Developers of applications for Google Inc.'s Android platform will finally be able to start charging for their offerings.The Internet giant said programmers can now submit paid applications to Android Market in the United States and United Kingdom. U.S. users will be able to buy...
European mobile software company Esmertec AG announced plans to acquire rival Purple Labs SA. The deal will create a new business under the name of Myriad Group AG that will include a client list supporting most major phone manufacturers and 30 mobile network operators....
Sun Microsystems Inc. is hoping to bridge the gap between smartphones and feature phones with a new platform targeting mid- and lower-end devices.The Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer unveiled the mobile version of JavaFX, an offering designed to run atop Java ME (Mobile Edition) as...
When it comes to mobile in the enterprise, presence is the buzzword. Just like it was three years ago.Presence - a vaguely defined term referring to the ability to determine the availability and whereabouts of others - was a key feature in the early...
Google Inc. is targeting carriers and third-party mobile Web publishers with a new embeddable search box.The developer quietly rolled out "AdSense for mobile search," which enables portals to place a Google-branded search box on their sites. Results are delivered through Google's engine and automatically...
Microsoft Corp.'s ActiveSync technology is behind Google Inc.'s latest mobile synching offering.The Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet giant on Monday rolled out Google Sync., a feature that allows users with iPhones and Windows Mobile devices to exchange Gmail and Google Calendar information between phones and...
The LiMo Foundation continues to make strides as it announced updates to its open platform, notched six new operators to deliver handsets and added two new directors to its board.NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone said they are committed to...
Google Inc. launched a mobile version of its book search offering, enabling users with devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and T-Mobile USA Inc.'s G1 to access more than 1.5 million works.The online giant said it formats the titles by extracting text from the...
Sales of GPS-enabled mobile phone are expected to buck the global trend of handset shipment declines this year, according to a report from ABI Research.And even though the market is expected to feel a pinch this year, unit sales of GPS-enabled phones should grow...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Mobile application retailer Handmark announced a deal to acquire FreeRange Communications, a Portland, Ore.-based mobile technology firm, for an undisclosed amount.FreeRange offers a publishing platform designed to help media companies and content owners to create branded, downloadable smartphone applications. The company also offers mobile...
Google Inc. is jumping headfirst into the location-aware social networking space.The Internet titan unveiled Latitude, a Google Maps feature that allows users to share their location information and check the whereabouts of friends who opt to divulge that information. The offering is integrated with...
The land rush is on for the new .tel domain. The question is, why?The U.K.-based firm Telnic is hoping to create a "phone book for the Internet" with the new top-level domain, providing a place where companies can join a global directory and allow...
Smartphones are no longer the exclusive domain of high-powered executives and road warriors. But what that means for the mobile e-mail space - which seems perennially on the verge of reaching a tipping point - has yet to be determined.Handset manufacturers and application developers...
Motorola Inc. today posted a $3.6 billion loss for the fourth quarter, down from $100 million earned in the year-ago quarter. The news - and weaker than expected guidance on the current quarter - sent the ailing company's stock tumbling more than 11% in...
Bebo launched a program designed to help operators, handset manufacturers and mobile application developers to reach its 50 million registered users.The social networking site - which was acquired by AOL last year for $850 million - unveiled Bebo Open Mobile, a suite of tools...
The fourth-quarter slugfest between Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry Storm, HTC Corp's G1 and Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3G - all heavily subsidized and marketed exclusives - reflected several major currents running through the consumer-based wireless industry. Carriers need to drive data usage to pay...
The short-term forecast for the handset market calls for pain and belt-tightening, no matter which market analysis you favor. And those analyses range from pretty harsh to very harsh. "We expect the first quarter of 2009 to be the absolute volume bottom in the...
Businesses in nearly every industry seem to be adopting a bunker mentality and shedding workers in an effort to weather an increasingly brutal economic storm. But wireless software developers are more bullish than ever on their industry.Evans Data last week released a report indicating...
With full fourth-quarter results in for the top two U.S. wireless providers, one thing is clear, Apple Inc.'s iPhone is still playing a large role in AT&T Mobility's success. The carrier posted 2.1 million net adds during the fourth quarter and 1.9 million 3G...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.The concept of open wireless networks is not new. In fact, an obligation to support "reselling" was...
The U.S. mobile imaging market is expected to generate more than $500 million in revenues in 2013, according to a new report form research firm Parks Associates.The company said it believes the mobile imaging market will grow beyond photo-sharing services to include personalized content...
No one can miss the dark clouds streaming overhead, but analysts say that without the expected growth in smartphone sales, those clouds might blot out the sun altogether. Handset sales, of course, drive chip sales, and most analysts have been revising their forecasts downward...