100th Ranker Lukas Rosol crushes Rafael Nadal in Wimbledon

Lukas Rosol pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon history

 by crushing Rafael Nadal 6-7 (9-11), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4

Chasing a drop shot in the second set, Rafael Nadal stumbled and tumbled into the net as his racket went flying to the sideline.

It just wasn’t his day. Nadal rose slowly to cheers from the Wimbledon crowd but found himself off balance the rest of the way and made his earliest Grand Slam exit since 2005.

Nadal was overpowered in the second round on Thursday by Lukas Rosol, a Czech ranked No. 100, 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

The 26-year-old Rosol earned the biggest win of his career playing in Wimbledon’s main draw for the first time. He lost each of the past five years in the first round of qualifying.

As the match stretched beyond dusk, the conclusion came with the retractable roof closed for the final set on Centre Court. The upset on tennis’ biggest stage was no fluke - Rosol served brilliantly and repeatedly stepped instead the baseline to hit aggressive groundstrokes, while Nadal found himself pinned deep and on the defensive.

Among those shocked by the result was Rosol.

“I’m not just surprised; it’s like a miracle for me,” he said. “I never expected something like this.”

Nadal saved three set points to win the opening set, but his demeanour grew glum as Rosol overtook him. After falling behind in the third set, Nadal grumbled to the chair umpire during a changeover, apparently irritated by Rosol’s movements as he awaited serves.

“I was concentrating on myself,” Rosol said. “I don’t know what he was complaining about.”

Two games later, Nadal bumped into Rosol and didn’t acknowledge the contact as they walked to their chairs for a break.

Rosol exhaled before hitting his final shot, which was his 22nd ace. He fell to his knees, arms up, then collapsed face down on the famous grass. He then rose and shook hands at the net with a frowning Nadal.

“I think I was better today a little bit,” Rosol said.

Rosol became the lowest-ranked player to defeat Nadal in a major tournament. The Czech lost only 16 points on his first serve, cracked his returns into the corners and won 22 of 28 points at the net.

In short, it was a complete performance that had spectators wondering why they’d never heard of him before. Nadal lost despite committing only 16 unforced errors in 276 points.

Google unveils Nexus 7 tab

Google made its long—awaited debut into the tablet wars on Wednesday, unveiling the Nexus 7 to compete with Apple’s dominant iPad as well as the recently announced Microsoft Surface.

The Nexus 7, developed in conjunction with Asus, features a 7—inch (17.8—centimetre) screen, making it smaller but more portable and lighter than its main competitors, which both feature screens of about 10 inches (25 centimetres). That places it in direct competition with Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, which is by far the most successful running on Google’s Android operating system.

The Nexus 7 goes on sale for $199 effective immediately on Google’s online store Google Play, with delivery starting in the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia in mid—July, Google said. That makes it far more affordable than Apple’s cheapest iPad, the older model iPad 2, which sells for $399.

The Nexus 7 weighs just 340 grams, features an Nvidia Tegra quad core processor and a battery allowing for up to nine hours of video play on its 1280x800 pixel screen, or 300 hours of standby. It ships with Google’s popular Chrome browser as the default programme for surfing the web. It also features Google Now, a refinement of Google’s search service that provides personal information gleaned from your Google history, rather than mere internet links.

Android upgraded

Google unveiled the device at its developers conference in San Francisco, where the company gave details of its latest version of Android, nicknamed Jelly Bean, which improves major components such as touch, search, notifications and Google Maps.

Also revealed at the conference was the Google Q, a home entertainment hub that streams movies, music and other content, designed to compete with Apple TV and other entertainment hubs.

Google said some 1 million Android devices are newly activated around the world every day, with 400 million Android devices now in use.

In another mark of the rocketing popularity of Google’s mobile operating system, Google said that its online store now boasts more than 600,000 apps, with 1.5 billion apps downloaded by users every day.

Alonso wins European GP, with plenty of late-race drama.

Fernando Alonso won the European Formula One Grand Prix in front of a Spanish home crowd on Sunday from 11th place on the grid and became the first repeat winner of the season amid plenty of late-race drama.

The Ferrari driver Alonso got his 29th career victory from Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher got his first podium since his 2010 return by coming third for Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel had to retire with a technical problem in the 34th lap, Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus suffered the same fate running in second place four laps later, and the drama was complete when Pastor Maldonado and Lewis Hamilton collided in a fight for third place in the penultimate lap.

