Samsung said it would answer Apple’s recent patent suit “actively,” using “appropriate legal measures” and it has made good on that promise. The South Korean electronics manufacturer filed suit in multiple cities. The complaints allege that Apple infringed on mobile communications tech patents held by Samsung. Read more »
Love it or hate it, Google’s Android platform continues to storm the mobile market with 350,000 device activations per day. That annual run rate now rivals all iOS devices sold by Apple in its first three years. Here’s a timeline of how Google accomplished it. Read more »
Google — already facing heat on accusations that it is exerting more control over its Android platform and stymieing competition in some cases — is dealing with new antitrust complaints from two Korean Internet companies that claim Google is blocking operators and manufacturers from pre-installing their search engines. Read more »
As a final part of our site rebranding, GigaOM’s mobile channel is now named Mobilize, in conjunction with our event of the same name. The fourth-annual Mobilize event this fall is expanding to two days, reflecting the growth of the mobile industry. Read more »
iOS is gaining back some ground on Android in smartphone market share, according to Millenial Media’s Mobile Mix report released Thursday. The report also found that Apple’s mobile platform is still the most lucrative for paid app developers by a considerable margin. Read more »
The pieces are falling into place for near field communications to take off over the next few years, according to a new forecast from Juniper Research, which estimated 1 in 5 smartphones will support the wireless technology by 2014 with 300 million NFC-capable devices available. Read more »
The white iPhone will be available for purchase by the end of April, according to Bloomberg. Three people “with knowledge of [Apple's] plans” told Bloomberg that the long-awaited white iPhone 4 will begin shipping in the next few weeks, following a lengthy 10-month delay. Read more »
When Cisco announced its decision to shut down its recently-acquired Flip portable camera division yesterday, I couldn’t help feeling that it was somewhat premature. In fact, it was actually my healthy stock of Apple devices and iOS apps that led me to feel this way. Read more »
The launch of the Playbook tablet is a big moment for Research In Motion boss Mike Lazaridis — his company’s attempt to take on the iPad. But the attention is all going the wrong way today, after the BBC revealed how he walked out of an interview. Read more »
With the launch of its first iPhone app today, 8tracks users can now listen to the company’s personally curated mixtape-style playlists on the go, but the company is also growing up. It’s raising capital, moving headquarters and hiring a full time staff. Read more »
For many merchants, the idea of NFC as a credit card replacement isn’t that much of an incentive, said Vivotech CEO Mike Mullagh. The real reason to get onboard with NFC is the promise of more one-to-one mobile marketing through NFC-enabled smartphones. Read more »
Managing and moving contacts from one phone to another is definitely easier in the smartphone era, but for some it can still be a challenge. Enter MoveMyContacts, a cloud service for contact transfers and backups. In my hands-on, I found it easy, effective and fast. Read more »
Within the next five years, smartphones will account for more than one-third of all handsets sold worldwide, thanks largely to platforms like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. This research covers the global handset platforms market for the period between 2011 and 2015. We first examine the factors contributing to this worldwide growth, from a slowly recovering economy to the rise of technologies like 4G and LTE. Regional factors affect growth, too, and our research includes a forecast for the following areas: the Americas; Europe; the Middle East and Africa; and Asia-Pacific. Forecasts are on a global and regional basis for the most important platforms: Android, Apple iOS, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Google, Nokia, Research in Motion and Microsoft. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
We’re down to the last 10 days of the U.S. tax season and that means many procrastinators are either panicking or are calmly filling out their extension form. This list of five mobile apps can help you quickly file or prepare your taxes before the deadline! Read more »
Appia, a white-label mobile application marketplace, announced $10 million in funding from Venrock today, brining total funding to $28.5 million. Casting a wider net with an app store builder may be the better play as opposed to raising millions for a single application. Read more »
A recent survey of 10,000 U.S. smartphone users shows a surprisingly limited amount of time spent on some mobile activities such as calendar use, weather and even taking photos. App developers would be wise to take note, since user engagement can boost revenues. Read more »
AT&T justified its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile this morning with three main points, spectrum, synergies and the public good. Against a background of incredible data growth, AT&T is ready to recreate a wireless duopoly that mirrors the wireline duopoly we have today. Read more »
AT&T said it will buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG, in deal valued at $39 billion. The deal points to the game of spectrum accumulation as operators prepare for the demand for mobile data and also will place Sprint between a rock and hard place. Read more »
The next generation of navigation chips for mobile phones may take advantage of Russia’s answer to GPS. Qualcomm, Broadcom and ST-Ericsson are reporteadly building GPS chips with support for Russia’s Glasnoss satellite system, which could improve location tracking inside devices, especially in urban areas. Read more »
