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mobile
January 27, 2012
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Apple’s mobile web share reportedly slid in Q4 as Android took No.1 spot

By on January 27, 2012 at 5:05 PM.

Apple’s mobile web share reportedly slid in Q4 as Android took No.1 spot

Although Apple outsold all Android vendors in the fourth quarter, the Cupertino-based company’s share of mobile internet usage is reportedly beginning to slide. An analysis of last year’s Internet usage shows that in the United States, the proportion of Android mobile web visitors overtook Apple users by the end of the year, according to 51Degrees.mobi. The share of Apple’s iOS web traffic in December fell to 34.1%, while Android increased to 36.6%. In Europe, Apple remained ahead with 42.6% however, despite an increase in Android traffic that pushed the platform to 25.5% by the end of 2011. RIM’s BlackBerry devices remained stable in both regions with roughly 9% of all mobile web usage. “The battle for mobile operating system dominance is far from over”, said 51Degrees.mobi CEO James Rosewell. “Apple experienced record sales of iPad2 and iPhone devices, yet its share of mobile web traffic declined in the US and Europe – indicating just how many more Android based products were used online in the same period.” The firm’s full press release follows after the break. More →

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mobile
October 27, 2011
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Nokia Windows Phones won’t hit U.S. shores until early 2012

By on October 27, 2011 at 7:25 AM.

Nokia Windows Phones won’t hit U.S. shores until early 2012

Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop took the stage at Nokia World on Tuesday and unveiled the Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, the company’s first Windows Phone devices. Unfortunately, however, the Finnish phone maker said neither phone will land in the United States this year. Instead, U.S. residents will have to wait until “early 2012″ for Nokia to introduce a “portfolio of products” for the U.S. The comments don’t completely rule out the possibility that we’ll see a version of the Lumia 800 device for the U.S., but it is a bit disappointing to learn Nokia won’t have a Windows Phone option here in time for the holiday shopping season. In addition, Elop confirmed Nokia will launch CDMA and LTE devices for “specific local market requirements.” An LTE Nokia Windows Phone? Perhaps that justifies the wait after all. More →

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mobile
October 14, 2011
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BlackBerry outage could cost RIM $100 million

By on October 14, 2011 at 3:20 PM.

BlackBerry outage could cost RIM $100 million

Research In Motion’s recent BlackBerry outage was the worst in the company’s history, leaving BlackBerry users in the Middle East, Europe, parts of South America, Canada, Africa and the United States without service for a total of three days. This major outage could cost the Canadian vendor more than $100 million, Financial Post reported on Friday. The costs include refunds RIM may have to issue carriers for monthly fees it collects for each BlackBerry user. “Given a large portion of global traffic looks potentially affected we believe that a 5% impact to service fee revenue is plausible though likely worse case,” JPMorgan Chase analyst Rod Hall said. Read on for more. More →

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Tablets
September 27, 2011
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Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 launches October 2nd, starts at $469

By on September 27, 2011 at 11:00 PM.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 launches October 2nd, starts at $469

Samsung announced on Tuesday that its Galaxy Tab 8.9 Android tablet will be available in the United States beginning on October 2nd. There are two models of the Galaxy Tab 8.9, a 32GB version that will cost $569 and a 16GB model priced at $469. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 measures just 8.5mm thin and runs Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface on top of Android 3.1 (Honeycomb). The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is powered by a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 T250S processor, has a 6,100 mAh battery, a 3-megapixel camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats and, as its name implies, an 8.9-inch Gorilla Glass screen with a 1280 x 800-pixel resolution. Samsung also confirmed that its Galaxy Player 4.0 and Galaxy Player 5.0 personal media players will launch in the United States on October 16th for $229 and $269, respectively. Read on for the full press release. More →

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mobile
August 17, 2011
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Following quiet European launch, HP still has no firm U.S. launch date for Pre3

By on August 17, 2011 at 3:35 PM.

