Mobile

After struggling throughout 2009, mobile phone maker HTC is eyeing an upturn in sales this year, though profit margins are still likely to be down.

Earlier this month, HTC announced a 31 percent drop in fourth quarter 2009 earnings to 5.6 billion Taiwan dollars ($175 million) from 8 billion ($250 million) in 2008's final quarter. Sales fell 13.2 percent to 41 billion Taiwan dollars ($1.28 billion) from 47.3 billion ($1.48 billion) the same quarter in 2008. Results were reportedly hurt by heavy spending on marketing as HTC aggressively tried to promote itself and its … Read more

Google is working on a software fix that should improve some 3G network problems Nexus One owners have reported, the company said Monday.

"Our engineers have uncovered specific cases for which a software fix should improve connectivity to 3G for some users," said a Google employee named Ivan in a Google Nexus One help forum. "We are testing this fix now, initial results are positive, and if everything progresses as planned, we will provide an over-the-air software update to your phone in the next week or so."

However, he cautioned, the fix won't address all … Read more

A $3 billion charge for workforce reductions hit Verizon Communications' bottom line in the fourth quarter, despite strong growth in wireless.

On Tuesday, the telecommunications giant said it added more than 2.2 million mobile subscribers to its network. About 1.2 million were retail customers and about 1 million came from reseller partners. Analysts had expected Verizon to sign up just over 1 million new subscribers.

Despite strong wireless sales, Verizon reported an overall net loss for the fourth quarter due to charges associated with employee layoffs. It posted a net loss of $653 million, or 23 cents per … Read more

Smartphone customers and the bandwidth-hungry applications they're using have forced wireless carriers to accelerate their plans for big upgrades as they move toward the next iteration of their networks.

The biggest challenge these wireless operators will face is making sure they have enough capacity in a part of their networks known as backhaul to feed the hungry appetites of wireless data customers.

In short, this ongoing effort is meant to ensure smartphone customers, today and in the future, aren't as routinely annoyed as some iPhone customers say they have been over the past year.

"Backhaul is at … Read more

Google and China disagree about censorship of Web search results, but a spokesman for China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Wednesday that phones using Google's Android operating system are permissible.

"As long as it fulfills Chinese laws and regulations and has good communication with telecom operators, I think its application should not have restrictions," said Zhu Hongren, the spokesman at a news briefing, according to the Associated Press.

Of course, China permitted Google's Web search service, too, as long as it complied with the law. But those terms ultimately proved objectionable to Google, … Read more

Google's Android is expected to take the smartphone market by storm in the next few years, growing faster than all its competitors, according to an IDC report published Monday.

Android is expected to be the fastest growing wireless operating system from now until 2013, when the software will be the second most used smartphone operating system throughout the world, the report said.

Today, the Symbian operating system, used mostly on Nokia phones, dominates the smartphone operating system market worldwide. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion holds the No.2 spot currently, with Apple in the No.3 spot globally.

The … Read more

Motorola has joined Eastman Kodak in asking U.S. authorities to ban imports of BlackBerry devices, in a dispute over patents.

On Friday, Motorola said it had filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is infringing on five Motorola patents with its products. According to Motorola, RIM used to have a license for the technology in question, but that licensing deal expired in 2007.

The news comes a week after Kodak filed its own complaint with the ITC, claiming that RIM is violating its patent for color image previewing and … Read more

Ericsson it is cutting 1,500 jobs from among its 80,000 global employees, the wireless equipment maker said Monday.

The company reported on Friday a huge downturn in fourth quarter and full-year 2009 earnings. For the quarter ended December, Ericsson saw its net earnings plummet 92 percent to 314 million million kronor ($43.4 million dollars), compared with the year-ago quarter. Sales dropped 13 percent to 58.3 billion kronor from the year-ago quarter.

For all of 2009, Ericsson's earnings were down 67 percent to 3.7 billion kronor ($512 million). Annual sales survived, though, falling only 1 … Read more

Google updated on Friday its Voice extension for Chrome, allowing people to call numbers directly from the browser. If you love Google or hate retyping phone numbers, this one's for you.

One of the great things about upgrading to a smartphone years ago was that all numbers were links. The updated Voice extension for Chrome allows for a similar streamlining in your browser.

The extension basically just turns phone numbers into clickable links, eliminating the need to cut and paste them across windows. It also adds a phone icon to Chrome, letting you quickly place calls and choose the … Read more