With Android Kit Kat, Google Looks To The Future Of Mobile

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Android Kit Kat Targets The Next Wave Of Mobile (GigaOm)
It is likely that Google's latest update to Android, version 4.4 Kit Kat, will be released sometime on Friday. It also will come standard on Google's newest handset, the Nexus 5, which was made available on the Google Play store on Thursday.

Ahead of the release, former Wall Street Journal reporter Amir Efrati leaked some info he has said to have read from an official document from Google. The most interesting piece claimed that Kit Kat was developed with a focus on TV, wearables, and lower-end phones.

As far as the future of the mobile industry goes, those three categories will play a prominent role in the industry's performance.

Mobile video has been exploding, and is moving closer and closer to TV in the eyes of the consumer. Wearable computing is still very much in its infancy but devices like Fitbit Force, Nike FuelBand, and Samsung Galaxy Gear have already hit the mainstream (and the debut of Google Glass is on the horizon).

And as smartphone penetration slows in developed nations, the next wave of growth will come from emerging markets that have historically preferred cheaper handsets. Android's dominant market share has been plagued by fragmentation, But with Kit Kat optimized for lower-end devices, it could prove crucial to unifying Android. Read >

In other news...

Research firm Strategy Analytics claims Android's global platform market share climbed to 81.3% in the third quarter with 204.4 million shipments. Apple's share, on the other hand, fell to 13.4% (The Next Web)

App analytics company Flurry is the subject of a Forbes profile. Flurry's software appears in over 400,000 apps. (Forbes)

Horace Dediu of Asymco takes a look at how traffic to Apple retail stores has been performing, citing the launch of the iPad in 2010 as the main driver behind it's massive growth. (Asymco)

According to the latest J.D. Power survey, Samsung tops Apple in customer satisfaction for tablets. (Mac Rumors)

U.S. wireless carrier AT&T may make a move to purchase Europe's largest wireless carrier, Vodafone. (Bloomberg)

U.S. coupon company Valpak is partnering with Samsung to bring digital coupons to Samsung's mobile wallet. (Media Post)

The 16 GB, black model of Google's new handset, the Nexus 5, sold out within minutes of its debut on the Google Play store.

*Correction: In yesterday's chart of the day, Nokia Smartphones Are Making Big Gains In North America, we mistakenly conflated the terms "shipments" and "sales." Nokia categorizes its number as shipments. We regret this error, and have amended the text accordingly.