A Motorola Mobility executive has said Google's practice of creating a flagship model for each software update for its Android mobile operating system is the reason that vendors have a hard time keeping their devices up to date.
Google's Android unit is rumored to be developing a wireless home entertainment system that is capable of streaming music throughout the home, and if launched would be the first consumer electronics product designed and marketed under the Google brand.
In a distinct departure from the agreement voiced between Apple, Cisco and Microsoft regarding the need for fair, transparent, understandable and consistent licensing policy for open standards, Google has promised to continue to wage Motorola's increasingly hostile patent wars.
Microsoft has issued a public statement outlining its position regarding standards essential patents, committing itself "to always adhere to the promises it has made to standards organizations to make its standard essential patents available on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms." The move joins an effort initiated by Apple last fall, and begs for comment from Google to do the same.
A study by Priceonomics "indicates that Apple phones are a better value than smartphones on other platforms," adding, "the market has spoken, and Android and Blackberrys do not age well."
A flurry of reports have insinuated that the larger upfront subsidies carriers pay to gain access to the iPhone are "not good for wireless carriers," with one blog claiming "carriers hate the iPhone," despite facts indicating the opposite.
Google's worst fears about greedy H.264 patent holders and "bogus patent" warfare involving Android are coming true, albeit at the hands of Motorola, a company it seeks to acquire. Google is now promising to continue this same behavior itself after it buys the increasingly unreasonable and (outside of patent claims) unprofitable Android licensee.
Research in Motion announced on Tuesday that its BlackBerry App World is the second most profitable mobile application store behind Apple's App Store, beating out Google's Android Market.
HTC on Monday revealed that its handsets are struggling against Apple's iPhone, as well as Android-based smartphones from companies like Samsung, leading to a 26 percent drop in fourth-quarter profits.
Apple's third-generation iPad is expected by one market watcher to soon arrive during an advantageous "window of opportunity," in which competitors have nothing significant to offer, that will further increase the company's lead in the mobile computing market.
Google has added a behind-the-scenes service, codenamed Bouncer, to scan for malware on applications on the Android Market in an effort to counter the notion that its mobile operating system is insecure, the company revealed on Thursday.
New data shows that Apple accounted for 36 percent of worldwide mobile phone revenue and 74 percent of industry EBIT in the fourth quarter of 2011, with the iPhone taking more than a quarter of the entire smartphone market.
After a rapid erosion of RIM's BlackBerry US market share throughout 2011, new data indicates a stabilizing slowdown in RIM's losses as well as a tapering off of Android's growth, as Apple continued to be the only significant manufacture to experience growth in the quarter.
Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone 8, expected in the second half of the year, will seek to address its "perceived inability to compete" with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android according to a report detailing its planned enhancements.
Circuit Judge Posner has expressed dissatisfaction with the number of patents Apple is arguing against Motorola, asking the company to "winnow" its claims.
A German Munich Regional Court judge has decided against granting Apple injunctions on two Samsung products, noting that at least one of the patent challenges was likely to be revoked at trial.
United States Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner has issued an interpretation of Apple's '263 patent that is likely to result in a jury finding HTC (and Android in general) of infringement in the key "realtime API" case previously passed over by the ITC.
In the consumer market, Apple's iOS and Android's licensees have engaged in a consumer tug of war over sales. Among enterprise buyers however, Apple has maintained extensive lead that is only strengthening.
App publishers on Apple's App Store typically see a significant first-day revenue jump of 52 percent for iPad apps and 41 percent for iPhone apps and and 19 percent and 22 percent overall, respectively, when they put their software on sale, according to a new analysis.
Motorola Mobility's fiscal year ended on a sour note with poor tablet and smartphone sales leading to a Q4 2011 loss of $80 million, which was further exacerbated by merger costs associated with a planned Google takeover.
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Josh Ong
Mikey Campbell
Daniel Eran Dilger
Sam Oliver
Neil Hughes