Vettel had dominated the race from pole some 20 seconds ahead of Grosjean at the time. The advantage ended when the safety car came out in the 29th lap after a collision between Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso and the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen.

Alonso squeezed past Grosjean seconds after the restart in the 34th and was at the top before the end of the lap when Vettel’s Red Bull suddenly slowed down and the German threw his gloves away in frustration.

“We don’t know yet what happened,” Vettel said in first television interviews, suggesting the safety car may have been brought out for tactical reasons. “We controlled the race, but then came the safety car, which wasn’t really necessary. The safety broke our neck.”

Alonso safely drove home while Hamilton was overtaken by Raikkonen in the third last 55th lap and in the next lap was forced to retire after the collision with the Williams of Maldonado, which gifted Schumacher his first podium since 2006.

Alonso crossed the line in 1 hour 44 minutes 16.649 seconds and saluted the 100,000-strong crowd with a Spanish flag after his strong race from 11th place. Webber started as far down as 19th but fought to fourth.

Only 23 cars competed on Sunday as German Marrusia driver Timo Glock was ruled out with a stomach bug.

The next race is the British Grand Prix on July 8 at Silverstone.

Miami Heat clinches NBA title

The Miami Heat clinched the NBA championship with a 121-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, winning the finals series 4-1.

LeBron James finally got his hands on the championship that had eluded him, scoring 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. Chris Bosh added 23 points and Dwyane Wade scored 20 points.

Mike Miller scored 23 points on 7-for-8 shooting from 3-point range for Miami, which adds this title to the one it claimed in 2006.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points for the Thunder, who took Game 1 of the series and then dropped four straight. Miami had this game in control a long way from the finish, and James, Wade and Bosh came out with 3-01 left.

Facebook buys Face.com (a facial recognition web firm)

Social networking giant Facebook has acquired Israeli facial recognition firm Face.com for an undisclosed amount in a bid to strengthen its photo-sharing platform.

Face.com’s software is used for facial recognition on photos loaded on its websites and through mobile applications.

“Facebook has acquired Face.com,” Face.com Founder Gil Hirsh has said on his blog.

The announcement comes about two months after Facebook shelled out $1 billion for photo-sharing service firm Instagram.

Although financial details of the deals were not disclosed, media reports have pegged the transaction in the range of $60 million to $100 million.

Announcing the deal, Mr. Hirsh said, “Facebook is a part of your life every single day. We keep up with our friends and family, share interesting (or mundane) experiences from our daily lives, and perhaps most importantly for us, we share a lot of photos.”

“...By working with Facebook directly, and joining their team, we’ll have more opportunities to build amazing products that will be employed by consumers — that’s all we’ve ever wanted to do,” he added.

Face.com’s apps scan billions of photos monthly, and have helped tag hundreds of millions of faces. It helps people to tag their own photos quickly and easily, and discover photos of themselves and their friends that they never knew existed.

The two recent acquisitions by Facebook, which has over 900 million users across the world, suggest that the social networking firm is taking huge interest in strengthening its photo-sharing platform.

Microsoft scratches the Surface

Anuj Srivas

Panos Panay, the general manager of Microsoft Surface holds the new tablet computer

Microsoft has done something that it never has in all its 37-year history of existence — create a computer.

Called the Surface, the company unveiled its home-grown line of tablet computers on Monday.

The new tablet line will comprise two different models, a thinner casual consumer device and a larger tablet that is aimed at competing with ‘ultrabook' class of computers.

Since its inception, Microsoft's bread and butter have come from its software.

However, with the introduction of its own tablet series, the company is looking at providing an integrated hardware-software product to its end-users, the way its rival Apple Inc does it.

According to a Microsoft press release, the smaller Surface tablet, 9.3 millimetres thick, will run Windows RT (a variant of the company's new operating system) and sport the highly popular ‘Office' suite of applications.

The bigger version, 13.5 millimetres thick, will be powered by a third-generation Intel Core processor and run Microsoft's yet-to-be released Windows 8 Pro operating system.

Both tablets will include a built-in QWERTY keyboard that doubles as a cover and feature a full-sized USB port, something the iPad is missing.

The company, however, is silent on pricing details and product availability. The press release says that the Surface for Windows RT would release with the general availability of Windows 8, which is widely expected by the end of 2012.

