Google wants to “supercharge” Android with its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, but what exactly does that mean? Some think we’ll see Google try to provide a hardware/software platform combo to rival Apple, but there are a few big reasons why that won’t happen anytime soon. Read more »
Google’s $12.5 billion bid for Motorola is about a lot of things, but one of the biggest assets in the deal is Motorola’s patent portfolio. UBS has put together a chart looking at some of the biggest patent-related deals recently and how much they’re worth. Read more »
Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility today shows that the company is all-in with Android, paying a 63-percent premium to acquire Motorola. But what does it show to hardware partners now that Google essentially will be a smartphone and tablet hardware competitor? Read more »
Monday morning, Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility. Google cites Motorola’s commitment to Android as one reason, but it also briefly mentions the hardware company’s extensive mobile patent portfolio, which is the real driving force behind the $12.5 billion deal. Read more »
Google is delving into the Android hardware business and is buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The news is a shocking turn for the fast-growing Android ecosystem, which was built on Google’s platform but didn’t include any actual hardware built by the company. Read more »
Acer’s 7-inch tablet, the A100, launched this week with an attractive starting price of $330, but battery life could be a concern. Samsung added a new Galaxy smartphone using a few cheaper components. I also found a free task app that smartly leverages your handset’s GPS. Read more »
The escalating patent battle provides a moment to reflect on how the implementation of patents have strayed from their intended use. Mark Shuttleworth, who leads the Ubuntu Foundation, had some thoughts on the matter, saying that patents are misunderstood, misused and are outdated in many ways. Read more »
Acer’s new 7-inch Honeycomb tablet, the A100, launches today with a compelling $330 price tag. Helping to add appeal to the small slate is support for the compatibility zoom mode in Google Android 3.2 that better supports the many available smartphone apps on the small tablet. Read more »
Plenty of web entrepreneurs share the same dream: build a great company and then cash in by selling it to Google, Facebook or another technology giant. But being successful is complicated affair, according to those who have seen those deals from the inside. Read more »
The non-iPad tablet market is relatively young, but the iPad is still running away with the lion’s share of the tablet market. Aside from the iPad, consumers and enterprises can choose from tablets running on Android, BlackBerry and webOS. But are they buying? Here are a ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
HTC spent $300 million to buy majority of Beats Electronics, a lifestyle brand that makes headphones. That deal might buy the company coolness but it might not be enough for a company fighting a tough fight with well funded and more motivated rivals like Samsung. Read more »
As we increasingly become more mobile, not all of our to-dos are based on due-dates or times. Location is key to really getting things done. Location Aware, a free app, is a simple but effective tool for creating location-based task reminders on Google Android smartphones. Read more »
Smartphones were up 74 percent in the second quarter of 2011, accounting for a fourth of all mobile device sales, versus just 17 percent last year. The companies benefiting most from increasing smartphone sales are clearly Apple and Google, but which is benefitting the most? Read more »
Chris Weber, the newly appointed head of Nokia North America, is confident that his company, along with his former employer, Microsoft, has what it takes to compete with Apple and Google. He said Nokia-Microsoft could take advantage of the fragmentation in the Google Android ecosystem. Read more »
The mobile world is witnessing an amazing feeding frenzy of patent litigation. Among other cases, Apple is hoping to slow the momentum of Google’s Android by pursuing infringement claims against HTC, Motorola and Samsung; Skyhook and Google are locked in a “location battle royale” regarding positioning ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple won an injunction to halt Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales across most of the EU yesterday and today, Motorola’s Xoom has surfaced as the next potential target. Is Apple weeding out all potential iPad competitors or is it trying to control the entire tablet market? Read more »
Samsung is expanding its smartphone line with the Galaxy R, a slightly smaller version of the company’s fastest-selling handset, the Galaxy S II. The new Galaxy R has a lower quality display and camera sensor, but still offers a dual-core CPU and HD video recording. Read more »
Mobile payments — payments initiated by a phone for a transaction at a physical point of sale or online — will total over $750 billion worldwide by 2015, and many predict they will soon begin to replace a typical credit card transaction. This report analyzes and forecasts the mobile payments industry, from its current technologies to the companies implementing them and the trends we can expect in the coming months. Much of the near-term growth of mobile payments will be driven by near-field communication (NFC) technology, but QR and 2D bar codes, mobile POS systems and SMS transactions are also important platforms for companies to consider when creating business models and strategies. Meanwhile, services from the likes of MasterCard, Nokia, Amazon and Google offer examples for others to follow and clues into the future of the industry. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Research in Motion, T-Mobile, Zong and Groupon. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Android owners using Dropbox should take a look at Dropsync, a third-party client that offers more features than the native Dropbox software. Offering true, two-way sync, the app can be configured to sync at certain times, on Wi-Fi only or depending on the phone’s battery level. Read more »
