Mobile — GigaOM

Mobile

Freedom-loving developers have long used open-source licenses as a tactic to maintain the open availability of their source code. With the rise of closed hardware/software platforms like Apple’s iPhone, however, that tactic is being challenged. And that may not be a bad thing. Read More »

Google Instant is a natural and necessary progression for the search giant, especially in the multi-touch, always-on-wherever-you-go computing environment. If all goes well, it is coming to iPhones as well as BlackBerry and Android devices near you later this fall. Read More »

 
 

Want Facetime-like video chat on your iPhone 3GS or Android phone, but you don’t have a front-facing camera? Then iSeeU could be the right solution for you: It’s a simple mirror that you mount to your phone to film yourself with your rear-facing camera. Neat. Read More »

Apple has started selling iPads in non-Apple stores. Demand for iPhone 4 is at an all-time high, and the newly updated iPod touches are flying off the shelf. Add AppleTV to the mix, and you can see Apple on verge of a blockbuster quarter. Read More »

Free and bundled mobile navigation services are bringing once-pricey turn-by-turn services to the masses, and the masses are responding in a big way. That’s the upshot of a new study which found that the number of mobile users utilizing turn-by-turn navigation on their handset increased. Read More »

Infographic: How Android Is Taking Over

Google’s Android operating system has been a breakout success, quickly gaining worldwide market share among smartphones. Our infographic shows how Android has grown, the success of its app market, the sudden increase in customer acceptance and loyalty, and where we think it will be in 2014. Read More »

A new patent the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just approved was filed in 2008 by Apple and prevents users from sending and receiving “objectionable” text messages. The patent, officially called “Text-based communication control for personal communication device,” essentially prevents what’s known as “sexting.” Read More »

Veebeam announced that it’s raised $6 million in the first tranche of a two-tranche funding round. The startup, which makes a wireless USB system for streaming from the PC to the TV, will use the funds to ramps up production and ship product to customers. Read More »

U.S. retail giant Walmart confirmed that it will be offering the Apple iPad at hundreds of its stores beginning Friday, Oct. 15. Despite the small initial launch pool, by the time Black Friday rolls around, that number is expected to grow to 2,300 nationwide. Read More »

FCC Chairman Julis Genachowski

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has come under fire from all sides over his and the FCC’s stance on Net Neutrality. But if there is one bright spot, it has been the recent order to free up under-utilized TV spectrum and use it for broadband. Read More »

Apple originally applied for a trademark registration certificate for the now-ubiquitous marketing phrase “There’s an app for that” in December of 2009. In that filing, the company claimed the phrase’s first use was on Jan. 26 2009. That certificate has finally been awarded. Read More »

Mobile Health Apps Are on the Rise

Mobile health examines the behavioral changes that occur as new technologies advance our health care system worldwide. Quite often, these changes are due to an increasing proliferation of mobile health apps, from fitness and nutrition trackers to those that use social networking as a motivating force. Read More »

More Must Reads

With so much talk about Apple’s iPhone coming to Verizon Wireless, it’s easy to overlook the rest of the CDMA market, which has half-a-billion subscribers worldwide. CDMA iPhone sales of just 10 percent of the addressable market would boost Apple’s revenues by more than $32 billion. Read More »

Rovio Mobile, the Helsinki, Finland-based company behind hit iPhone game Angry Birds has no immediate plans to launch a Windows 7 version of the game anytime soon. Microsoft has placed an icon of Angry Birds on their site without talking to the Finnish game maker. Read More »

Esquire’s new magazine app for the iPad is only the latest example of something that is becoming increasingly clear: publishers are hoping you will forget about the Internet and social media and all of those other things that get in between you and their content. Read More »

The horror original web series Camera Obscura, picked up by Dailymotion for an exclusive run, tells the tale of a young woman who inherits a camera with the power to trap demons, and is well-produced and full of dark imagination. Read More »

With much anticipation, I was hoping to hear AT&T Mobility’s big boss Ralph de la Vega outline company’s LTE plans at CTIA in San Francisco. Rather, he was a no show, and with that, Ma Bell is letting Verizon become the cynosure of the LTE world. Read More »

Facebook’s Sync Contacts feature on its iPhone app is the latest target of fearful critics who are wondering if the social networking giant has gone too far in peering into your personal information. The concern underscores Facebook’s growth as a target of privacy fears. Read More »

In preparation for details expected today about its next-generation mobile broadband network, AT&T has introduced three new USB data devices for laptop users, one of which is software upgradable and can use AT&T’s LTE 4G network when it launches in the middle of 2011. Read More »

It’s not all war and competition between tech giants Google and Apple. Sometimes the companies can come together, and the winner each time that happens is invariably the consumer. Today Google brings Google Goggles to the iPhone. Try saying that five times fast. Read More »

Google Android is under fire from Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle, but only Oracle’s suit seems motivated by truly defensive motives. Apple and Microsoft want to throttle Android adoption to improve their odds while Oracle may want to keep Google from trashing its Java ME licensing … Read More »

Apple iPhone users are still waiting for an official Google Voice app, but they don’t have to wait for transcribed voicemails because Yap does that today. The free application makes it easy to read voicemails and respond to them by return call, email or text message. Read More »