While tech analysts were impressed by Surface's specifications, many doubted whether the announcement would be a game-changer in the tablet market.

“My gut feeling is that this will not succeed and will go the way Microsoft's music player, the Zune, did. One of the reasons why the iPad is so popular is its huge ecosystem of applications [not its specifications] – something Microsoft doesn't quite have at the moment,” said Kiruba Shankar, tech-blogger.

China Woman space mission in China

Ananth Krishnan

China will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned mission, carrying the first Chinese woman into space, on Saturday evening in a major step towards the country's plan to build its own space station by 2020.

Officials on Friday ended weeks of anticipation by confirming the timing of the launch and the identity of the female astronaut, who will be accompanied by two others on what will be China's first manned space docking mission.

The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft is scheduled to take off from the Jiuquan launch centre in the desert of north-western Gansu province at 6.37 p.m. on Saturday, officials said. The spacecraft will, during the 13-day mission, dock with the Tiangong-1, or “heavenly palace”, space laboratory module which has been in orbit since September 2011. An unmanned docking mission was carried out successfully by Shenzhou-8 in November last year.

National attention has been focused on Shenzhou-9 after officials said it would carry the country's first female astronaut into space, shortlisting two military pilots, Liu Yang and Wang Yaping.

Officials on Friday confirmed, as many had expected, that the honour would go to 33-year-old Ms. Liu, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force Major. Officials said the native of central Henan, who has been described by the media as “a quiet person who keeps a low profile”, a diligent student and a fan of volleyball, had “excelled in testing”.

“Generally speaking, female astronauts have better durability, psychological stability and ability to deal with loneliness,” Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for the manned space programme, told a press conference on Friday.

Ms. Liu will be accompanied by astronauts Liu Wang and Jing Haipeng, who will become China's first astronaut to travel into space twice.

All three astronauts are former PLA pilots.

Ms. Wu said the landmark mission will test for the first time “the training, medical monitoring, security and equipment designated for female astronauts”. Shenzhou-9 will also mark the first instance of Chinese astronauts spending more than 10 days in space, seen by analysts as a major step in China's fast-growing space programme's ambitions to conduct a lunar mission and build the country's own space station by 2020.

Google charge for new internet suffix names

American internet giants Amazon and Google were the top applicants on Wednesday for a broad range of new top level domain names that could dramatically change the functioning of the internet address system.

ICANN, the non-profit organization that regulates the internet, announced the new name applications on Wednesday, saying the introduction of the new domains would “change the internet forever.” The new domains will mark the biggest ever expansion of internet addresses, with almost 2,000 applications posted for a total of 1,700 new top level domains that will supplement the current limited supply of suffixes such as .com, .biz, .org and other country-specific suffixes.

Google appeared to be the top bidder. A registry company that applied for such names as .google, .gmail and .android made a total of 100 applications, including for such names as .lol, .baby and .blog.

Amazon was also heavily represented with 76 applications, including .book. Apple applied for the .apple top level domain, but there were no applications for .facebook or .twitter. Other applications were made for names such as .love, .pizza and .kids.

The most applied-for domain was .app which saw 13 applications, followed by .home and .inc with 11 applications. Other popular names were .book, .blog, .llc, and .shop with nine each.

Anyone could apply to own the new domains, provided they could come up with the 185,000-dollar application fee. According to ICANN, the most applications, 911, came from the US, with 675 from Europe, 303 from Asia Pacific, 24 from Latin America and just 17 from Africa.

ICANN will decide who will receive the contested names, with the first of the new names coming online at the beginning of next year.

“This is an historic day for the internet and the 2 billion people around the world who rely on it,” said ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom in a press conference announcing the applications.

“The internet is about to change forever. Through its history the internet has renewed itself through new ideas; we’re on the cusp of new ideas and innovation which will give rise to new jobs and ways to link communities and share information.”

Europe to build world s biggest telescope

A coalition of 15 European countries, including Britain, has announced plans to build the biggest telescope in the world, Daily Mail reported Monday.

The mirror inside the telescope will measure 39 metres across - four times wider than today’s biggest telescope - and it will be so powerful that astronomers will even be able to observe dark, rocky planets far beyond our solar system.