Following quiet European launch, HP still has no firm U.S. launch date for Pre3

Remember when HP CEO Leo Apotheker said new webOS products would ship “within weeks” of being announced? It has been more than six months since HP unveiled the Pre3 and the phone has yet to surface in the U.S. Pre-orders for the device began in Germany yesterday for €349 ($500) and an unlocked version is available for £299.00 ($493) from HP’s European website, but the company still can not provide a firm United States launch date. Speaking to PreCentral recently, the company provided the following statement:

HP is excited to begin its regional rollout of the Pre3, the only phone today that offers users a slide-out keyboard coupled with a large touchscreen and the fastest speed (1.4GHz processor – the fastest on the market). We expect to share additional information for U.S. customers soon.

If HP keeps sitting on the Pre3 launch, its “fastest [processor] on the market” claim will soon be moot. More →

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Gaming
August 17, 2011
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Sony cuts PS3 price to $249

By on August 17, 2011 at 6:45 AM.

Sony cuts PS3 price to $249

Sony announced on Tuesday that it is lowering the price of its 160GB PlayStation 3 console to $249, down from the console’s original $299 price tag. In addition, Sony will now sell the 320GB version of the PlayStation 3 for $299 instead of $349. The Japanese consumer electronics firm also dropped the price of the system in Japan and in Europe. The move is likely an effort to tackle Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console, which has been the best-selling console in the United States for past seven months according to the latest data from The NPD Group. Recent rumors have suggested Sony is already working on the PlayStation 4, which could launch as soon as next year to compete with Nintendo’s Wii U and Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox. More →

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mobile
August 13, 2011
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Nokia to undercut Android prices to gain U.S. market share

By on August 13, 2011 at 1:00 AM.

Nokia to undercut Android prices to gain U.S. market share

Nokia’s head of North American sales Chris Weber sat down in an interview Business Insider recently and explained how the Finnish company will regain its market share in the United States by writing “one of the greatest turnaround stories in history.” Weber said that Nokia will release a number of new smartphone models running Microsoft’s Windows Phone Mango operating system and will compete with Android by pricing several of them lower than the cheapest Android models. Weber reconfirmed that Nokia is still on track to release its first Windows Phone handset this year, likely the SeaRay device we’ve seen leaked, but said the majority of its phones will begin to land next year. Business Insider also said that Nokia is deeply integrated with Microsoft’s plans for a complete tablet, PC and mobile phone ecosystem, which loosely suggests Nokia may have a tablet in the works, too. More →

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mobile
August 9, 2011
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Nokia N9 will not launch in the United States

By on August 9, 2011 at 11:35 PM.

Nokia N9 will not launch in the United States

Nokia confirmed on Tuesday that its flagship MeeGo-powered N9 smartphone will not launch in the United States. Nokia reached out to Engadget with the official statement on the matter:

After the very positive reception to the launch of the Nokia N9, the product is now being rolled out in countries around the world. At this time we will not be making it available in the U.S. Nokia takes a market by market approach to a product rollout, and each country makes its own decisions about which products to introduce from those available. Decisions are based on an assessment of existing and upcoming products that make up Nokia’s extensive product portfolio and the best way in which to address local market opportunities.

No doubt carriers in the United States are waiting for Nokia’s upcoming Windows Phone Mango handsets. The Finnish company could make the announcement about its first Mango phone during its annual Nokia World conference, which kicks off on October 26th. More →

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mobile
August 5, 2011
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On Jumptap's network, Android dominates more U.S. states than iOS or BlackBerry

By on August 5, 2011 at 8:02 PM.

On Jumptap's network, Android dominates more U.S. states than iOS or BlackBerry

Jumptap recently released a report that separated the 50 states by mobile operating system. It mapped out which states are prominently iOS users, which use Android the most, and which states use BlackBerry smartphones based on 83 million users on its ad network. New England and the Midwest represented the largest pockets of iOS users while Texas, California and much of the West were Android users. New York is primarily a BlackBerry state, perhaps due to the number of corporate users in New York City. Alaska was neutral and Hawaii had more iOS users than Android or BlackBerry. Jumptap collected its data from its mobile advertising network, so the data doesn’t represent sales or market share of course. Read on for more findings from the report. More →

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mobile
July 20, 2011
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Samsung Galaxy S II to launch in U.S. in August

By on July 20, 2011 at 9:31 AM.

