Nokia is reportedly planning to reenter the smartphone business. “As early as next year, the company aims to rejoin the phone market,” Re/code reports, citing sources. “The move is driven by Nokia Technologies -- the smallest of the three businesses that remained after [Microsoft acquired its mobile handset business], alongside its mapping and network equipment businesses.”  

Feeling it little left out of the mobile messaging revolution, Yahoo is reportedly readying an app that will combines live and recorded video and text, The Information reports. “Google is developing a new ‘phone dialer’ app that let users search for people and businesses and could play a broader role in messaging in the future [and] a dialer app from Facebook that hasn’t yet launched already has been spotted in the wild.” 

Microsoft is showing off native mobile-app versions of its search and presentation technology. Dubbed Delve, the app is “Microsoft's Flipboard-like experience for Office 365 business users,” ZDNet reports. “Delve presents in card-like form information from Exchange, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online and Yammer enterprise-social networking components.” Delve is expected to add more content sources, including email attachments, OneNote and Skype for Business. 

Digital content saving service Pocket just raised another $7 million to grow and developer new products. “Founded as ‘Read it Later’ back in 2007, the San Francisco-based startup has built a solid following of users who, through browser plugins and mobile apps, can save anything they see on the Internet to consume at a later point,” VentureBeat reports. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the round. 

Endearing itself to at least one place of higher learning, Yik Yak has teamed with the University of Florida College for Journalism and Communications to test a geo-located news feed. “Teaming up with Yik Yak … the university’s journalism students post headlines, stories and calls to action, available only to users within a one and a half mile radius of the campus,” Journalism.co.uk reports. 

More data shows that Apple’s Watch business is off to an enviable start. “Apple received almost 1 million US watch pre-orders on Friday, April 10, its first day of accepting orders,” Quartz reports, citing new findings from Slice Intelligence -- a firm that tracks and projects U.S. consumer spending through e-commerce email receipts. “Almost two-thirds of pre-orders were for the less expensive, aluminum Sport line, which starts at $349.” 

Perhaps boding well for Apple’s watch business, nearly all models have sold out in pre-orders, 9To5Mac reports. “However, it is not clear whether this is due to relatively high demand or low production,” it notes. Regardless, “In the US, the 38 mm Stainless Steel Case with Black Classic Buckle is the only model still on offer with a ‘April 24th -- May 8th’ shipping date.”    

In another blow for Microsoft’s mobile strategy, Kabam has decided to stop developing games for Windows phones. “Kabam says it's going to focus on the Google Android and Apple iOS platforms moving forward,” ZDNet reports. “The news is somewhat surprising since the game development company announced an agreement with Microsoft last June to bring a number of titles to Windows Phone.” 

Google is reportedly readying a product to connect search users with plumbers, exterminators, and other local home-service providers. “The product will be integrated into Google’s core search offering and is intended to capitalize on search intent, turning queries about home improvement tasks into engagement with home-service providers,” Buzzfeed reports. 

Despite a less-than-intuitive interface, initial reviews portray the Apple Watch as a game-changing gadget. After a few days of confusion, The New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo said he “fell hard” for the device. “By notifying me of digital events as soon as they happened, and letting me act on them instantly, without having to fumble for my phone, the Watch became something like a natural extension of my body -- a direct link, in a way that I’ve never felt before, from the digital world to my brain.”