Mobile

So turns out Google didn't cancel the Beijing event at which it planned to evangelize its new Nexus One Android smartphone. It couldn't cancel because the company had never arranged to hold an Android event in Beijing in the first place.

Asked to comment on a Reuters report claiming Google's roadshow was skipping the Chinese capital, a company spokesperson told me that the report is erroneous.

"The reports are incorrect," she said. "There was not a Nexus One launch event scheduled in Beijing. Google is hosting 3 Android Developer Labs in Asia over the … Read more

Global sales of mobile phones dipped slightly in 2009 overall but did stage a fourth-quarter recovery, according to new figures from Gartner.

Last year, consumers worldwide bought 1.21 billion cell phones, a 0.9 percent decline from the prior year. However, a surge in smartphones from the likes of Apple and Research In Motion and in low-end devices boosted fourth-quarter sales to 340 million units, an 8.3 percent gain over the fourth quarter of 2008, the market researcher said Tuesday.

Selling prices also took a hit last year. Intense competition forced cell phone manufacturers to keep prices low, … Read more

Do you check your e-mail while driving or during an "intimate moment?" If so, you may be one of many e-mail addicts.

E-mail addiction is causing people to engage in risky or inappropriate behavior, according to a study conducted by Osterman Research and commissioned by Neverfail. Released on Wednesday, the second annual "Mobile Messaging Study" surveyed employees at businesses to learn about their e-mail habits.

The study found that 95 percent of those questioned check their business e-mail outside of work, 78 percent while in the bathroom and 11 percent during "intimate moments." (The … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Mobile operators at the GSM Association's Mobile World Congress here this week are happy to offer subscribers access to as many application stores as they can. But they still want some say in the apps offered on their networks, and they want a cut of the action.

Instead of creating and distributing mobile applications themselves to their subscribers, mobile operators are increasingly adding access to multiple wireless stores on their devices. In many ways, the switch makes mobile operators look more like owners of a shopping center, while device makers, operating system developers, and other third parties own … Read more

The head of the FCC sees high-speed Internet as vital to our nation's growth and is looking for even higher speeds within the next 10 years.

Speaking before the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) on Tuesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski discussed the need for broadband Internet and the impending National Broadband Plan, which the FCC is due to present to Congress next month. National broadband is a priority for the Obama administration, considered key to creating jobs, increasing investment, and improving access to education and health care.

Pointing out that the United States ranks far behind several … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Google CEO Eric Schmidt extended an olive branch to wireless-network operators as he took the stage Tuesday afternoon here at the GSM Association's Mobile World Congress.

Schmidt delivered his speech hours after the CEO of the world's largest mobile operator, Vodafone, suggested in his own keynote address that Google was getting too powerful in the mobile value chain. Earlier in the day, Vittorio Colao warned the telecommunications industry that companies controlling 70 percent to 80 percent of a market, such as Google in mobile search, should raise the attention of regulators.

Schmidt, whose company has had a … Read more

Many of us take broadband Internet access for granted. But a new government survey paints a different picture of the nation.

In a survey of more than 100,000 people in more than 50,000 households across the U.S., 40 percent reported no broadband or high-speed access to the Internet, while 30 percent said they have no Internet access at all.

Sponsored by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and conducted by the Census Bureau, the survey found that most of those interviewed said they either don't need broadband or find it too expensive. Some said they … Read more

Skype and Verizon announced a partnership Tuesday to bring the Internet-calling technology to a number of 3G BlackBerry and Android phones starting in March.

Under the deal, the Skype mobile software will be available on a variety of smartphones: RIM's BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition, and Tour 9630 and Motorola's Droid, Eris, and Devour. Customers will need to have a data plan to use the application, the companies said in an announcement at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.

Skype, independent once again after an eBay spinoff last year, is … Read more

ARM and Globalfoundries have released details on their upcoming system-on-a-chip platform, which they say will combine "PC-class performance" and a huge jump in battery life for mobile devices.

The companies revealed the details Monday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Their system-on-a-chip platform is based on ARM's Cortex-A9 processor and Globalfoundries' 28-nanometer manufacturing process. The platform will be used in smartphones, tablets, and smartbooks.

The 28-nanometer process will allow devices built on the platform to have 40 percent more computing performance, 30 percent less power consumption, and 100 percent greater battery life than devices built using existing … Read more