Samsung Galaxy S II to launch in U.S. in August

Samsung will launch its wildly successful Galaxy S II handset in the United States in next month, Yonhap News reported on Wednesday. “We expect to release the Galaxy S2 in the U.S. market sometime in August,” Shin Jong-kyun, Samsung’s president of mobile business and digital imaging recently told media. The original Galaxy S launched on each of the four major carriers in the United States, as well as on some of the smaller carriers, and we expect many of them to also carry the Galaxy S II. The device made its debut in other parts of the world earlier this year and has been flying off of store shelves. On July 4th, Samsung announced that it had sold 3 million units in 55 days and said the Galaxy S II was its fastest selling smartphone ever. There’s a lot to get excited about: we called the device the “greatest Android smartphone available on the planet” in our recent review. More →

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Software
June 25, 2011
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Facebook hits 750 million users milestone

By on June 25, 2011 at 8:00 AM.

Facebook hits 750 million users milestone

Facebook now has 750 million monthly active users worldwide, TechCrunch reported on Friday. That’s incredible growth since our June 1st story, which suggested that the social network was closing in on 700,000,000 users worldwide. In that report, emerging markets showed the most growth —  Brazil’s user base jumped 11.4% in May alone — and the United States was the top country; U.S. users were responsible for 149.4 million Facebook accounts. Last July, Facebook announced that it had hit the 500 million user mark, but it hasn’t publicly revealed any figures since then. Facebook only measures active users and only counts those who have logged into the social network during the past 30 days. More →

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mobile
June 1, 2011
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U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra working to allow consumer devices in government

By on June 1, 2011 at 4:30 AM.

U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra working to allow consumer devices in government

Remember back in 2009 when it was a big security concern that Obama wanted to continue using his BlackBerry instead of a more secure Sectera Edge smartphone? The White House may begin relaxing its strict requirements to allow some employees to carry consumer devices, according to The Washington Post. Reportedly, lots of government employees already enter the White House daily with personal devices sharing a pocket with their government-issued BlackBerry smartphones. “The line between work and home in terms of technology is beginning to blur,” Vivek Kundra, the United States’ chief information officer said, noting that government workers “despise” government issued devices. Kundra has begun discussing the possibility of allowing government employees to carry the device of their choice, whether it’s an iPhone or an Android powered device; private app stores could then be used to install secure applications on those platforms. Similarly, the U.S. General Services Administration may look to other consumer technologies to save money — the group estimates that its plan to move 17,000 of its employees to Gmail could save 50% in expenses over the next five years. The switch to consumer devices is already proliferating on Capitol Hill: The Washington Post said that Congress already allows the iPhone and iPad on the floor of the House, about 300 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory employees have switched from a BlackBerry to an iPhone, and the ATF has roughly 50 iPhone/iPad units, and has plans to bump that number to 100. More →

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Legal
April 29, 2011
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Samsung files countersuit against Apple in U.S.

By on April 29, 2011 at 10:19 AM.

Samsung files countersuit against Apple in U.S.

Apple sent a shock wave through the technology community when it announced it was suing Samsung — a company that supplies the Cupertino-based iPhone maker with over $5 billion worth of components each year. Now that the gloves are officially off, Samsung is doing a little legal posturing of its own, this time Stateside. Reuters is reporting that Samsung Electronics has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the company has violated no fewer than ten patents held by the Korean company. “Apple copied many of Samsung’s innovations, according to Samsung’s U.S. lawsuit,” reads the report. “For instance, one of the patents Samsung accuses Apple of violating involves the ability for mobile phones to display the time.” The case will be heard at a date to be named in U.S. District Court, Norther District of California. Samsung has already filed complaints against Apple in Japan, Korea, and Germany. More →

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