Nokia is back with another music service in the U.S. and this time, it’s completely ad-free and no cost. Lumia 710 and 900 device owners can grab it now from the Windows Phone Marketplace to start streaming or customizing their playlists; even when offline. Read more »
ZTE and Motorola indicated that they are making Intel-powered smartphones. Samsung announced the Microsoft Windows 8 powered ATIV-S phones, beating Nokia to the punch. These are first signs of PC-business behemoths trying hard to find relevance in a mobile-first world of Apple, Google and Qualcomm. Read more »
First up in this week’s audio podcast: Apple’s landslide court victory over Samsung and what it could mean to Android. Next, some impressions of the Galaxy Note 10.1 and thoughts on some upcoming events and potential device announcements, plus the slick features in Sony’s new Reader. Read more »
After mainly sitting out from offering cutting-edge Windows Phone handsets, Verizon Wireless appears to be ready to help Microsoft and Nokia: The largest U.S. carrier is expected — possibly in a few weeks — to launch a Nokia smartphone running the newest version of Windows Phone this year. Read more »
Overall handset sales slumped last quarter as consumers face economic challenges or are waiting for newer phone models. But Android keeps outpacing iOS devices while handsets from Research In Motion and Nokia continue to drop, although Windows Phone is showing signs of sales life. Read more »
A Nokia Conversations survey suggests the U.S. alone prefers touchscreen devices for input while the rest of the world still wants a QWERTY keyboard. That’s ironic as touchscreens dominate the market and Nokia opted for numeric keypads in lieu of QWERTY for so long. Read more »
Despite its current decline, RIM is a different firm today than it was in 2007, with new management, a full awareness of its shaky position, an upcoming OS release and a number of lingering advantages that can still be leveraged. Here’s how it just might survive. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
With the growth of sensors and microelectronics, the potential uses of wearable-computing technologies now reach to health and fitness, gaming, fashion, disabilities and augmented reality. Most importantly, the widespread adoption of wearables will drive the form function and market for mobiles in vital ways. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
With billions in losses coming each quarter, it feels as if Nokia’s living on borrowed time. While many people expect Microsoft to step in and purchase the struggling Finnish handset giant, that may be unlikely. So here are five ways it might turn things around. Read more »
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In this week’s audio podcast, Matt and Kevin share hands-on insights with the Galaxy S III, Nexus 7 tablet and Nokia PureView 808 phone. Plus some impressions of Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean: It’s sweet! Plus some thoughts on the $99 Motorola Atrix HD. Read more »
Starting Sunday, AT&T is offering Nokia’s Lumia 900 smartphone in a new color and a lower price for all models. The Lumia 900 is now available for $49 .99 with contract. For these 3 reasons, the new pink version and a cheaper line-up won’t matter much. Read more »
After Nokia axed development of its semi-secret Meltemi operating system, hundreds of workers in Ulm, Germany, found themselves jobless. Now they’ve set up a ‘talent and job offer’ campaign to hawk around their services. Read more »
On this week’s audio podcast, Matt and Kevin offer early hands-on impressions of iOS 6 and a discuss the pros and cons of Verizon’s new Share Everything plans. Matt’s Kobo Vox turns into a full Android tablet this week while Kevin is loving his new ChromeBook. Read more »
Google has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft and Nokia and is also tattling on the companies with U.S. regulators, accusing them patent-troll-like behavior. The good thing about filing a complaint with the EC is Google doesn’t have to do the legwork. Read more »
Nokia has launch the Lumia 610 at a low, £15 per month price point with service in the UK. It’s not high performing hardware, but Windows Phone runs well on meager silicon. The bigger issue is limited memory, which means some top tier apps are incompatible. Read more »
Adding smartphones to the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s review of cell phone makers this year revealed that customers who buy plain old feature phones for calling and texting are generally happier with the product than their smartphone-owning counterparts. Apple is an exception. Read more »
Nokia is launching its Reading app and e-bookstore for the Lumia Windows Phone in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK. In doing so, the company hopes to bring more local-language e-books to countries where e-readers haven’t yet taken off. Read more at paidContent »
Apple’s controversial nano-SIM card design is on display at CTIA in New Orleans this week. Reports indicate that the European telecom standards group that Apple has offered its design to royalty free, is currently voting on whether to choose it or a competing design from Nokia. Read more »
A New York plaintiff has filed a class action lawsuit against Nokia and its CEO and CFO, alleging that they deceived the market by issuing false claims about how well the company’s migration to Windows Phone was going. Read more »
