In the current wave of patent wars, Google has become an arms supplier, buying technology from other firms to increase Android’s ability to fight back against Apple. In its latest purchase in the Silicon Valley’s version of an arms bazaar, the Internet giant snapped up 1,023 IBM patents.
Apple wants courts to pause lawsuits with Motorola Mobility, claiming the Schaumberg, Il. company transferred ownership of contentious patents to Google. The legal wrangling cannot be settled until the Android maker’s acquisition of Motorola is finalized, the Cupertino, Calif. company charges.
Now that Samsung has denied that they are eying webOS as a potential platform for its mobile devices, HTC could end up being the one to purchase Palm’s former OS to compete against Apple’s iOS.
Not only would HTC buying webOS make sense financially, but it would also position HTC in a unique position to combat the growth of iOS in the mobile market.
New signs the iPhone 4 more than a year later is still hot in the minds of consumers. Last week, we wrote that the iPhone 4 is the top-selling U.S. smartphone despite cheaper Android alternatives. Another analyst tells investors the Apple handset shows ‘unexpected strength’ although the iPhone 5 is on the verge of hitting shelves.
For those concerned Android was catching up with Apple’s iPad, JPMorgan analyst Mark Moskowitz has this message: stop your worrying. “Beyond the iPad, there has not been another high-volume tablet offering, yet,” he told investors Thursday. When one does, don’t look to Mountain View, but Microsoft for a credible Apple competitor.
You would think all of the hype surrounding the much-anticipated iPhone 5 would leave consumers waiting for Apple’s new handset. Well, you’d be wrong. The iPhone 4 remains the top-selling U.S. smartphone at AT&T and Verizon, one analyst says.
Amazon’s rumored tablet is very real, according to MG Siegler of TechCrunch. The ‘Amazon Kindle’ tablet runs a fully-customized version of the Android OS that “you’ve never seen before.” The device will sell for half the price of the entry-level iPad, and it’s expected to ship in November.
If you are already sick of the two U.S. political parties slugging it out for voters’ attention, get ready for a political drama closer to home: your smartphone. Yes, Apple and Android’s Google want you – specifically the ‘undecided’ amongst consumers yet to decide which smartphone to buy.
iEmu is a Kickstarter project from Chris Wade — one of the guy’s behind the first iPhone jailbreak — and his team, which is aiming to emulate iOS applications on Android, Mac and Windows devices. But is it really possible?
In one of those rare Cumbaya moments in the wild-and-wooly wireless industry, Samsung wants all Apple, Android, and BlackBerry to join hands in messaging togetherness. Okay, moment’s over. Samsung, which is locked in a legal mud-wrestling match with Apple and eyes BlackBerry-maker RIM the way a hungry tiger looks at a wounded gazelle, plans to announce “ChatON”, a messaging service compatible with all major mobile handsets.
The security experts at McAfee have published details of a new study that found during the second quarter of 2011, Android-powered devices faced a staggering 76% increase in malware than that of the first quarter — while Apple’s iOS devices remained unaffected by malicious exploits.
If you want to offer a tablet not powered by iOS or Android, you might want to cool your heels until the next decade. Apple’s iPad and various Android-powered tablets will control 90 percent of the market through at least 2017, researchers announced Monday.
Google, along with a number of other companies who distribute the Android operating system, could be without the necessary license required to distribute Linux-based software and may therefore be using the operating system unlawfully, potentially at the risk of a complete shutdown of the Android OS.
Android phone maker HTC has sued Apple, charging the tech giant’s devices infringe three patents. The move follows Apple’s own lawsuits against the Taiwanese manufacturer and as Google turns from partner to potential competitor.
Now that Google has itself a handset maker and a passel of patents, the Android creator is likely to come gunnin’ for Apple, right? Wrong, say a number of Wall Street analysts, who expect little negative fall-out for the iPhone maker. If anything, the acquisition threatens the chances of any mobile success story outside of the Apple-Android duopoly.
A fight is brewing among tablet makers, but Apple is sitting this one out, their fists stuffed with cash. Rivals, stuck with too many units and too few buyers are likely to start a price war, competing to see how long can they go, according to a Tuesday report.
This morning, Google made a bold move and purchased Motorola’s mobile business for $12.5 billion. In doing so, Google brought the hardware design and manufacturing of Android devices in-house, just as Apple has always done with its products, starting with the original Macintosh and continuing all the way to the iPhones and iPads of today.
This is nothing short of a capitulation. By purchasing a smartphone maker, Google has all but admitted that it needs more than just a free operating system and loads of partners to compete with Apple: they need to duplicate Apple’s successes by totally controlling both the hardware and software of their devices.
Now that Google owns a handset maker, will the $12.5 billion deal end Motorola’s patent-infringement complaints against Apple? Not likely, says the Android creator.
Remember Panasonic’s 3DO game system back in the mid ’90s? Not surprised if you don’t; it failed miserably and was discontinued after three years, despite being packed with promise and cutting-edge technology. But the three-year sales record of this flop have thus far still managed to handily beat that of Android tablets — all of them. Combined.
If you own an iPhone, you’re more likely to get a quick answer from tech support compared to Android and BlackBerry users, which require much more hand-holding, a Friday report suggests.
After passing Research In Motion to become the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker, Apple’s iOS is in striking distance of another once-great mobile phone maker, Symbian. During the second quarter, iOS rose to 18.2 percent of the global market while the Symbian platform shed nearly half of its 2010 strength.
Smartphones have become a huge target for unscrupulous looters that have used the riots originating in London as an excuse to break into stores in cities around the U.K. and steal anything that might be of any value.
That’s why thousands of stolen iPhones have flooded the black market in the wake of the riots. But caveat emptor! Within 48 hours, that iPhone you picked up for a song will be worthless.
Even in India, carriers without Apple deals in place are going to desperate lengths to sell their inferior Android handsets as equivalent to the iPhone… even going so far as to advertise this weird iPhoneDroid rip-off, which boasts the design of the iPhone 4 and Android 2.3 Gingerbread as the operating system.
Imagine playing from your iPhone against anyone with an Android phone. That epic battle between Mac and PC types will be a more common option if an Austin startup is successful.
If you’re in Indiana, you’re likely using an iPhone. However, in California — home of Silicon Valley — Android probably rules. Most Apple iPhone and iPad users are in the North U.S., while the majority of Android users are in the southern U.S. states, according to the findings of a survey tracking which tracked mobile ad clicking by device maker, all mapped by location.