The European Southern Observatory project is supported by 15 members of the European Union. The twin infrared/optical telescope will sit on top of a 3,060 metre mountaintop in Chile, giving unparallelled views of the sky above, and should come online in 2022.

Astronomers hope the observatory will help provide insights into the formation of galaxies and the nature of black holes.

The project will cost 872 million pounds, the Mail said.

apple's OS-X Mountain Lion next month

Compiled by KARTHIK SUBRAMANIAN

Mountain Lion next month

There were many big announcements at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) at San Francisco that kicked off on Monday. As speculated, the company revamped its Mac line-up, introducing new specs to its Macbook Air and Macbook Pro. Apple also launched its new flagship of the notebook line, a Macbook Pro featuring Retina Display.

For Apple products users, the big update also came on the operating system front. Mac’s next generation operating system OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth update to the system, has been announced for release next month (July) at a cost of $19.99. It comes with 200 new features, including integrations with the Apple iOS such as the notifications center and iMessages. There is also a very strong Facebook integration that will enable Mac users to share anything they want on Facebook without having to log on to the Facebook application.

iOS 6 coming soon too

There was news for the iPhone and iPad users too at the WWDC, with Apple previewing its mobile operating system’s next iteration — the iOS6. The big announcement, as expected, was the introduction of a new Maps application that is set to rival Google Maps. Apple has been acquiring some maps technology companies over the years in a bid to make an in-house Maps application that would be the ‘go-to’ app for users of Apple mobile devices. The Maps application will also feature turn-by-turn voice navigation support and a flyover feature that will present photo-realistic 3D views of cities.

Apart from this, the iOS upgrade features improvements to Siri, the digital voice assistant, enhanced support for iCloud from within the Safari browser (which would enable users to store web pages for offline reading) and even a simple way to decline incoming calls.

Facebook App store

Almost everyone else has done it, and now Facebook too has joined the apps store club by launching its own App Center. Currently, the feature has been rolled out only in the U.S., and is expected to be launched in other parts of the world in the coming weeks. It looks almost similar to the apps markets of the other players — Apple iTunes and Google Play included — and will feature both mobile and web apps. Users will also be able to “send to mobile” apps they find on the Web store. Currently the Facebook App Center is said to feature 600 apps.

Hamilton wins Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren team had the best strategy despite another hiccup as the Briton stormed to victory in the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday to become the seventh winner in as many season races.

Although the second pit stop was not perfect, Hamilton roared past world champion Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in the closing stages for his first 2012 win on the course where got his first career success in 2007.

Romain Grosjean placed second for Lotus and Sergio Perez third for Sauber as Alonso and Vettel were slowed down by worn tyres as a gamble with a one-stop strategy cost them the podium.

Vettel at least partly made amends, went to the pits straight after being overtaken by Hamilton with eight laps left and was awarded by snatching fourth place from Alonso shortly before the end.

Hamilton also stole first place from Alonso in the standings with 88 points from seven races. Alonso has 86 and Vettel 85 as the record of different winners was stretched to seven.

Vettel handily won the start from his 32nd career pole ahead of Hamilton and Alonso and opened up a small gap in a first lap with no major incidents.

The order at the top didn’t change but Felipe Massa spun in the fifth lap and dropped from fifth to outside the top 10 in a another setback for the beleaguered Brazilian Ferrari driver.

Jenson Button pitted first in the 16th despite normally longer lasting hard tyres at the start and was back in for another set of softs as early as the 34th as the 2009 world champion was never in contention as last year, when he won the rain-interrupted race from last place at the halfway mark.

Up front, the shake-up came during the first round of pit stops.

Vettel came in first in the 17th, Hamilton in the 18th and Alonso in the 19th.

The Spaniard came out in first place, but Hamilton -- who had moved ahead of Vettel with a fast stop -- had more grip from a lap on the new tyres and with the help of the DRS system took the lead in the 20th lap ahead of Alonso and Vettel.

But there was concern when McLaren didn’t get it right again at Hamilton’s second stop in the 50th lap, losing around two precious seconds when the right rear tyre could not be instantly fitted.

The worries in the McLaren camp grew when Alonso and Vettel didn’t follow into the pits and it became obvious that both aimed to complete the race with one stop.

But Hamilton made the most of the fresh tyres, stormed past Vettel with eight laps left and was back in front six laps from the end for victory in 1 hour 32 minutes 29.586 seconds, 2.5 seconds from Grosjean and 5.2 seconds ahead of Perez.