Technological advancements have minimized the need for employees to be as physically present in a traditional office setting, and employee relationships now extend across different time zones and geographies. This paper discusses the future of work and the workplace in that context. We examine the shifting nature of actual workspaces, from four office walls to the online world; the emergence of new flexible hours that no longer require a nine-to-five mindset; the role of consumer-grade technologies such as iPads, smartphones and notebooks in the workplace; and what role cloud-based services such as Box.net, Huddle and Dropbox play. Companies mentioned in this report include Facebook, Apple, Google and Skype. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Need proof that smartphones are conquering the globe? Look no farther than the U.K., where the Office for National Statistics has begun factoring smartphones and the apps that run on them into its consumer spending data, as well as another high-tech addition. Read more »
What the CES or the Mobile World Congress is to gadgets, SXSW is to apps. I’m amazed by not only the number of apps that are launching, but by how prepared attendees are to try new apps out. Mobile-focused development has reached a tipping point. Read more »
We’ve had smartphones for a while and disasters for far longer. But the growth of smartphones has helped turn natural disasters like the Japan earthquake into far more personal, powerful and real-time events for both the victims on the ground and people consuming the news. Read more »
The heyday of the Sony Watchman, a portable TV with a crappy screen and even crappier battery life, may have never actually have dawned, but that’s not stopping the folks from the Open Mobile Video Coalition from pushing their hopes for mobile broadcast TV. Read more »
The race is on to see who can help enterprise customers secure and manage the emerging fleet of employee-bought smart devices. The latest entrant to the space is Enterproid, a start-up that has built an app environment for smartphones that partitions corporate data from personal information. Read more »
New LTE networks coming online around the world offer speed galore, but without the right devices, they won’t offer those speeds to many. Much like we had to wait for devices to take advantage of 3G mobile networks, LTE will face the same adoption curve. Read more »
Next week, the mobile-obsessed hordes will descend on Barcelona for the hottest tech show on Earth: the Mobile World Congress. For those who are staying behind and are worried about being overwhelmed, here are the five themes worth paying attention to during the show. Read more »
A year-and-a-half after an EU commission requested research into a universal phone charging standard, various telecommunications bodies around the globe have approved micro USB as the universal standard to charge data-enabled mobile phones. It’s good news, but even better is widespread support from handset makers all […] Read more »
2010 was the year of Android. That’s according to research firm Canalys, which reports that Google’s operating system eclipsed Symbian in the fourth quarter to become the top smartphone OS in the world by shipments. It caps a huge year of growth for Android. Read more »
The mobile web is growing rapidly, but in stark contrast to the pace of the mobile web’s growth, the speed at which it performs has lagged behind consumer expectations. The gap poses a great risk to mobile commerce sites, and those that rely on advertisements for revenue. Read more »
After dumping its mobile phone group in 2008, Lenovo bought it back for double in 2009. Now the company has formed a new Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group, just as computer sales are eclipsed by smartphones. Is it too late for Lenovo? Read more »
Globally, mobile broadband subscriptions are set to double in 2011, up to 1 billion from 500 million last year. This growth rate is increasing and it corresponds very highly to another growth rate: that of smartphone sales, which recently jumped 93 percent per year. Read more »
Android’s share of the mobile market might be growing rapidly, but if it really wants to generate Apple-style levels of consumer excitement, it could learn some lessons from the legion of iPhone copycats that are all the rage across China. Read more »
Two new data points from eBay and Scanbuy about the growth of mobile shopping suggest where things are ultimately headed: Deal-hungry users are increasingly going to put pressure on retailers, both online and offline, to change prices in real time to satisfy these more savvy buyers. Read more »
Imagine what the police could find out about you if they had the ability to search your phone and all it contains, from your browser and photo history to your Foursquare check-ins. Police in California now have the right to do this — without a warrant. Read more »
This week at the Consumer Electronics Show, we’re likely to see dozens of new tablets and smartphones from the usual suspects — and at least one surprise entrant. Vizio will show off a new 4-inch smartphone and 8-inch tablet, both of which are built around Google Android. Read more »
2010 was a year when our obsession with mobile went into overdrive. With Android facing off against iOS, the iPad emerging as a tablet leader and the app economy growing, we at GigaOM had a lot to write about. Here’s are our top 10 posts of 2010. Read more »
Once an isolated world dominated by network operators and their manufacturer partners, mobile is now a space where “outsiders” are some of the most powerful players. In 2010, companies like Google, Apple, MetroPCS, Huawei and Foursquare were among those who made the most impact in mobile ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As 2010 closes out, it’s time took forward and see what advancements in mobile technology and gadgets that 2011 will bring. ARM chips will still dominate, and Android will keep closing the usability gap with Apple’s iOS but will tablets be the talk of the town? Read more »
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 »
