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Facebook Messenger’s free video calling now available worldwide

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After adding support for a new cross-platform video chat service through its Facebook Messenger mobile apps, Facebook has now announced that the feature is rolling out to all worldwide.

The feature first launched back in April for users on iOS and Android in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay. Today, Facebook said the feature is now rolled out globally “with the exception of a few countries” that it’s still working on:

Quick update on video calling in Messenger: we’re happy to share we’ve now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we’re still working on improving quality for.

You can check out the new Facebook Messenger video calling feature through the latest versions of the iOS and Android apps.

IDC: iPad’s first year of decline expected as worldwide tablet growth significantly slows

ipadThe latest numbers from market research company IDC reveal that worldwide tablet growth is expected to have significantly declined in 2014, with just 7.2% year-over-year growth compared to 52.5% in 2013. A contributing factor will likely be the iPad’s first year of decline as the tablet’s market share continues to fall because of a growing number of cheaper alternatives.
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Apple maintains lead over Samsung as top tablet vendor in Q2 as both lose share to others

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With Apple’s Q3 earnings call this week revealing iPad sales of 13.3 million units for the quarter and Tim Cook making a point of defending the category, today we get a look at how Apple is doing overall with IDC’s latest numbers for worldwide tablet shipments.

While noting that tablet shipments worldwide grew 11% year-over-year, IDC’s numbers show that Apple was able to maintain its lead over Samsung with 26.9% of the market (down from 33% last year) compared to Samsung at 17.2% down from 18.8% the year before. Both lose share to other companies as the category reportedly experienced a lot of growth among smaller companies like Lenovo and Acer while the “others” category grew from 37% to 44% marketshare:
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IDC: iPad drops below Android with 40% share of worldwide tablet market, Apple still top vendor

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Research firm IDC is out today with preliminary data from its quarterly study tracking worldwide tablet market share putting Apple at 40% market share compared to Android’s 56.5% of the market in Q1 2013. In the year ago quarter, Apple held 58.1% of the market surpassing Android’s 39.4%. IDC says Android shipments were increased thanks to strong growth of Samsung’s smaller sized tablets, while ASUS moved into the number 3 spot with 350.0% year over year growth due to strong demand for the Nexus 7:

ASUS managed to move into the number 3 vendor spot as it continued to see decent tablet shipment demand from the highly marketed Nexus 7 device. But, with Google’s I/O conference right around the corner and expectations of an imminent device refresh, the company will need to find a way to sustain its momentum. Amazon fell to the number 4 position, once again the victim of a highly seasonal product cycle.

Despite Apple taking number two behind Android for tablet shipments by operating system, it remains the top vendor by OEM taking a 39.6% share of the market vs Samsung’s 17.9% and 5.5% for ASUS. IDC notes that Apple actually exceeded expectations for Q1, where it typically experiences a drop off in shipments, by selling 19.5 million units compared to a forecast of 18.7 million:
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IDC estimates Android will pass Apple for worldwide tablet market share in 2013 on the back of smaller/cheaper tablets

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Research firm IDC is out with an updated 2013 forecast for worldwide tablet shipments today and, on top of increasing its prediction from 172.4 million units to 190.9 million for the year, claimed Android tablets would continue to grow and cut into Apple’s market share. IDC said Android will capture 48.8-percent of the tablet market by operating system by the end of the year, while Apple is estimated to take home 46 percent. That’s down from 51 percent of the market for Apple in 2012 and just 41.5-percent for Android in IDC’s previous forecast. IDC estimated tablets in the 8 inches and below category will continue to grow and expects Windows tablets to increase from 1 percent to 7.4-percent by 2017 at the expense of iOS and Android:


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iTunes Match begins rolling out in Italy, Portugal, Greece, more

Apple has slowly rolled out its iTunes Match service worldwide over the past few months, but today it looks like more countries were added, because the music matching service began rolling out in Italy, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, and Austria. Users in these countries can now signup for the service that allows them to store all of their music to iCloud, and then sync the music to all of their iOS devices. MacStories first reported the news when it found a change in the Terms of Service, which now notes iTunes Match.

If you live in the countries listed above, make sure to let us know how the roll out is going in the comments below. The new countries are not yet mentioned on Apple’s iTunes Match page.

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Apple to open first store in Alaska, five worldwide, on Saturday

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Saturday, Apple will open its first Apple Store in the great state of Alaska which will be by far the most northernApple Store on the planet. It will be located on 320 West 5th Avenue (in the 5th Avenue Mall) in Anchorage, and doors open at 10 A.M.

You’d think this would make for an Apple Store in every state, but there are still seven (Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming) without according to this map (thanks commenters).

Along with a store in Alaska, Apple will unveil four other stores worldwide Saturday:

Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall (Anchorage, Alaska)

Fashion Place (Murray, Utah)

Southland (Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia)

Conestoga: (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)

I Gigli: (Florence, Italy)

With five stores opening this weekend, Apple still has 23 more stores to open to reach its goal of 30 new stores by September 30th. (via Macstories, Macrumors)
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