Michael Schumacher had to swallow yet another setback as the DRS rear wing flap jammed and remained open, forcing the record world champion and seven-times Canada GP winner to retire his Mercedes in the 45th lap in yet another zero-points showing.

The next race is the European Grand Prix in Valencia on June 24.

Spain's Rafael Nadal win a record seventh French Open title with two day match

 

‘King of Clay' goes past Borg and ends Djokovic's dream of four straight Grand Slam titles

Spain's Rafael Nadal sank to his knees in celebration after beating Serbia's Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to win a record seventh French Open title on Monday.

The No. 2 seed overtook Sweden's Bjorn Borg, who won six Roland Garros titles, and ended Djokovic's hopes of becoming the third man to win four consecutive Grand Slam events.

In a fractious final pushed into a third week for only the second time, Nadal playing in his 16th Grand Slam final also took his Paris record to a staggering 52 wins against just one loss.

It was the 26-year-old's 11th Grand Slam title, taking him one behind Roy Emerson, three off Pete Sampras and five away from the record of 16 held by Roger Federer.

Great honour

“For me it is a great honour,” Nadal said, clutching the La Coupe des Mousquetaires (Musketeers Cup) under his arm, after the presentation ceremony on court.

“This tournament is probably the most special in the world and having this trophy with me I am really emotional. It is probably one of the most special moments in my career.”

Play had been suspended on Sunday, because of rain, with the Spaniard a break down in the fourth set, but he broke back in the first game after the resumption, having rediscovered the penetrating fizz that deserted him in the damp conditions of the previous evening.

Then Nadal had moaned vociferously about the wet surface that made conditions underfoot treacherous and the ball hard to see, but he came out refreshed on Monday with the bit between his teeth.

“I was anxious about playing. The conditions last night were not right for a Grand Slam final,” he said.

“Today I wasn't ready for the match — not two hours, or even one hour before the match restarted. I only felt ready to go on court three minutes before. Only then did I feel ready to play. Before that I was too nervous.”

He was back to the player who had raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set on Sunday, managing to generate his vicious top spin on the dry balls.

After Monday's early break, Djokovic did all he could to resist the Mallorcan's charge, holding serve until the 12th game when Nadal conjured up a forehand winner after a 10-shot rally to set up match point.

Djokovic's praise

Djokovic's dream ended with a double fault, leaving Nadal to hold aloft the trophy in front of a packed Court Philippe Chatrier. “Congratulations to Rafa and his team for another title; he is a great player,” Djokovic said. “I am privileged to be in this position for the first time. Rafa was the better player and I hope to come back next year and play even better.”

But Djokovic admitted that he had been disappointed when the final was halted for a second and last time on a rain-plagued Sunday with him having taken the third set and standing 2-1 in the fourth with a break of serve.

“I started to play better in the third set. I hoped to play a fifth set. The first interruption (a set and 5-3 down in the second set) helped me. But the second break did not,” he said.

“The playing conditions were not good. But it's not anybody's fault, and it's not the reason why I lost today.

“I reached the final for the first time here, so I wouldn't change anything. Everything happens for a reason.”

The last time a French Open men's final failed to be completed on the last Sunday was 1973 when it was played on the Tuesday with Ilie Nastase beating Niki Pilic.

Roland Garros will eventually avoid late finishes as a main court with a retractable roof is to be built in 2017.

The Result:

Men’s singles: Final: 2-Rafael Nadal bt 1-Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Sharapova won French Open final

Russia's Maria Sharapova became the 10th woman in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam titles on Saturday when she defeated Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 6-2 in the French Open final.

In what turned out to be largely one-sided contest, the second seed and new world No.1 led from the start, fixing the 21st seeded Errani with her biggest shots and giving her little chance to employ her own, more considered game.

The French Open title for Sharapova follows her Grand Slam triumphs at Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008 and it crowns her return from a serious shoulder injury that nearly wrecked her career.

The 90-minute final though did little to restore the reputation of women's tennis at Roland Garros, continuing a run of straight sets finals that date back to 2001 when Jennifer Capriati defeated Kim Clijsters in a three-set thriller.

Great journey

“It's a magical moment in my career,” Sharapova said in French, before quickly reverting to English.

“It has been such a journey for me to get to this stage. Eight years ago it was my first breakthough Grand Slam and eight years later here I am.

