Global Q2 2013 mobile phone sales to end users total 435 million units with 3.6% Y-o-Y growth Gartner reports-- smartphone sales reach 225m units, beating feature phones at 210m.

Smartphone sales are up by 46.5% Y-o-Y while feature phones are down by -21%.

“Smartphones accounted for 51.8% of mobile phone sales in Q2 2013, resulting in smartphone sales surpassing feature phone sales for the first time,” the analyst remarks.

Sales are up in all regions, but E. Europe shows 3rd highest global growth (following Asia/Pacific and Latin America) at 31.6% Y-o-Y.

Ah, the mobile or “handy” as the Germans call it. It’s changing almost everything in the AV industry.

Suddenly your “handy” gets brains and then the rest of us need to graduate to being smart about mobility.

Let’s take an example of a museum. AV typically supplies a number of services to museums to help museum visitors find their way around, learn about exhibits and learn by interacting with information provided by the experts of the museum. From wayfinding, to displays, to interactive touchscreen content, to PA systems to video security cameras…AV is embedded in almost every museum.

Global Q2 2013 tablet shipments experience a -9.7%  Q-o-Q decline according to IDC, even if Y-o-Y growth reaches 59.6% on the 28.3 million devices shipped during the quarter.

Top vendor Apple sees lower-than-predicted Q2 2013 shipments of 14.6m units (down from 19.5m in Q1 2013) due to a lack of March product launches, as do 2nd and 3rd ranking vendors Samsung (8.1m units) and Asus (2.0m).

"A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors," IDC says. "With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that's likely to continue into Q3 2013. However, by Q4 2013 we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market."

According to Strategy Analytics Android dominates the Q2 2013 tablet market, with the OS making 67% of global shipments reaching 51.7 million units with 43% Y-o-Y growth.

Android tablet shipments total 34.6m units through devices from both big OEMs (Samsung, Amazon, Google) and white box ODMs.

On the other hand the iPad sees Q2 2013 shipments dropping by -14% Y-o-Y to 14.6m units as iOS market share falls from 47.2% in Q2 2012 to 28.3%. One has to keep in mind the quarter saw no new iPad launches, even if the iPad mini has been on the market for a while.