It’s important to dispel potential myths and market misunderstandings when it comes to consumer electronic devices and trends. For 2011, that includes paid video chat, Apple dominating the living room and the misinformed belief that Google will rule the e-book space. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
One of the gifts I really enjoyed receiving this Christmas was an iPod nano. What immediately struck me was that with a few minor feature and hardware adjustments, the nano could be the ideal smartphone-paired watch, and an amazing tool for the connected worker. Read more »
Apple’s iOS App Store offers one thing its competitors don’t: significantly more high quality paid and free apps. The company can hold on to that advantage by paying attention to what changes would make the most difference to developers and app users alike. Read more »
The holidays aren’t yet over, and that means you probably still have some time off on your hands. What better way to spend that time than with some engrossing, in-depth RPG gaming? Your iPhone can deliver that experience thanks to a few awesome apps. Read more »
Confirmed last month by Fortune and the Wall Street Journal, the Verizon iPhone is already impacting competitor sales without actually being sold. Now reports of component suppliers taking orders for CDMA iPhone have now surfaced, driving iPhone sales expectations for next year even higher. Read more »
The Wall Street Journal recently tested 101 iPhone and Android apps and found that more than half transmitted the phone’s unique device ID to third-party companies without users’ awareness or consent. The results raise a rather hefty question: Can the mobile app industry police itself and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Realizing there is no chance of getting your traditional paper-based holiday card out this year, your only recourse is to explore electronic options. You may find just what you are looking for in one of the following three iOS app-based solutions. Read more »
Looking for a full-featured tool to create mind maps tool to use on the go? Popular iPhone mind mapping app MindMeister, which previously cost $6.99, is free for a limited time over the holidays. It works well as a mobile companion for the web app. Read more »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple’s gross profits on the iPhone add up to more than double those of Motorola and RIM combined, according to a new report by stock market analysis firm Trefis. The report’s estimates put Apple’s total iPhone-based gross profit at $14.8 billion for 2010. Read more »
There was much talk about cloud computing today, all of it hitting different aspects — from how IT organizations will adopt it to what makes a “niche” cloud to how AT&T’s spotty network helped drive the need for it. Hadoop and Cassandra news also caught my eye. Read more »
I don’t know about you, but I often get to the end of the day and wonder where the 40 bucks I had in my wallet disappeared to. At LeWeb, I came across Toshl, an expense-tracking app that I might actually use because it’s so simple. Read more »
Bing Mobile is getting a serious update on the iPhone and to a lesser extent on Android, with a handful of mobile specific features that draw from other existing apps and services. The update is designed to make Bing Mobile a go-to resource for mobile users. Read more »
Mobile video accounts for a very small fraction of the overall U.S. mobile data market, despite on-the-go video and mobile TV receiving as much hype as any other area in the space. This report — the first in a two-part series on mobile video — examines what we can learn from the failures of mobile video to find a sizable audience so far, which challenges will continue to hinder the market in the coming years and the opportunities that will increasingly exist. The iPhone, Android devices and other multimedia-friendly handsets offer more screen real estate and higher resolution than previously possible, while the move toward 4G will help carriers deliver higher quality video more consistently. Even so, the challenges in this market are many, and mobile devices will likely always be inferior to set-top boxes, desktop computers and laptops when it comes to delivering a quality viewing experience. And because video consumes so much bandwidth on mobile networks, uptake will surely be impacted as carriers move away from all-you-can-eat data plans. The industry must, then, find other ways to monetize video in mobile, and without clogging already taxed cellular networks. Most importantly, it must develop viable business models for implementing video in ways that make sense for the consumer, the content owner and the network operator. Companies mentioned in this report include AT&T, Sprint, Apple, Google, Research in Motion, Qualcomm and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The always-unpredictable mobile space enters 2011 at a particularly dynamic time. Carriers are now bringing 4G networks online, even as their definitions of “4G” vary. Meanwhile, mobile data consumption is exploding and the FCC trying to settle on policies both to regulate the industry and to ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Without an iPhone, Verizon has made a good showing in smartphone sales by embracing a wide variety of Google Android smartphones. On the surface, that appears to have paid off, but a closer look at the numbers show that AT&T’s iPhone is outselling them all. Read more »
Google Latitude briefly appeared last week in the Japanese App Store, but disappeared just as quickly. As of early Dec. 13, it’s now available for all iPhone users. The official app provides lets you share your device’s location info with contacts of your choosing. Read more »
Amazon Web Services jumped on the mobile-application development bandwagon today with software development kits for both the Google Android and Apple iOS operating systems. The move underscores the need for cloud providers – even the mighty AWS – to target the increasingly important mobile-developer market. Read more »
