Brand: MacNews

The TrendForce research group (www.trendforce.com) says laptop shipments totaled 175.5 million in 2014, representing a year-on-year growth of 3.6%. HP was the top vendor, but Apple saw the most growth.

Apple had the biggest gain in 2014 owing to its price-lowering strategy that made its takeover of the midrange and premium market complete. Apple posted a spectacular year-on-year growth of 46.4% and increased its market share to 9.3%. It shot past Toshiba to become number six worldwide and closing in on Acer in terms of shipments. 

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com), global smartphone shipments grew 31% annually to reach a record 380 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014 [Q4 2014].

Apple tied with Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor.
Global smartphone shipments grew 31% annually from 290.2 million units in Q4 2013 to a record 380.1 million in Q4 2014. An impressive 1.3 billion smartphones were shipped worldwide in 2014, with very strong growth seen last year in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa, says ABI Research.

AKVIS (www.akvis.com) has unveiled AKVIS Draw 2.0, the latest version of its standalone application and Photoshop plugin for Mac OS X (10.6 and higher) and Windows.

The software creates hand drawn pencil sketches and line art pictures from photos. The program makes both B&W and color drawings. The new version adds the presets quick preview and other features.

A demo is available at the AKVIS website. Registered users of AKVIS Draw can upgrade to the new version for free. A home license costs US$49.