Topic: The other smartphones
Are there other smart phones?
No, really...When one product successfully generates so much enthusiasm, buzz, and desire, it's difficult to go back to giving your attention to something else. Apple, RIM, and Microsoft (with Windows Mobile) somehow managed to create a very wide opening that Palm was only too eager and willing to capitalize upon. So what's happening with everyone else in this game?
After last week's rollout of plans to re-launch a line-up of Nuvifone smart phones -- this time together with Eee maker Asus -- GPS specialist Garmin has teamed with its partner on a new Web site for Nuvifone.
Posted February 12, 2009, 4:29 PM ET
Over the weekend, LG corroborated industry rumblings about the rollout of a potential iPhone rival at Mobile World Congress (MWC), also claiming that the Arena's 3D "S-Class" interface will set it apart from all others.
Posted February 9, 2009, 11:05 AM ET
Of Microsoft's anticipated "Sky"-prefixed services: SkyMarket, SkyLine, and Skybox, which are all cloud-based services for Windows Mobile consumption, Skybox has made an advance appearance, but with the title Microsoft My Phone beta. The My Phone service, which is located at getskybox.com (link currently inactive), will be a cloud sync tool similar to the one used natively by Android with Google services or MobileMe on the iPhone. Contacts, calendar information, emails and texts, photos, music, and video can all be synched between the Windows Mobile 6+ device and the related Windows Live service. Microsoft will be premiering the free service at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain next week.
Posted February 6, 2009, 1:34 PM ET
GPS maven Garmin has re-announced intentions to launch GPS-enabled mobile phones, and this time around, the rollout is planned with Eee maker Asus for later this month in Barcelona.
Posted February 6, 2009, 10:58 AM ET
Yesterday, after Orange lost its appeal to retain its position as the exclusive iPhone carrier in France, complainant rival mobile operator Bouygues Télécom was reportedly ready to move on and start offering its own iPhone deals.
Posted February 5, 2009, 10:25 AM ET
Whether or not they're being overly optimistic, 94% of corporate developers expect wireless application development to either stay the same or rise over the year ahead, despite the economy. Forty percent more of the developers plan to focus on Windows Mobile than on Apple's iPhone, and 46% more will focus on the .NET Compact Framework than on Google's Android, say the newly released results of an Evans Data Survey.
Posted February 3, 2009, 1:14 PM ET
Despite a rash of reports to the contrary, Dell isn't necessarily about to take a long rumored step into the smartphone market any time soon, and here are five reasons why.
Posted February 2, 2009, 5:56 PM ET
In the face of a gloomy financial report expected on Tuesday, some analysts are voicing concerns that Motorola's previously announced strategy of focusing more on high-end phones can remain viable. Last fall, then recently appointed Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha rolled out a company restructuring that cut Motorola's number of supported smartphone platforms to two: Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Google's Android.
But as recently reported in Betanews, Motorola recently added 70 workers at its Windows Mobile unit in Plantation, FL to a tally of 4,000 job cuts announced earlier in January. Pink slips also went out in January to long-time Mobile Devices vice presidents Yvonne Verse and Tracey Koziol, according to a report today in The Wall Street Journal, which cited "people familiar with the situation."
Posted February 2, 2009, 12:24 PM ET
Like Acer, number two computer company Dell is expected to unveil its long-rumored smartphone products at GSMA in Barcelona on February 16. According to Wall Street Journal reports, Dell has been working for over a year on Android and Windows Mobile devices and will have prototypes to show off at the convention, one of which is a touchphone, the other a slider of some sort. Details remain scant, but when Dell enters the smartphone business it will mean all of the US top five computer manufacturers will be represented in the mobile handset sector.
Posted January 30, 2009, 9:04 AM ET
Although details are evidently still non-existent, Apple has intimated that the next generation of its iPhone smartphone might be known as the iPhone 2.1
A look inside the Apple's iPhone 2.x Firmware has shown developers a clear reference to a hardware model dubbed the "iPhone2.1." The same iPhone 2.x Firmware also describes Apple's original iPhone as the "iPhone1.1" and the current iPhone 3G as the "iPhone1.2."