Nokia has lost another high-level resource as Ari Jaaksi, head of MeeGo devices, is leaving the company. The timing of Jaaksi’s departure is just months prior the anticipated launch of Nokia’s first MeeGo device, which the company intends for the high-end smartphone and handheld market. Read More »

Tango, an app that allows you to make video calls over 3G launched at our Mobilize 2010 conference last week. Since then it has become the top free Social Networking app in Italy, Belgium, France and Luxembourg and ranks at number 3 in the US. Read More »

For the longest time, San Francisco has been a bit of a laggard when it comes to wireless broadband. That is going to change as by end of 2010 city will have access to two 4G LTE networks, a HSPA+ 3.5G network and a WiMAX-based network. Read More »

New mobile services and devices are affecting the way users interact with each other and how business gets done. Today at Mobilize 2010, executives from Rebtel, iPass, Skyhook and Motricity shared their views for how new mobile Internet capabilities are changing the world. Read More »

Today the GigaOM crew will be coming to you live from Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco with coverage of our third annual conference devoted to all things mobile, Mobilize. The GigaOM crew will be live-blogging the panels and keynotes, so check here for more. Read More »

A few weeks ago, we conducted a survey of app developers in partnership with analytics company Distimo and across our own network of sites. We asked developers which platforms they’re developing apps for, what types they’re making and plans for the future. Here are the results. Read More »

As consumers adopt smartphones and mobile broadband becomes more ubiquitous, smarter homes will become more common, with brains enabled by machine-to-machine network technologies, mobile applications for monitoring and control, and Internet connectivity to keep homeowners in the loop. I’ve been experimenting with just such a system. Read More »

Major carriers must overcome the ceiling under which they now find themselves and the growth of their businesses. Solutions lie not in voice-centric mobile devices, but with new non-phone, data-consuming devices like tablets, e-readers and machine-to-machine technology like digital picture frames, personal navigation devices and more. Read More »

AOL has acquired video syndication specialist 5min Media to boost the amount of video it serves on its sites, while boosting distribution of its own video assets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although estimates place the value of the deal at around $50-$65 million. Read More »

Sony Ericsson has no current plans to use Nokia’s Symbian platform to power smartphones going forward and is instead turning to Google Android for future handsets. Given how long it’s taking Sony Ericsson to get phones off of Android 1.6, maybe it should stick with Symbian. Read More »

Where Inc., a Boston-based company that started out as a geo-location centric app is trying to chart a new course for itself — by becoming a location-based ad network. Today, the company said it has bought LocalGinger, a local group-buying service for an undisclosed amount. Read More »

Social networking has become the killer application for mobile broadband and possibly the adoption of smartphones. A survey out today from Allot Communications has measured a 310 percent increase in Twitter traffic from the first half of 2010 and a 200 percent increase in Facebook traffic. Read More »

Nearly one-third of Facebook’s 500 million-strong user base is using phones to engage with friends via the social network. Facebook ought to fulfill its potential in mobile, but the social network giant will need a more robust strategy than simply releasing a branded hardware device. Read More »

It’s been about three months since HP finalized its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm and there’s obviously some digesting and transitioning going on. But the growing question is: when are we going to see some new webOS handset hardware from HP and Palm? Read More »

Facebook is said to be building a new phone in tandem with INQ Mobile, a small handset maker that developed the first new phone. The phone will come to market next year. Here are some new details on the phone, and the features it will include. Read More »

MogoTix is launching a new ticketing service today that lets event holders and attendees use mobile tickets for events. This isn’t the first such service, but MogoTix believes it has an elegant solution that satisfies both parties, and fully leverages mobile phones. Read More »

Google Instant-like search interfaces are all the rage with YouTube mash-up developers right now: First, there was YTinstant.com, and now there is Listandplay.com – a site that makes it possible to instantly search for clips, compile them to a playlist and share it with your networks. Read More »

Layar, the augmented reality platform, is trying to both foster a new form of content and also bring that content to a wide audience. Now the company has develops its own augmented reality multiplayer shooting game to demonstrate what other people might not be imagining yet. Read More »

Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network is preparing to go primetime in San Francisco where consumers and mobile developers will be able to see first hand what this speed makes possible. It’s in testing in various neighborhoods in San Francisco and should be up in the coming months. Read More »

MetroPCS launched the nation’s first LTE network today in Las Vegas, as well as the first handset to run on it: the Samsung Craft. The network will be fast, and the plans to get on that network will be cheap, but the Craft isn’t a smartphone. Read More »

Many different services are going after the location market, but Locationary founder Grant Ritchie says much of the information in the databases they use is flawed or inaccurate, and none of the services talk to each other. His company rewards users for providing updated location information. Read More »

Though they have demonstrated that they have the capability, tech companies have shied away from deployments of mobile facial recognition, mostly out of privacy concerns. Now Apple may be willing to be first to cross that line with its purchase of Swedish startup Polar Rose. Read More »

Amazon is looking to buy out U.K.-based video rental firm Lovefilm in a deal that would value it at £200 million. Buying Lovefilm could give Amazon a stronger position in the U.K. and also give it some expertise to compete with Netflix’s DVD-by-mail and streaming businesses. Read More »

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