Android and iOS together account for 96.3% of smartphone market

Android and iOS combined accounted for a whopping 96.3% of all smartphone shipments worldwide in 2014, up from 93.8% in the prior year, according to a latest report from the market research firm IDC.

Individually, Google's mobile operating system captured 81.5% of the market, up from 78.7% in 2013, while Apple's mobile OS claimed 14.8%, down slightly from 15.1% the year prior.

"Many of the same drivers were in play for Android and iOS to tighten their grip on the market," said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team. "A combination of strong end-user demand, refreshed product portfolios, and the availability of low-cost devices – particularly for Android – drove volumes higher."

As for the rest of the players in the market, Microsoft's Windows Phone had the smallest year-over-year increase among the leading operating systems, growing just 4.2%, while BlackBerry saw its year-on-year growth decline by 69.8%.

Apple to pay $533 million for infringing Smartflash's patents

A US court has ordered Apple to pay $532.9 million in damages after the company was found guilty of infringing three patents owned by Texas-based patent licensing company Smartflash. The patents are related to digital rights management (DRM), data storage, and payment systems.

Smartflash sued Apple alleging that the latter’s iTunes software used these patents without permission, something which the Cupertino-based company rejected by claiming that the patents were invalid.

The patent licensing company also said the iPhone maker intentionally did so given that its executives were already given a briefing on the technology, something which happened more than ten years ago. While Smartflash was seeking damages of $852 million, the iPhone maker said the patents were only worth $4.5 million.

“Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented,” said an Apple spokesperson. The company is now planning to appeal the decision.