The battle between Apple and Microsoft heated up again with the Tuesday release of the Zune HD, the latest version of Microsoft's portable media player. So how does it stack up with new iPod touch? Based on early reviews of the device at least, PC doesn't get shown up by Mac.

Market research firm In-Stat predicts mobile Voice-over-IP applications will generate annual revenues of $32.2 billion by 2013, driven by more than 278 million new users worldwide. Over the next five years mobile VoIP will gradually shift from its initial use as a cheap way to make international calls to a key feature of mobile apps and services.

A report in the UK's Sunday Telegraph that Deutsche Telekom AG is considering buying Sprint Nextel sent the U.S. carrier's stock surging on Monday, up 11% this afternoon. Citing unnamed sources, the article said the company could make a bid for Sprint in the next few weeks.

Nokia today announced acquiring San Francisco-based Plum, a startup focused on powering "micro-sharing" networks for families, co-workers and other groups. The idea behind the company is to let people in small social groups connect through private networks as an alternative to large social properties like Facebook and Twitter.

It looks like the battle over calling plans is heating up again. A day after AT&T introduced a service offering unlimited mobile calling to five people on their "A-List"-similar to T-Mobiles MyFaves and Verizon Wireless' Friends and Family options-Sprint has upped the ante.

Ahead of its expected announcement of the fall 2009 iPod lineup today, the annual Apple music event is already sending ripples through the mobile world. Palm Wednesday formally launched the long-rumored Pixi smartphone, essentially a smaller, thinner version of the Pre that includes the company's webOS operating system and will be available from Sprint in time for the holiday season.

With AOL's hiring of ex-Yahoo exec Brad Garlinghouse as president of Internet and mobile communication, the Web portal's mobile strategy in the Tim Armstrong era should become more clearly defined. As the author of the famed "peanut butter manifesto" at Yahoo in 2006, criticizing the company for spreading its resources too thinly, Garlinghouse can be expected to bring focus to his new post if nothing else.

The same day the New York Times ran a prominent story highlighting AT&T's problems handling surging network demand from the iPhone, the carrier announced it would finally launch multimedia messaging services for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S on September 25. MMS allows users to send messages including photos, video, audio and other content.

Smack in the middle of The New York Times home page today is a story on AT&T's 3G network straining under the load of data-gobbling iPhones, leading to dropped calls, slow download speeds and angry customers. The article has clearly struck a chord, zooming to the top of NYTimes.com's current list of most popular stories as iPhone owners email each other to celebrate the very public vindication of their collective frustration.

The U.S. mobile video audience hit 15 million in the second quarter, up 70% from the year-earlier period, according to the latest Nielsen "Three Screen Report." That's still only about 5% of the 270 million U.S. cell phone subscribers and 10% of subscribers with video-capable phones. Still, it's not an insignificant number of viewers.