A recent study revealed that the use of mo-
bile phones can contribute to eradicating il-
literacy and encourage reading, especially in
developing countries where ignorance and
illiteracy rates are high. The study conducted
by UNESCO showed that mobile phones
have contributed to solving the major reason
of illiteracy in developing countries namely
the scarcity of books. According to the stydy,
mobile devices can help people in developing
countries develop, sustain and enhance their
literacy skills, hence opening the door to life-
changing opportunities. Over 62% of people
involved in the study stated they enjoy read-
ing more through their mobile devices.
The UNESCO’s study was conducted in sev-
en developing countries, Ethiopia, Ghana,
India, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Zimba-
bwe drawing on the analysis of over 4,000
surveys and qualitative interviews. The aver-
age illiteracy rates in these countries reached
34%among adults and 20%among children.
Samsung is seeking to expand the Gear 2
ecosystem with a developer competition of-
fering prizes worth $1.25 million.
Samsung announced the Samsung Gear
App Challenge, saying that the worldwide
challenge will help “vitalize the wearable
app market.”
The development kit for the Gear 2 was re-
leased free of charge in February. New re-
leases include an upgraded version of the
Samsung Mobile SDK 1.5, the Tizen-based
SDK for the Samsung Gear 2, and a devel-
opment kit for the Gear Fit.
The competition is the third app challenge
that Samsung has launched since 2012,
and prizes amount to $1.25 million, includ-
ing a $100,000 cash prize for the top app
submitted.
UNESCO:
Mobile phone an effective
way to combat illiteracy
Samsung
Gear App Challenge
launched for Gear 2
New data from Strategy Analytics
has revealed that Android tablets
remain the most popular tablet
devices in Q1 of 2014.
Total
tablet
shipments
reached 37.9 million units
globally in Q1 of 2014, which is
65.8% of market share.
Strategy Analytics added that An-
droid tablets achieved a remark-
able rise in sales on annual basis
as sales in Q1 of 2013 did not ex-
ceed 25.6 million units only.
Apple, on the other hand, reached
16.4 million iPad shipments in
Q1 of 2014, whereas it sold 19.5
million units in Q1 of 2013.
Interestingly, this time last year (Q1
2013) saw iOS with a 40% global
tablet share, which was down to
28.4% only by the end of Q1 of
2014.
Android tablets 66% of global share
13
May
2014