The leap from 1.x to 2.x nomenclature is seen by some as an indication that the next generation of Apple's smartphone will represent a big upgrade beyond the 3G.
Posted January 29, 2009, 2:43 PM ET
With the advent of Apple's iPhone 3G, HTC's Android-based G1, and a lot of other smartphones, 2008 might look on the surface like a good year for this particular genre of mobile device. But that's only a half-truth, says a report released today by the ABI Research analyst group.
Posted January 29, 2009, 12:59 PM ET
On Wednesday, Qualcomm -- like every other company that can afford two sheets of paper for a quarterly earnings report -- said that though economic times are bad, the company is well-positioned to be even stronger when things look up.
Posted January 29, 2009, 5:39 AM ET
An invitation to Acer's press conference at GSMA in Barcelona on February 16 confirms that the third largest PC manufacturer will be entering the smartphone market.
Acer's Gianfranco Lanci talked about the company's plans for launching a Windows Mobile smartphone last year, after the company announced that it was acquiring Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer E-TEN.
Posted January 28, 2009, 9:31 AM ET
Under the NSA's Secure Mobile Environment/Portable Electronic Device (SME PED) program, President Obama will have two candidates to choose from: the Sectera Edge and the L-3 Guardian.
Posted January 27, 2009, 2:11 PM ET
Last week, Motorola told the State of Florida that it's handing out 77 pink slips in Plantation, FL, only about a week after its mid-January announcement of 4,000 job layoffs company-wide. Motorola also intends to shut down all Windows Mobile development in Plantation. Earlier, a Motorola executive in Spain told European press that Motorola intended to tail down production on Symbian devices this year so as to focus on a new family of Android phones for the 2009 holiday season.
Even last year, Motorola had already announced plans to build some sort of Android device in 2009, although details remained hazy. With Motorola now in dire financial straits, and a still economically thriving Google readying a multitouch interface for Android, speculation is rampant that Motorola will now embrace Android as its only smartphone platform, to the exclusion of both Windows and Symbian.
Posted January 26, 2009, 7:25 PM ET
RIM CEO Jim Balsillie may wish he'd stuck to texting and gesturing last week. A statement to the press that buggy new hardware is just a fact of life isn't engendering much love from consumers who invested hundreds in that "new reality."
Posted January 26, 2009, 6:44 PM ET
As part of a bigger push into the United States, Nokia launched the E63, 7510 and 1006 phones at CES this week, while also giving a North American showing of the N97.
Posted January 12, 2009, 8:54 AM ET
If you go down the list of what you've been dazzled by so far from CES this week, just how many of those items have any association with the Windows Mobile operating system? Don't think we haven't noticed, either.
Posted January 10, 2009, 12:06 AM ET
As expected, Verizon Wireless on Friday announced the completion of its purchase of Alltel, pushing it past AT&T as the largest wireless carrier in the United States. Rebranding of Alltel will begin in Q2 and last through Q3 of 2009.
Posted January 9, 2009, 5:17 PM ET
At CES, RIM is introducing a smartphone touted as the thinnest full-QWERTY BlackBerry to date. The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is one of several new phones from various vendors now being added to T-Mobile's US network.
Posted January 9, 2009, 9:56 AM ET
For the first time in the United States, mobile phone users can now download a "lite" version of Skype that can be used for making calls to other Skype members and to landline and mobile phones at a low rate.
Posted January 8, 2009, 10:30 PM ET
Sling Media has released a beta version of its SlingPlayer Mobile software for BlackBerry smartphones, currently supporting six devices.
Posted January 8, 2009, 9:59 PM ET
Touch Revolution, a year-old California company that specializes in custom touch-based devices is showing off a desktop Google Android device similar to one that will be released nationwide through service providers later this year.
Posted January 8, 2009, 6:02 PM ET
At CES today, HTC is announcing another mobile phone for T-Mobile's US wireless network. Unlike HTC's G1, the new phone isn't Android-based.
Posted January 8, 2009, 5:43 PM ET
At the CES Unveiled press event tonight, Novatel Wireless gave a first look at MiFi, a pocket-sized WiFi hotspot for connecting up to five users in a local area to the Internet over a cellular connection.
Posted January 6, 2009, 10:57 PM ET
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