Mobile

A mobile software development start-up thinks it has found a way to the mobile industry's holy grail: an open-source method for writing an application once and running it anywhere.

Rhomobile is ready to release Rhodes 1.0, a framework designed for application developers who want to reach more than one mobile computing operating system--such as Apple's iPhone OS X, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, or Research In Motion's BlackBerry--without having to spend the time and money required to develop separate applications for each operating system. Rhodes allows developers to code their applications in HTML and Ruby and have … Read more

Consumer advocates are reigniting a debate over Net neutrality by insisting that the government require recipients of the government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package to adhere to special rules to ensure traffic on the Internet flows freely.

Consumer groups and Internet service providers faced off at a public hearing in Washington, D.C., on Monday set up to discuss how money from President Obama's economic stimulus package should be allocated. Public interest groups believe that the government should require companies receiving funds to adhere to special Net neutrality rules that would prevent them from discriminating against traffic … Read more

Sony Ericsson's struggling handset business is losing its top North American executive.

Najmi Jarwala, president of Sony Ericsson USA and head of the company's North American operations, is leaving Sony Ericsson "to pursue other career opportunities," the company said in a statement Monday. Last week Sony Ericsson revealed that it expects to lose between $460 million and $528 million during the first quarter of the year, as demand falls for its phones.

Sony Ericsson has had some success in the U.S. with its Cybershot and Walkman phones, but hasn't come up with a major … Read more

Former Vice President Al Gore will allow the press to cover his keynote at the CTIA conference in April, after initially banning coverage of his speech.

The CTIA announced Monday that Gore agreed to let the press into his April 3 keynote "due to a high degree of interest." Gore's talk, which is expected to focus on his work as an environmental activist rather than his role overseeing a mobile computing company as a director at Apple, was initially closed to the press but open to regular CTIA attendees.

Gore had a similar policy in place at … Read more

E-marketing firm SmartReply has acquired mobile-advertising specialist MSnap in an effort to increase its presence on wireless devices.

SmartReply, which distributes advertisements via voice messages, e-mail, and text messages, is seeking to create the largest U.S. mobile-messaging ad network through the acquisition, according to a post on MSnap's Web site.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and MSnap and SmartReply were not immediately available for comment, but according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, MSnap's shareholders will receive a minority stake in SmartReply.

MSnap, founded in 2006, has received investments from Partech International and … Read more

Sony Ericsson has warned of worsening losses in its upcoming quarterly financial results, blaming weak consumer demand for a drop in sales.

In a statement released by the handset maker Friday, Sony Ericsson said its results for the first quarter of 2009 would probably reflect losses of 340 million to 390 million euros ($460 million to $528 million). Those results will come out on April 17. In the previous quarter, the company lost 187 million euros.

Sony Ericsson estimated it would ship around 14 million handsets during the quarter, with an average selling price of 120 euros.

Gartner analyst Carolina … Read more

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Updated: Amid weak fiscal third-quarter results reported Thursday, Palm Chief Executive Edward Colligan said that the company is well positioned to launch the Pre and promised a road map of smartphones and an application ecosystem built on the company's new WebOS. Bottom line: Palm envisions an entire product line built on the WebOS.

Palm didn't put a date on the Pre launch, but said the device and its software were "being polished up" and being certified from Sprint as the company prepares to ramp up manufacturing. … Read more

AT&T has confirmed a report that it will offer iPhones without a two-year contract starting next week.

The Associated Press quoted an AT&T representative Thursday confirming plans to sell no-contract iPhones for $599 or $699 starting next Thursday, as first reported Wednesday by the Boy Genius Report. There's a catch, however; those phones will still be locked to AT&T's network.

A regular AT&T iPhone account will be required to operate the phone, although theoretically you could activate the phone one day, cancel your account the next, and only be out … Read more

As economic worries grow in America, many consumers are ready to disconnect their expensive cell phone plans and seek cheaper alternatives for wireless communication, according to a survey released Thursday.

The study, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) for the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC), reports that 19 percent of cell phone users polled have already canceled their cell phone contracts in reaction to the financial crisis.

The survey, which earlier this month polled 2,005 adults ages 18 and older via their landline phones, found that two in five Americans are likely to cut back on their contract-based cell … Read more