Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: BestBuy, iPhone, Nokia, Palm Pre, RadioShack, Smartphone, Sprint Nextel, Wal-Mart
Sprint has officially announced that the Palm Pre will be launching on June 6th for $200 after a $100 MIR and a two-year contract. You’ll be able to purchase a Pre from Sprint, Best Buy, Wal Mart, and Radio Shack. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/19/official-palm-pre-to-launch-on-june-6-for-200 5/19)
After Techcrunch broke the news this morning that Nokia was cracking away at a phone-friendly and potentially ad-supported version of their Internet tablet OS, Maemo, they figured they might be able to swing a screenshot. (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/05/18/exclusive-leaked-screenshot-of-nokias-maemo-harmattan/ 5/18)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: AT&T, Handheld, iPhone, Palm Pre, Smartphone, Sprint Nextel, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo
The Palm Pre’s official launch date is set to be unveiled tomorrow in the Wall Street Journal. But it looks like the New York Times may have one-upped its rival
class=”snap_preview_icon”> with a story today giving a launch window for the device. While it doesn’t give an exact date, NYT reports that Sprint will be released in the first week of June, citing people briefed with the company’s plans. (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/05/18/the-pre-will-indeed-launch-days-before-a-likely-iphone-refresh 5/18)
Facing criticism that even the minimum iPhone monthly bill is too high for many consumers, AT&T is reportedly thinking about cutting its prices. The big rumored change is that AT&T would apparently offer a limited data package for $20-a-month, a $10-a-month reduction over the current all-you-can-eat plan. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/18/whats-funny-as-hell-about-the-supposed-att-iphone-plan-price-cut 5/18)
Yahoo is abandoning its mobile apps for the Blackberry and other smartphones in order to focus more on its recently relaunched iPhone app. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/18/yahoo-mobile-abandons-its-blackberry-app-to-focus-on-the-iphone 5/18)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: AT&T, iPhone, Microsoft, Mobile phone, Nokia, Research In Motion, Smartphone, Wall Street Journal
The rise of the mobile-app market has helped send the popularity of games soaring, according to a new AT&T-sponsored survey that found 57% of cell phone users are gamers — with more than half of those playing at work. AT&T also released a list of the 10 most popular games and applications that were downloaded on its network from January to March. The Wall Street Journal (5/5) , TMCNet.com (5/5)
Say you’re a wireless carrier with an exclusive deal on the hottest wireless device with the most popular application store. What do you do? Well, up until now, AT&T’s answer has been basically nothing. It had released zero apps taking advantage of the fast growing iPhone platform. Today, it finally got around to releasing one. (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/05/05/att-finally-releases-what-should-have-been-the-first-iphone-app 5/5)
Developers planning to write for Microsoft‘s new mobile market should forget about VoIP applications and programs that change the phone’s default browser or allow users to shop at rival app stores. Those are among the 12 rules Microsoft has spelled out for the downloadable-apps market the company is expected to launch — along with an operating system upgrade — in the second half of the year. PCWorld/IDG News Service (5/5)
AT&T is putting some of its smartphones on a diet: The carrier said Monday that it would begin selling in early summer Research in Motion‘s new BlackBerry Curve 8900 — at 0.53 inches deep, the phone is said to be RIM’s thinnest full-QWERTY release ever — and has put Nokia‘s new e71x on sale for $100. At 0.39 inches in depth, the Nokia 3G-enabled handset might be the world’s slimmest and is the first keyboard-equipped phone that Nokia has released in the U.S. in more than two years. TWICE (5/4) , xchange (5/4)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Android, App Store, Apple, Blackberry, iPhone, Microsoft, Smartphone, Verizon Wireless
Microsoft is denying reports that it is working on a smartphone for Verizon Wireless to rival the Apple iPhone. “Microsoft is not going into the phone hardware business,” says a spokesman for the software giant. “We’re deepening our relationship with our hardware partners.” (Iwantmedia 4/30, http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/smartphones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217200733 4/29)
Good news, BlackBerry users! Never again will you need to kludge around in your browser just to dig up a number or determine who’s behind the number that just called. Following the success of their iPhone and Android applications, WhitePages
will soon be announcing the upcoming availability of a native BlackBerry application. (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/04/30/whitepages-bringing-their-mobile-app-to-blackberry-devices/ 4/30)
Yesterday, Techcrunch talked a bit about how some companies are clearly trying to capitalize on the Swine Flu craze that is sweeping the nation. Naturally, someone just had to make an iPhone app. And the winner is IntuApps, which has Swine Flu Tracker, waiting for approval from Apple before it’s released into the App Store. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/30/want-to-avoid-swine-flu-theres-an-app-for-that-too/ 4/30)
We’ve reported in the past on how Apple has not only been late on payments to iPhone app developers, but has also neglected to pay some developers for their app sales at the store entirely. We thought that perhaps our post might call Apple’s attention to the problem. Apparently, developers complaints have gone unheard at Apple and now they are so upset that some of them are threatening to sue Apple for breach of contract. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/30/iphone-app-developers-threaten-to-sue-apple-over-late-payments/ 4/30)
