• Early Windows Phone 7 Sales Set For Scrutiny
    First week sales figures for highly anticipated new smartphones have become a blogosphere benchmark for gauging whether devices are living up to pre-release hype. So far, sales figures for the first batch of Windows Phone 7 smartphones from AT&T and T-Mobile have been scarce, though numbers could start leaking out over the weekend or by Monday.
  • Is IPad A Mobile Device? Discuss.
    During Facebook's press conference last week rolling out new mobile initiatives, CEO Mark Zuckerberg caused a minor stir when he asserted the iPad wasn't a mobile device. The episode highlighted the debate around whether the iPad and other tablets are more like smartphones and other mobile devices, or more like a laptop or PC.
  • Study: Don't Drop The IPhone 4
    Is the iPhone 4 the Ming vase of smartphones? A new study by third-party warranty provider SquareTrade concludes that the latest version of the signature Apple device is the most reliable smartphone but also the most fragile. Out of 50,000 phones analyzed in the study, the iPhone 4 had the lowest non-accident malfunction rate, with just 2.1% of owners projected to have a problem in the first 12 months. But the iPhone 4 was projected to have the highest accidental damage rate after a year, at 13.8%. It had a higher damage rate than other smartphones from being dropped, in …
  • Retailers Embracing Mobile Check-Out
    Will retail sales clerks be roving the aisles this holiday season, ready to ring up your purchase with an iPad? Don't count on it, but a new study suggests retailers are interested in the Apple tablet's potential as a handheld register.
  • Where's The Windows Phone 7 Ad Barrage?
    With the first Windows Phone 7 devices actually hitting stores today after being unveiled last month, one question that strikes me is, "Where are the ads?" where's the ad carpet-bombing we've come to expect after the marketing push Microsoft put behind Bing? I would've expected page takeovers at least on NYTimes.com, Yahoo and AOL on the Windows Phone 7 launch day.
  • Apple Gains By Remaining Steady In Smartphone Race
    This week brought a flurry of research reports on smartphone-related data for the third quarter. One thing that sticks out is how Apple has gained, in effect, just by holding steady. Technology research firm IDC, for instance, reported Thursday that Apple for the first time had pushed ahead of Research in Motion (RIM) to become the No. 2 smartphone maker worldwide, behind Nokia.
  • Will Windows Phone 7 Get Developer Love?
    Microsoft hasn't had much to celebrate in the mobile arena in quite some time. And one of its biggest disadvantages in arriving late to the smartphone race is that it trails far behind Apple and Google in apps. "While Microsoft submits that it will have a strong stable of games and apps and that nobody needs 250,000 apps anyway, Apple has a huge lead in quality niche apps that make iOS such an appealing platform," noted Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, in a recent report on Windows Phone 7. A new survey of app developers, …
  • ComScore: RIM Losing Ground To Android
    ComScore is the latest research firm this week to chime in on the Great Smartphone Race, adding more evidence to underscore Android's continued proliferation. For the three months' average ending in September, the Google platform increased its share 6.5 percentage points to capture 21.4% of U.S. smartphone subscribers. That gain came in part at the expense of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM), which remains the leading smartphone operating system but saw its share slip from 40.1% to 37.3% in the third quarter.
  • IPad Rules The Tablet Market, But Race Just Starting
    It's been pretty clear Apple owns the tablet computer market so far, selling 4 million iPads since its launch in April. Research firm Strategy Analytics confirmed that perception today, releasing new data showing Apple had 95.5% of the tablet market worldwide as of the third quarter. Yep, that qualifies as owning the category.
  • Android Still Going Strong In Q3
    Android's explosive growth showed no sign of slowing in the third quarter, as the Google platform grabbed 44% share of the U.S. smartphone market, according to market research firm NPD Group. That's a gain of 11 percentage points from the prior quarter and well ahead of Apple, which edged ahead of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion into the No. 2 slot.
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