Nokia filed claims against HTC, Research In Motion and Viewsonic in both the U.S. and Germany, saying that 45 Nokia patents were infringed. Why are the mobile patent wars raging? Major innovation is slowing down in this market; now the battles are in the courts. Read more »
Microsoft”s $300 million investment in Barnes & Noble’s Nook business gives it a piece of an ebook reader also-ran. But this is far from the first time Microsoft enlisted a B list ally to attack a recalcitrant market. Read more »
Eighty-five percent of the global population owns mobile phones. This report forecasts the global handset market, examining the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia-Pacific. Drivers include an increased number of subscribers in developing countries and the rollout of 3G and 4G wireless networks. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Smartphone sales surged both in the U.S. and worldwide, carriers struggled to cope with the ever-increasing consumption of mobile data, and the fight for spectrum remained front and center in the first quarter. Our latest quarterly wrap-up analyzes these trends and more. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In attempting to showcase its rich history of NFC, Nokia has actually managed to outline everything that’s gone wrong with the company over the past few years. Will it ever really understand what’s happened to it? Read more »
Nokia still has a long road to return to prominence: the company sold 2 million Lumia handsets in the first quarter of 2012, but it is lowering guidance. Nokia says it faces “competitive industry dynamics” even though its new Windows Phone handsets are gaining momentum. Read more »
Eight Symbian handsets gained Microsoft Office support on Tuesday. There’s no question that Microsoft’s software — both Windows Phone and Office — are helping Nokia manage a transition to the modern smartphone age. But is Symbian’s death greatly exaggerated or is it a Plan B? Read more »
The Nokia Lumia 900 is AT&T’s “hero” phone, the carrier tells me; a highly regarded status essentially owned by Apple’s iPhone since 2007. Might this be a true Windows Phone flagship device in the U.S.? After a week of using it, I think so. Read more »
The mobile communications management platform takes almost all the functionality of the phone and puts it, along with a scary amount of insights data, into a desktop or tablet’s HTML5 browser. Read more »
In this week’s mobile tech audio podcast, Matt and Kevin share hands on impressions with 2 LTE devices: the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Tab 7.7. Plus thoughts on RIM, Apple’s new iPad, and Nokia’s Lumia 900 along with a free task manager for Windows Phone handsets. Read more »
All this talk about how much money Google may or may not have made off of Android misses the point. Google’s decision to enter the mobile operating system battle wasn’t primarily about money — it was about ensuring competition in the next great personal computer market. Read more »
The year of denial is over at Research in Motion. In a frank and overdue conversation with investors Thursday, new CEO Thorsten Heins finally admitted that the situation was dire and that “substantial change” is needed. Does he have enough time to effect that change? Read more »
Nokia is escalating its objections to Apple leading the way on how future SIM cards are designed. In an official statement Wednesday, the Finnish handset maker warned that it would not license any of its own patents necessary to an Apple-designed nano-SIM card. Read more »
Hot Berlin startup Amen has got plenty of hype for building a simple app that lets you say if things are good or bad. But fresh money and major new additions — including deep integration with Facebook and iTunes — could make it a whole lot more useful. Read more »
AT&T will launch the Nokia Lumia 900 with LTE on April 8 for $99 with a two-year plan commitment. At this price, the Nokia hardware powered by Microsoft’s software and AT&T’s 4G network could go a long way towards restoring Nokia and Microsoft’s smartphone brands. Read more »
UPDATED: Angry Birds Space is another huge hit for Rovio who said Thursday is won’t be building a version for Windows Phone, according to Peter Vesterbacka, the chief marketing officer of Rovio. Rovio, however, reversed course Friday and said they would develop a WP7 app. Read more »
Nokia’s Lumia smartphone line is expected to launch in China on March 28. China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile will all reportedly sell Nokia Lumia handsets; combined, these three operators have nearly 1 billion subscribers; a huge opportunity both for Nokia and for Microsoft. Read more »
The audio file is no longer the product when it comes to digital music. Instead, the experiences built around it are, and services like Spotify, Facebook, Topspin and others are leading the way into this new era of dynamic, interactive and social music. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
TextPlus, maker of the popular TextPlus communications apps, is betting on Windows Phone 7 over BlackBerry. The company released its TextPlus messaging app on Windows Phone and expects to roll out its TextPlus Free Calls VoIP companion app in the first half of this year. Read more »
The industry has moved beyond starry-eyed soothsaying about a world of 50 billion connected devices to start talking about how these mammoth networks of objects and appliances would actually work and how they would be managed. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
