Mobile

Samsung will withdraw support for the Symbian platform and will close its Symbian developer facilities by the end of the year.

The announcement, made yesterday in a post on the Samsung Mobile Innovator site, said the developer lab will be closing its doors on October 29, followed by the closure of the Samsung Symbian forums on December 30.

Samsung said all forum and development content will be removed on December 31 and that outstanding questions should be posted before December 10. As well as removing the forums on New Year's Eve, Samsung said that day would be the last … Read more

Internet provider Earthlink announced today that it has agreed to buy regional telecommunications carrier ITC Deltacom.

To complete the merger, Earthlink will pay $516 million in cash, but that includes $325 million in Deltacom debt.

As a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), Deltacom provides voice and data telecommunications services to the Southeast. The company owns most of its 16,400-mile fiber-optic network and serves around 32,000 small and medium-sized businesses, government agencies, and enterprise customers.

Through the acquisition, Earthlink said it's looking to combine its ISP and IP businesses with Deltacom's communications operations to offer customers a … Read more

Google's answer to Apple's App Store, the Android Market, is about to open in many more countries around the world.

According to Google, the Android Market is on its way to 18 more countries--including Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia, and Sweden--bringing the total to 32 countries. Google said that developers who have already made their applications available to "All Locations" will not need to change that status for their programs to be available to the new customers.

Android Market users will likely also find more apps in the store, thanks to Google's decision to allow developers … Read more

When it comes to wireless services, sometimes unlimited doesn't really mean unlimited.

Wireless is a competitive business, and sometimes operators say almost anything to get consumers to sign up for their service. Over the last few years, outraged customers have forced wireless carriers to stop throwing around the "unlimited" term so freely. As a result, a lot of mobile broadband services note in fine print that they are not, in fact, "unlimited."

But what if you truly want to pay for an unlimited data service? Do any even exist? I have answered this very question … Read more

Browser usage statistics for September provide a look at who's gaining clout on the Web: Google's Chrome, twin mobile powerhouses Apple iOS and Google Android, and Microsoft's IE9.

Google's Chrome browser continued its steady rise in usage on NetApplications' network of thousands of Web sites, which get tens of millions of visits monthly, increasing from 7.5 percent in August to 8 percent in September, the analytics firm said.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer remains the top-ranked browser, but its share dipped back below 60 percent, sinking from 60.4 percent to 59.7 percent. Second-place Firefox was essentially flat at 23 percent. Apple's Safari rose a tenth of a point to 5.3 percent. Opera kept its 2.4 percent share.

Chrome is a rising force, a fact that's very useful for Google's ambitions. Not only does it help spread the Google brand, but it also serves as a vehicle to disseminate Google technologies. For example, on Thursday, Google said it will add support for its new WebP image format to Chrome in an effort to speed browser graphics. And it's working to improve the browser: Chrome 7 is getting Google Instant search abilities, some hardware acceleration, and WebGL 3D graphics support by default. … Read more

The latest attempt to introduce Net neutrality legislation has stalled in a House of Representatives committee after a prominent Republican declined to support the proposal.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the senior Republican on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he would not support a Net neutrality proposal put forth earlier this week by Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)

Waxman introduced a proposal for Net neutrality that would have prohibited wired broadband providers from "unjustly or unreasonably" discriminating against legal Web traffic. The proposal was very similar to one that was put forth by Verizon Wireless and Google last month. … Read more

Sprint Nextel executives have stepped down from their posts as Clearwire board members, Clearwire said Thursday. The move could clear the way for other investors in Clearwire, which is currently building a nationwide 4G wireless network.

Clearwire said today that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and two other top Sprint executives--Keith Cowan and Steven Elfman--have resigned from Clearwire's board of directors. The company will name temporary members to the board. There are four Clearwire board members Sprint previously appointed who are remaining on the board.

Clearwire is a joint venture among several big companies. Sprint is the largest stakeholder owning … Read more

A project between Intel and Korea Telecom is aiming to turn South Korea into the first country with nationwide WiMax coverage.

The two companies announced today the expansion of their effort to roll out WiMax-based high-speed Internet service throughout South Korea.

Currently available in Seoul, Inchon, and Suwon, the expanded service will reach five new cities as of tomorrow--Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Ulsan--and also cover the expressways of Gyeongbu, Jungbu, Honam, and Yeongdong.

The expanded service, dubbed a "mobile wonderland" by Korea Telecom, will offer a "3W" network, so named because it will consist of … Read more

Nokia announced today that it has begun shipping its new and long-awaited N8 smartphone.

The phone's availability will vary by country and carrier, but customers who preordered online or through a Nokia retail store will be the first in line to get the N8, the company said. A broader rollout will also take place over the coming weeks.

As Nokia's first smartphone running the new Symbian 3 operating system, the N8 has been highly anticipated and, according to the company, has captured the largest number of preorders in Nokia history. Consumers have been able to preorder the new phone … Read more