YouTube’s new Android app is a step backwards from Google’s overall web apps strategy. It also limits the availability of new features not just to Android users, but since it is available on Android 2.2 devices or above, still a minority of Android users, at that. Read more »
Offering freemium versions of mobile apps is a now a full-fledged trend, so shouldn’t all app developers employ the model? Not so fast. The strategy has worked, but it requires understanding of both the market and your product, along with careful thought, planning and a willingness ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A new service aims to make holiday gift cards easier to give and use through the mobile phone. SWAGG handles gift cards for hundreds of merchants, and makes purchasing in the store as simple as flashing the iPhone or Android phone at checkout Read more »
We Farm, Tap Zoo and countless other similar apps have made tons of money by asking you to spend yours on virtual goods. A brand new iPhone app called Raise the Village uses the same model for a good cause. But does it go too far? Read more »
Verizon seems poised to get the iPhone, but that might be where the buck stops, according to a new Kaufman Bros. analyst note from Shaw Wu posted Monday. Wu says Verizon is going to pay to ensure the iPhone stays only with it and AT&T. Read more »
Research In Motion’s pick-up of The Astonishing Tribe should bring polish to the aging BlackBerry OS and improve the upcoming QNX platform. But RIM’s challenge will be losing as little ground as possible as it moves from one OS to the other. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Is an iPhone 4 on your holiday wish list? If yes, RadioShack has an attractive deal starting Saturday, Dec. 4. You instantly save $50 on the iPhone 4 and 3GS, but with trade-ins on your old device, that could climb as high as $175. Read more »
The iPhone and mobile shopping apps play a big role in holiday shopping, it turns out. How big? Mobile advertising network Moblix gives a good idea with its monthly infographic for December. The most impressive number? iPhone shopping app usage growth when compared to last year. Read more »
Skype is aggressively adding to its mobile engineering team, hiring 20-30 new iOS and Android developers. The move could mean Skype video chat is coming to mobile devices soon, as the company attempts to catch up to competing services like Tango and Apple’s FaceTime. Read more »
Skype has new competition on the iPhone platform thanks to Viber, a new VoIP app that allows iPhone-to-iPhone calling over 3G and Wi-Fi connections. The app is free, runs in the background, doesn’t have any ads and won’t charge you anything to make calls. Read more »
Mobile will play a bigger role than ever during the U.S. holiday season, according to IDC, helping to drive $127 billion in sales. So it’s crucial that retailers tackle a few key challenges to effectively target consumers on their ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Larva Labs, an Android developer which has chronicled many of the shortcomings of Android Market and the plight of its developers, finally sees some cause for hope. It comes from new monetization opportunities like alternative app stores, in-app purchases and the growing potential for ad revenue. Read more »
You want to badly share that photo of your cat wearing its pumpkin costume. It’s understandable. You’ve got an iPhone and Internet access, but which app best suits your needs? There’s recently been a mini-boom in social photo applications, so we’re breaking down the top contenders. Read more »
Apple announced the impending release of iOS 4.2 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The update will be available today through iTunes at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, or 1:00 p.m. Eastern. A new feature page has been posted at Apple’s site ahead of the release. Read more »
These days, the amount of content available for the average TV junkie is astronomical, and it’s the rare series that doesn’t bundle its episodes with an online presence. And though most television executives at this stage are relatively blunt about the fact that the web elements ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Three of the top U.S. carriers announced yesterday a plan to work together to enter the mobile payments realm, where they’ll go toe-to-toe with tech giants like Google and Apple. Sparks are bound to fly, but who will come out on top? Read more »
With version 3.2.1, Twitter’s mobile app for iOS devices brings push notifications, among other fixes and improvements. Push is a long-awaited update sure to excite tweeters everywhere. Previously, you had to utilize another app such as Boxcar to obtain real-time updates on Twitter happenings. Read more »
The official Google Voice App for iPhone is now available in the App Store, following the arrival of a number of third-party solutions. The app was originally submitted sometime in mid-2009, and pulled from sale by Apple, but was never officially accepted or rejected. Read more »
Audio podcasts have been around longer than their video counterparts. There are plenty of great Mac-related podcasts out there to choose from, but these are the ones that offer consistent quality and the best content. It’s a veritable feast of Apple news and information! Read more »
Network operators are once again pushing the idea of a “mobile wallet” in an effort to grab a slice of purchases for both virtual and physical goods. But they’d be wise to view themselves as an extension of existing payment systems — not as a ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The iOS 4.2 update could be delayed until at least next Tuesday, Nov. 16, according to a new report by iPhoneHellas. The new date contradicts earlier rumors that we would see the update arrive today, Nov. 12. Ample evidence suggests good reason for the delay. Read more »
More and more, web apps are becoming interconnected with one another. In general, of course, this is a very good thing, but it nonetheless introduces dependencies between these apps. And as more apps come to rely on one another to provide critical services in our day-to-day ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
