Samsung took home almost all of the profits generated in the Android smartphone world last quarter, according to a report today from Strategy Analytics.

For the first quarter, global Android smartphone profits totaled $5.3 billion. Samsung captured a hefty 95 percent, or $5.1 billion, of that amount. Strategy Analytics senior analyst Woody Oh pinned Samsung's success on an "efficient supply chain, sleek products, and crisp marketing."

Second place LG Electronics snagged 2.5 percent of Android's global earnings and is far behind Samsung in the volume of its smartphone devices. Samsung could even use … Read more

Prepaid smartphone sales are starting to become more popular, according to new data from market researcher NPD Group.

NPD released on Wednesday a study that found 32 percent of all smartphone purchases came from prepaid devices during the first quarter. During the same period in 2012, that figure stood at 21 percent.

Although "postpaid" devices, which are subsidized but can lock customers into a long-term agreement, are still most popular, NPD believes the prepaid jump is due to consumers finding more value in older devices that can still hold up well in today's crowded smartphone space.

"… Read more

AT&T seems perfectly willing to let Google blaze the trail when it comes to fiber-optic deployment.

Google has said it plans to deploy its fiber network in select neighborhoods in Austin, Texas. AT&T said it would also like to build a fiber network -- under the same kinds of terms and conditions.

"We will probably piggyback on the rules and terms and condition that Google received in Austin and do our own build in Austin," CEO Randall Stephenson said Wednesday at a J.P. Morgan tech investor conference in Boston, which offered a live … Read more

ORLANDO, Fla.--If there's one message BlackBerry wanted to convey at its annual confab, it's this: "We're back."

"It hasn't been that easy, and there's still a lot of work to do, but man, have we reached solid ground with this company," CEO Thorsten Heins said during his keynote address at BlackBerry Live on Tuesday.

BlackBerry was busy Tuesday, offering a smorgasbord of news. There was the device announcement in the form of the budget-friendly BlackBerry Q5. There was the updated BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10.1 for the business-minded. There was … Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- BlackBerry's advice for getting love from "CrackBerry" nation: build a native app.

In an effort to augment its library, BlackBerry allowed developers to port over existing Android apps to run on BlackBerry 10 devices. While most of them work, they can't access major features on the device. BlackBerry users notice the difference.

"From a commercial perspective, users hate them," said Alec Saunders, head of developer relations at BlackBerry. "Our partners who have ported apps get dinged for them."

There's some momentum behind app development for BlackBerry 10, Saunders … Read more

The more I run, the more I realize my regular playlist isn't cutting it. Even with some 150 hand-picked songs, I get bored hearing the same ones over and over. And although they're among my favorite power-pop tunes, they're quite diverse when it comes to tempo. I need songs of at least 128 beats per minute (bpm) to keep me running strong.

Enter Fit Radio, a free app (Android|iOS|Web) that streams up-tempo playlists designed to amp up your workout. It's like Songza for sprinters, or maybe Pandora for bike peddlers.

The app is divided … Read more

ORLANDO, Fla.--The Nokia Lumia 925 is a sexy-looking smartphone. Too bad a vast majority of U.S. consumers aren't going to even consider it.

Nokia unveiled its latest flagship smartphone at an event in London on Tuesday. But U.S. customers will care most about where it will sell here, and the news isn't great.

T-Mobile, the smallest nationwide carrier -- by far -- will get exclusive rights to sell the Lumia 925.

In an era when the top-tier handset vendors are moving away from exclusive deals, Nokia appears to be betting even more heavily on them. … Read more

ORLANDO, Fla.--OK, so is BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins a fan of tablets, or isn't he?

Heins, who made waves last month when he said he didn't see a place for tablets in five years, made some seemingly contradictory comments on tablets when he spoke on Tuesday during a Q&A session with the media while at the BlackBerry Live conference.

"We believe in a single element of mobile computing: one on your hip," Heins said.

Roughly 15 minutes later, Heins said BlackBerry was looking at the future of tablets and investing R&D … Read more