UPDATED: GetJar just passed 2 billion downloads and has been pushing its independent app market hard, specifically on the Android front. It has recently started giving out free apps, similar to Amazon’s App of the Day and has also pushed out an Android client. Read more »
Over the weekend, Apple released iOS 5 Beta 5 to developers, and some intrepid digging has revealed that it contains a text-to-speech system powered by speech-recognition experts Nuance. This is just the latest example of Apple raising the stakes in the feature race with Android. Read more »
Android fans looking for an inexpensive Gingerbread handset with fast mobile connection may find one one August 21: The $99 Samsung Conquer 4G with WiMAX hits Sprint that day. This week also saw an interesting map of the U.S. plus an Android-powered, wearable smart watch. Read more »
Which states click ads on which mobile platform? Jumptap’s ad network can tell you, based on its 83 million users, and the results may surprise. Expect this granular mobile ad data reporting to continue as advertisers can begin targeting platform, location and even device by manufacturer. Read more »
Millennials — workers between the ages of 20 and 29 who grew up with ubiquitous cell phone and Internet availability — are now a dominant force in today’s enterprise. Is your company ready for them? This report, the second in a two-part series, examines the tensions ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Google and Microsoft traded more barbs today in their patent squabble. Google said Microsoft’s offer to jointly bid on the Novell patents was a trick. Microsoft said today Google is only interested in using patents against others. The rhetoric, however, doesn’t improve Google’s fighting position. Read more »
A survey from British telecom regulator Ofcom paints smartphones as addictive, but smartphones are just a symptom in the spread of broadband across society. Instead of smartphone addiction, let’s talk about how broadband is changing society and creating new business opportunities. Read more »
T-Mobile ended its second fiscal quarter with 50,000 fewer customers than it started with, even as the carrier aggressively upgraded its mobile broadband network to 42 Mbps. Despite a third of its customers using smartphones, the lack of the iPhone hurts T-Mo. Read more »
IOS platform competitors take note: Indie iOS dev Chris Eidhof has posted a list of the main reasons why a new developer finds Apple’s mobile OS such an attractive prospect. It’s a nice snapshot of what attracts new dev talent to iOS in the first place. Read more »
I recently wrote that Google had passed on an opportunity to signal a stronger defense of Android during its earnings call. Today, Google reiterated its plans to defend Android and let loose a broadside attack against competitors who are targeting the operating system with patent suits. Read more »
Samsung continues to find success overseas with bada, its platform targeted at budget-conscious consumers who want a solid mobile data experience. The manufacturer could duplicate that success in the U.S., and prepaid would be an ideal way to bring the platform to ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A new survey by GPS mobile apps developer TeleNav tries to gauge the American mobile obsession, especially among iPhone users. Findings of that survey are fun and somewhat surprising and have been summed up in this nifty infographic that is good for a giggle. Read more »
A survey of developers finds that the primary importance of selling additional copies of a single app is dropping while driving users back repeatedly and spending money within the apps they’ve already sold is gaining. It’s a natural outgrowth of an extremely crowded apps marketplace. Read more »
Google’s current Android flagship phone, the Nexus S, is available at no cost for new or upgrade customers willing to commit to a two-year contract through Best Buy. The deal is good for one day, starting Tuesday night, but could help Google push its Wallet service. Read more »
As a free app in Amazon’s Appstore, Shifty Jelly’s Pocket Caster Android app, benefitted hugely from the exposure. Sales jumped from 20 per day to 101,491 sales on the day Amazon offered it at no charge. But there’s one problem: The company didn’t make a dime. Read more »
Steve Jobs first showed off the iPad on stage using a chair and crossing one leg across the other to provide a decent platform from which to use it. Surely we can do better. So says the PadPivot, a new stand with all the right moves. Read more »
Wearable smart displays aren’t new, but the category hasn’t caught on yet. WIMM hopes to change that with a wearable Android module that includes many smartphone components including a Wi-Fi radio. That could be the break these displays are looking for when it comes to apps. Read more »
Logitech just significantly lowered the price of its Revue set-top box to $99. It’s a desperate move, but price-conscious consumers shouldn’t see it as a closeout sale. Instead, it may just be a great chance to get much more bang for your smart TV buck. Read more »
As I try to carry my iPad more and my MacBook less, one of the key reasons I still needed a portable computer was scanning. I’ve tested many portable scanners that still needed a computer, but now Visoneer offers a cross-platform, device-independent mobile scanning solution. Read more »
The iPhone 5 is still only a beast of legend at this point, but that legend is taking on more detail every day. Here’s what we can expect from the next Apple smartphone based on current scuttlebutt, including a new release window just reported early Monday. Read more »
Apple has negotiated an agreement with Samsung that will prevent the South Korean company from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet device in Australia, at least until legal proceedings between the two in that country are resolved. The agreement comes after Apple filed for injunction. Read more »