“No matter how many Grand Slams you win ...if it was my only one it would be just as special as it would be winning my fourth."

Errani, when told that her runner-up finish would put her in the world top 10 for the first time, replied: “I don't feel like top 10, but I will be top 10, so it's incredible for me and I can't believe it.”

It what was the first meeting between the two and the contrasts were stark — notably in height with the 1.88m tall Sharapova towering 24cm above the little Italian.

The 25-year-old Sharapova had the experience of winning three Grand Slam titles and has just been assured of regaining the world No. 1 spot. Her global superstar status has made her the biggest-earning sportswoman on earth.

Errani, 10 days younger than her opponent, was little-known outside of her own country until she won three claycourt titles in the build-up to Roland Garros in recent weeks. She then defeated two previous champions en route to a first appearance in a Grand Slam final.

Sharapova opened confidently on serve and then used her booming ground-strokes to pin back a tight Errani, breaking serve when the Italian hit long.

The Russian, playing in her first final at Roland Garros at her 10th attempt, moved 3-0 up and then converted a third break point to take a 4-0 lead.

Sharapova had made a dream start, but once again her propensity to double fault struck again, with two of them in the fifth game. She then hit a forehand narrowly wide on break point.

That seemed to settle Errani, who was bidding to become the second Italian winner at Roland Garros after Francesca Schiavone in 2010, and she pumped her fist at her team in the player's box after holding serve for the first time.

Errani saved two set points at 2-5 and 15-40 down on serve in the eighth game as she started to pull Sharapova from side to side, but the Russian, despite another double fault, served out for the set.

Sharapova broke again to open the second set and moved 2-0 up as the Roland Garros centre court faithful tried to lift the morale of the outgunned Italian.

She held serve to get to 2-1 down and then had a break point to level, only for Sharapova to hit the line with a forehand.

The fifth game of the set was crucial as Sharapova opened her shoulders to hit some big winners, converting her third break point to go 4-1 ahead when a net-charging Errani failed to deal with a hard, angled drive from the Russian.

Errani was not yet quite out of it however, as she won four points in a row from 30-0 down to break Sharapova's service for the second time.

The Russian though put that aside to win the next two games, sealing her career Grand Slam on her third championship point when Errani failed to return an angled backhand.

Usain Bolt set 9.76sec in 100m

World record-holder Usain Bolt put his poor performance in the Czech Republic behind him with a new season’s best of 9.76 seconds in the 100-metre race at the Golden Gala on Thursday.

Bolt ran a relatively slow 10.04 in Ostrava last week, raising questions about his Olympic preparations.

While his start in Rome still wasn’t exceptional, Bolt quickly pulled in front.

Former world record-holder Asafa Powell crossed second in 9.91 and European champion Christophe Lemaitre was third in 10.04.

Galaxy S-III is in India

Samsung says it expects to capture 60 per cent share of the Indian smartphone market this year on the back of a slew of new devices, including its latest Galaxy S-III.

“According to third party data, we have over 46 per cent share in the Indian smartphone market. We are confident of increasing this to 60 per cent this year,” Samsung India Head (Mobile and IT) Ranjit Yadav told reporters here.

The Indian smartphone market is pegged to grow to about 18 million units in 2012, he added.

In the first four months of this year, the company has announced the launch of 10 new mobile handsets, including its new dual-sim smartphones such as Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos, taking the basket to 19 in the price range of between Rs.7,830 and Rs.38,290.

To consolidate its position in India, the company, on Thursday, launched its latest Galaxy S-III handset, priced at Rs.43,180.

Unveiled initially in London, the handset will be available for sale in India from June 1.

The much-awaited Galaxy S-III smartphone, powered by Android operating system 4.0, is touted as a strong competitor to the yet-to be launched iPhone 5 (expected to be launched later this year). Samsung Galaxy S-III comes with a 4.8-inch screen, bigger than its highly successful predecessor Galaxy S-II.

The phone packs a bunch of features like ‘Smart stay', in which the device recognises when you are looking at the phone and maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

The Galaxy S-III also introduces ‘Pop up play' feature, which allows user to watch HD videos on the phone while sending an email or text simultaneously.

The phone also boasts of an eight-megapixel camera along with a zero-lag shutter speed, which allows users capture moving objects without delay.