Wireless

Last week, Fring’s activation of mobile-data video calling on the iPhone annoyed Skype so much that the firm decided to remove itself from the service altogether. We’ve therefore compiled a list of the five top mobile apps that will let you use your Skype account on your mobile device.

The holidays came early to my desk this week as by some stroke of genius and luck not one, but two brand new mobile devices landed in my lap. I should probably say in reality that it’s more like 1.5 devices as they are both a version of Samsung’s Galaxy S model, one from AT&T Mobility and one from T-Mobile USA.

While most of America may be going gaga for Apple’s antenns this morning, other (possibly more sensible) Murkins are focusing their hype on the new Motorola Droid X smartphone, resulting in its complete sell out from retail stores on its first day of sale and clogging Verizon’s phone activation infrastructure.

RCR’s intrepid reporter, Matt Kapko, has made it across the moat into castle Cupertino, and is waiting with baited breath, with the hordes of other assembled press, to see what this morning’s press conference brings.

Ovi store developers are certainly a surly bunch, with more than half of them unhappy with the way the Finnish phonemaker runs its app shop.

The Chinese have launched a British invasion, as ZTE announced the launch of its first Android powered device – the Racer – on the UK’s 3 network.

Doubtless trying to prove Steve Jobs right in his analysis that the iPhone’s antenna problems are a software rather than a hardware issue, Apple has today released a slightly updated version of its iOS operating system before the firm’s press conference tomorrow.

Google’s Android army continues to march onwards unabated, passing the 100,000 app mark this week according to data from AndroidLib.

VoIP continues to gain traction with carriers and push into mainstream, with Jajah announcing Thursday it was launching its IP-based long distance call service with Telefónica Europe across Europe under O2’s banner.

Microsoft appears to have grown itself a sense of humor, with the firm’s COO Kevin Turner declaring in a speech at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference that Apple’s iPhone 4 “might be their Vista,” owing to the plethora of problems the device faces.

Facebook wants to reduce the “signal to noise” ratio in your mobile life according to the firm’s head of mobile products, Eric Tseng.

Apple today announced it will be holding an iPhone 4 press conference this Friday and, as you would expect, the speculation about what the firm has to say is mounting.

Speaking at MobileBeat in San Francisco this week, Samsung’s Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Omar Khan implied that smartphonese were passé, noting this year was the year of the superphone.

With worldwide market-share for smartphones constantly growing, it may seem to some that dependable old feature phones are being neglected, but a change in terminology could soon see feature phones getting smarter – on paper anyway.

“PCs will soon seem very archaic,” said Trevett, whose firm currently relies on the PC market to make a living. “Mobile computing is the future. Mobile is the web, the web is mobile, the two are really integral,” he continued.

Motorola is betting on Android, RIM says its “ridiculous growth” proves people like Blackberry just fine as it is, and Yahoo is unsure whether or not tablets are mobile devices, according to a panel this morning at MobileBeat 2010 in San Francisco

Flashing his 750 million dollar smile on stage at MobileBeat 2010, Admob’s Omar Hamoui coyly discussed how it had felt to be courted by both Google and Apple, the potential implications of an Apple block on the firm’s mobile ads and what contingencies were in place to cope with that eventualit