On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

According to Canalys European tablet adoption is lagging behind other territories, as EMEA shipments reach 4.7m units in Q1 2012 with 180% Y-o-Y growth.

In comparison global Q1 2012 tablet shipments triple from Q1 2011, reaching 20.3m units.

"The challenging economic conditions in Europe are affecting the market," Canalys says in explanation of the EMEA totals, echoing concerns from other analysts.

Content availability is also a problem-- the combination of different languages and digital rights regulations makes the consistent localisation of content across Europe complicated and costly.

According to the analyst, the territories presenting vendors with most growth opportunities are within Asia Pacific, particularly China (currently 2nd biggest tablet market following the US).

Apple continues dominating the market, with 58% Q1 2012 market share (down from 74% in Q1 2011). Following are Amazon with 10% share (even if all Kindle Fire shipments are in N. America), Samsung and Asus.

Go European Tablet Adoption Lags Behind Other Regions (Canalys)

Following an online countdown and a baffling teaser, Samsung finally reveals the handset sequel to the Galaxy S II-- the Galaxy S III, the next version of the flagship Android handset.

It is also the official smartphone for the 2012 Olympic Games!

At first glance the Galaxy S III looks similar to the Galaxy Nexus-- a slim (8.6mm thick), light (133g) handset with an big 4.8" 1280x720 Super AMOLED display. Construction is in plastic and in a variety of colours, including black, white and a rather attractive "pebble blue."

Powering the device are a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor and an updated GPU Samsung says is 65% faster than the one inside the Galaxy S II. Connection options include Bluetooth, Wifi Direct, DLNA, NFC and a micro-USB port. Internal storage comes in 16, 32 or 64GB sizes, and is expandable via microSD cards.

LG refuses to let Samsung hog the smartphone announcement spotlight-- it reveals the Optimus LTE2, the sequel to the LG flagship handset, now with a record amount of RAM.

The Optimus LTE2 carries 2GB of RAM, an unprecedented amount for a smartphone. LG says the extra memory allows for even more stable performance, particularly during multitasking.

Other tech details are light, however-- the device has a "True HD IPS" display of unspecified resolution, integrated WPC-powered wireless charging and a 2150mAh battery LG says lasts 40% than the one inside the original Optimus LTE.

The OS of choice is Android 4.0, making the handset another first for LG.

When it comes to software, LG only reveals the camera has a 5-shot burst mode and a voice recognition feature (say a word to take a photo).

The Optimus LTE2 should launch in S. Korea around mid-May.

Go LG Optimus LTE2 Announcement

Samsung reports record profits for Q1 2012 as it gains mobile market share through Galaxy and Note sales while beating Japanese rivals in the TV stakes.

Operating profits for Q1 2012 total $5.15 billion (or 5.85 trillion won), with 98% Y-o-Y growth. Accounting for 73% of total profits is a strong mobile division, with profits reaching $3.8bn.

The Galaxy Note proved to be something of a dark horse for Samsung, emerging as the surprise consumer hit of recent months. The company should also launch the next Galaxy S flagship smartphone later this week.

Total Q1 Samsung handset sales reach 93.5 million-- or 25.4% of the global mobile market according to Strategy Analytics. Such numbers make Samsung the current WW biggest mobile vendor, as Q1 2012 Nokia sales reach 82.7m units (with 22.5% market share).