Acer hopes to bring a smartphone to market this year, one of several devices the computer maker is building using Google’s Android open-source operating system, CEO Gianfranco Lanci said Wednesday. Lanci added that it was “too early to say” if Acer would install Android in a netbook, although he did term the software “very, very good for communication and Web access and so on.” PCWorld/IDG News Service (4/29)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Android, AT&T, Google, iPhone, Smartphone, United States, Verizon, World of Warcraft
At the risk of repeating myself for the millionth time, in many peoples’ minds, the Achilles’ heel of the iPhone is the network it’s on in the US: AT&T. Since the day it was announced as being exclusive to that provider, people have been wondering one thing: How long until it’s on Verizon? Rumors have surfaced time and again about the possibility, but today brings perhaps the most concrete news yet that the two sides are talking. The two sides are discussing the possibility of getting Verizon version of the iPhone ready for 2010, sources tell USA Today
. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/26/apple-may-hear-verizon-now 4/26)
Samsung is close to bringing its first Android-based smartphone to market, according to reports, which say the Samsung i7500 that O2 is expected to launch in Germany in June will be less than 12 millimeters thick, not include a hardware keypad and run on the Android 1.5 (Cupcake) operating system. Relatedly, Google will release its first Android-powered netbook in the next three months at a cost of $250, according to several reports. Softpedia (Romania) (4/27) , CNET (4/26) , Computerworld (4/25)
A mammoth application comes to an iPhone near you: World of Warcraft. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/25/world-of-warcraft-on-the-iphone-heralds-end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it 4/25)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: AdMob, Android, App Store, Apple, iPhone, Palm OS, Smartphone, Windows Mobile
Android is making steady gains in mobile ad market share, accounting for 6 percent of all mobile ad requests measured by AdMob in its latest March metrics
. That puts it neck and neck with the Palm OS, compared to a 5 percent /7 percent share split in favor of Palm just one month before.. Windows Mobile Devices also saw a share decline from 13 percent to 11 percent, while Blackberry’s RIM OS gained a point to 22 percent, and the iPhone stayed the same at 50 percent. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/android-catches-up-to-palm-in-mobile-ad-market-share-iphone-still-blows-it-away/ 4/23)
Well, it finally happened. Apple just delivered its 1 Billionth application download from the App Store, which currently features over 25,000 apps (35,000 by one estimate) built by thousands of developers. The significance of the milestone (besides just the 1 billion mark) is that it’s taken only nine months from when the App Store launched on iTunes to hit 1 billion paid and unpaid downloads. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/apples-app-store-1-billion-served 4/23)
Apps on the iPhone are huge. We know that. As if we needed more proof, Apple moved its billionth app earlier this afternoon. But some recent data from Compete suggests that smartphone owners who don’t have an iPhone, apparently don’t love apps. Or at least, don’t download them. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/zero-remains-a-popular-app-download-number-among-non-iphone-owners/ 4/23)
Cablevision announced the successful launch of a mobile version of Optimum.net, its consumer web portal providing some 2.5 million Optimum Online customers with access to email, traffic, weather, news and TV listings. Optimum has created the site with Usablenet. (Cynopsis 4/23)
T-Mobile USA today joined other wireless carriers that have introduced embedded SIM modules that enable other devices — such as Amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader — to link to operators’ cellular networks. T-Mobile also said that under a deal with Echelon, the carrier would provide embedded SIMs to support the company’s plans to bring smart-grid technology to utilities in North America. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (4/23) , Reuters (4/23)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, Google, Handhelds, iPhone, Mobile phone, Smartphone, Wall Street Journal, YouTube
Apple has released a third beta version of its iPhone 3.0 software with new enhancements to the push-notification system and Spotlight search feature. The software remains on schedule for release around the summer Worldwide Developers Conference and reportedly could be accompanied by an announcement of a new iPhone. InformationWeek (4/15)
The Wall Street Journal is rolling out an app for the Apple iPhone, offering news and video for free. The move may surprise Journal subscribers who pay more than $100 per year for Web access. But it puts the app on an even footing with the New York Times’s free app. (Iwantmedia 4/16, http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10220680-233.html 4/15)
HP is backing a new mobile video start-up dubbed Gabble that is positioning itself as a private communal video portal for mobile phones. The idea is to allow users to send goofy videos only to friends in their network rather than post them to a sharing site for the world to see. (Cynopsis 4/16)
Google introduced some changes to the user interface in the newest version of its Android mobile operating system, as seen here in screenshot posted on the Android developer website. Upcoming Android 1.5, codenamed “Cupcake,” will sweeten the OS with several new anticipated features including video recording and playback – enabling instant uploads to YouTube, a screen based keyboard and a bunch of new widgets for the home screen including a music player and photo album. (Cynopsis 4/16)
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