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LG posted its quarterly earnings numbers today and boasted  impressive numbers in its smartphone group. Globally, Smartphone sales were up 24% but in the US alone, smartphones shipments were up 78% for the quarter year over year. LG ended the year having moved 59.1 million smartphones, bolstered by its popular G3 flagship. Those aren’t Apple numbers by any stretch but still very solid.

LG also posted growth in its home entertainment sector but a net loss overall for the quarter mostly due to charges related to shutting down its Plasma business.

SEOUL, Jan. 29, 2015 ― LG Electronics Inc. (LG) today announced net profit of KRW 501.40 billion (USD 474.81million) for full-year 2014, an increase of 125 percent over 2013 net profit. Operating profit increased significantly in 2014 to KRW 1.83 trillion (USD 1.73 billion) from KRW 1.25 trillion (USD 1.14 billion) in 2013, an increase of 46 percent. Full-year consolidated revenue of KRW 59.04 trillion (USD 55.91 billion) was mainly boosted by a 24 percent increase in smartphone shipments.

The LG Mobile Communications Company reported a 16 percent increase in annual revenue to KRW 15.06 trillion (USD 14.26 billion) with help from North America, where shipments increased 78 percent during the fourth quarter of 2014 from the previous year. Fourth-quarter revenue of 3.78 trillion (USD 3.48 billion) was 5 percent higher than the same period in 2013. A total of 59.1 million smartphones were shipped in 2014, an increase of 24 percent from the previous year, among 78.2 million mobile handsets sold last year. Expecting a challenging year ahead with greater competition globally from various manufacturers, LG will concentrate on improving its brand power, operating more efficiently, and focusing on selective key markets.

The latest numbers from app metrics tracking firm AppFigures reveal that Google’s Play Store topped Apple’s App Store based on total number of apps and developers for the first time in 2014. Google moved ahead of Apple with 1.43 million Android apps in the Play Store, compared to 1.21 million on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
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Gartner today published its third quarter numbers, showing overall growth in the smartphone market and a strong quarter for Apple. Mobile devices overall saw as many as 456 million sold with smartphones taking a 301 million slice of that pie, which comes out to a solid 66% (up 20% from last year). This shift in the market seems to be hurting Samsung and Nokia the most, because while the Korean giant is still leading the pack, this year smaller companies with slimmer margins seem to be taking some of its foothold.

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The latest Android distribution numbers for a seven-day period ending November 3rd reveal that KitKat is installed on 30.2% of devices that accessed the Play Store during the last week. Meanwhile, the distribution of the over two-year-old Jelly Bean version continued to decline, but remains the leading platform, with a 50.1% share.
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IDC released its second quarter report for worldwide smartphone shipments by operating system today and in it noted iOS and Android accounted for 96% of the global market. That number, however, comes only as Android grew on the strength of higher sales of low-cost devices abroad.
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Editor’s note: As noted in the graph above, the numbers in this article refer only to the commercial channel, as NPD does not measure direct sales. Some of the language below has been updated to clarify this point.

A new release from the NPD Group indicates that notebooks running Google’s Chrome OS have gained significant ground in the past year. According to the statistics, over one-fifth of all laptops sold in 2013 were running the free software. Of course, it should be noted that the numbers presented don’t take built-to-order machines or direct sales into account, instead relying on sales of pre-configured options, but even so, this impressive figure is still very good news for Google.

In fact, when considering all computer sales, including desktop and notebook form factors, Chromebooks have still gained a pretty sizeable chunk of the market. Last year Chromebooks took home a measly 0.2%. This year, however, the number comes in closer to one-tenth of the market at 9.6%.

While that may not seem like much next to the 34.1%  of all computer sales held by Windows-powered notebooks, it’s over five times better than Apple’s sales for its entire MacBook lineup combined. It now seems that Google—not Apple—is in the best position to someday knock Microsoft from the top of the notebook computer market.