Google Is Celebrating 15th Birthday With An Interactive Google Doodle That Features Piñata Game.

Google is celebrating its 15th birthday with an interactive Google doodle that features a piñata game.

A piñata is a fancy container that is filled with sweets and goodies which is later broken as part of a celebration. Piñatas are popular in Mexico. Friday's Google doodle features a piñata that sports the colours of the Google logo. The alphabets in the Google logo are part of the celebration and the blindfolded, second 'G' alphabet holds a stick with which users have to hit the piñata when it comes close, to try and extract the maximum number of sweets that fall with each hit, in ten limited chances. Users can play with the Space bar key of their keyboards or even with the computer mouse. They can even share the score on Google+.

The first time Google created a doodle to celebrate its birthday was way back in 2002, to mark Google's 4th birthday. It's worth pointing out that September 27 is actually not the date of the company's incorporation. Google started celebrating its birthday on this date after 2005 when it made an announcement about indexing a record number of pages. Google acknowledges that the exact date when it celebrates its birthday has moved around over the years.

Google was founded on September 4, 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. At that point in time, the two were Ph.D. students at Stanford University.

A piñatais a container often made of papier-mâché, pottery, or cloth; it is decorated, and filled with small toys or candy, or both, and then broken as part of a ceremony or celebration. Piñatas are most commonly associated with Mexico, but their origins are considered to be in China. The idea of breaking a container filled with treats came to Europe in the 14th century, where the name, from the Italian pignatta, was introduced. 

Top 5 Smartphone Companies Selling In India Q2 2013, Samsung, Micromax, Karbonn, Nokia, Sony.

According to IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, India smartphone market almost tripled its shipments year over year (YoY) in the second quarter of 2013 Q2 (2Q13). Vendors shipped a total of 9.3 million smartphones in 2Q13 compared to 3.5 million units in the same period of 2012. 2Q13 grew by more than 50% over the units shipped in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13). The 5.0-6.99 inch screen size smartphones, or phablets, grew 17 times YoY and the phablet share has steadily risen to 30% of the smartphone market in 2Q13.

While Samsung and Nokia still dominate the Indian market, their share has been steadily dropping driven by intense competition from local vendors. Amongst the local vendors, most of the bigger ones have successfully transitioned their lead in feature phones to smartphones, including Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, Intex and Celkon.

“The key for growth in this market, as with most emerging markets, is a low-priced phone equipped with a large screen and dual SIM slots,” says Kiranjeet Kaur, Senior Market Analyst with IDC’s Client Devices group.

“The dual SIM phenomena, which had accelerated the growth of local vendors in feature phone, turned to dual SIM smartphones flooding the Indian market. Topped with an attractive Sub-US$200 price tag, these smartphones are highly attractive,” she adds. The share of Sub-US$200 smartphones in 2Q13 accounted for two-thirds of the total smartphone market.

Top 5 Smartphone Companies Selling In India 

Samsung: Samsung maintained its leadership in 2Q13, with newly launched Samsung Galaxy Star bringing in huge volumes at the low end. The other mid-tier smartphones also helped Samsung cater to the wide range of smartphone consumers in the Indian market. The cash-back and zero percent interest EMI schemes have worked in favor of Samsung over the last quarter, specifically for products such as the Galaxy Note II.

Micromax: Micromax stayed steady at No. 2 spot and crossed the 2 million units mark in shipments. This vendor is banking on the wave of Phablet-driven smartphone & is pushing the Canvas range of devices with bigger screens and compelling imaging capabilities.

Karbonn: The smartphone shipments for Karbonn have also increased steadily over the last quarter. Apart from the A series of smartphone devices, the newly launched Titanium range are picking up in the Indian market. These phones boast of high specifications at competitive prices, a must in the price-sensitive Indian consumer market.

Nokia: With the company’s decision to discontinue Symbian devices, the entire focus has moved to the Windows Phone-based Lumia range of smartphones. The recently launched Lumia 520 helped Nokia pick up volumes towards the lower end. The dedicated advertising and marketing push towards positioning Lumia phones as a quicker and cooler replacement to other brands is working in its favor. 
Sony: Sony regained fifth position in the pecking order, with its mid-tier range of phones doing well, with the lower-end dual SIM phones are adding growth as are affordable EMI options available in the market through retailers.

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