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Google Inc.’s Voice calling application has won approval to be on the iPhone after more than a year of haggling with Apple Inc.
The breakthrough announced Tuesday resolves a stand-off that triggered a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into whether Apple and AT&T Inc., the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. service provider, were trying to stifle competition by keeping the app off the popular device. Get the full story »
Riverwoods-based Discover Financial Services is working with a new joint venture, created by three national wireless carriers, to develop a national network for payments via mobile phones.
AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless announced the joint venture, called Isis, on Tuesday. The group named Michael Abbott, a former executive at GE Capital, as its CEO. Get the full story »
Google Inc. is taking another stab at designing a game-changing mobile phone, this time by including a built-in payment system that could eventually enable the devices to replace credit cards. The new phone got a brief preview Monday when Google CEO Eric Schmidt took the stage to kick off the Web 2.0 summit, a technology conference held annually in San Francisco.
Schmidt confirmed that Google has been working on a sophisticated new computer chip and an upgrade of its Android mobile operating system that will include a payment processing tool. He showed off the new phone with the device’s name and manufacturer concealed. Get the full story »
Motorola will separate into two publicly traded companies in January 2011, co-Chief Executive Greg Brown said Monday.
The Schaumburg-based company had said it was targeting the first quarter of next year for the split. Monday’s announcement, made at a financial analysts’ meeting in New York, marked the first time the company specified a timeframe in the first quarter. Get the full story »
E-books have reached another milestone: their own best-seller lists in The New York Times.
The Times, whose best-seller lists have long been a benchmark for success among authors, announced Wednesday that in early 2011 it will begin publishing rankings for fiction and nonfiction e-books.
The digital market has grown rapidly in the last three years, starting with Amazon.com’s Kindle reader and continuing with Apple’s iPad and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating whether Google Inc. broke federal laws when its street-mapping service collected consumers’ personal information, joining a lengthy list of regulators probing what Google says was inadvertent harvesting of private data sent over wireless networks.
The FCC opened its investigation this year, an FCC official confirmed Wednesday. An FCC spokeswoman didn’t immediately have comment on the agency’s investigation. The FCC generally doesn’t publicly disclose details of its investigations. Get the full story »
RIM plans to price the PlayBook tablet at less than $500. (AP)
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, a late entrant in the tablet computer market, will take on Apple’s iPad with competitive pricing of its PlayBook.
RIM, which said it will sell the PlayBook for less than $500, is confident the 7-inch tablet would help sustain “fast sales growth,” said RIM Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie.
RIM’s Nasdaq-listed shares jumped more than 6 percent on Wednesday to as high as $58.72, their highest since June.
Get the full story »
Microsoft Corp stepped up its legal battle with Motorola Inc on Tuesday, as the software company accused the phone maker of charging excessive royalties on network technology used in Microsoft’s Xbox game system. Get the full story »
AT&T on Tuesday cut the price of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Torch in half, down to $99.99.
The cut comes about three months after the smart phone landed on AT&T store shelves and amid intense price competition from Web sites such as Wirefly.com, which is offering the Torch for $29.99, and Amazon.com, which is selling the smart phone for 1 cent.
Smartphones running Microsoft Corp.’s new software are now available for AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA customers. Get the full story »
(Motorola)
Motorola is launching a new Android-based smart phone for globe-trotting executives later this month at Verizon Wireless.
The Droid Pro, unveiled Monday, is the latest device in Verizon’s Droid line-up, its portfolio of premier Android-based smart phones. Motorola has been an important maker of Android devices for the carrier and its other phones for the Droid line include the Droid, the Droid 2 and the Droid X.
The Droid Pro is designed for business users and comes with QuickOffice, a mobile software suite for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. The phone also has a physical keyboard and is global-ready, meaning it is compatible with wireless service in different countries. Motorola said the device can tap into voice service in more than 220 countries and will have data coverage in more than 200 countries. Get the full story »
From The Wall Street Journal | Wireless operator Clearwire Corp. said it is cutting 15 percent of its 4,200 employees and warned that uncertainty about new financing raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue to operate.
Third-quarter earnings at Telephone & Data Systems Inc. and its U.S. Cellular Corp. business rose, with U.S. Cellular losing more subscribers than a year earlier.
Both companies topped analysts’ expectations and adjusted their revenue outlooks for the full year. U.S. Cellular narrowed its target while TDS raised its to $785 million to $800 million from $760 million to $790 million as the company also expects higher profit than before. Get the full story »
T-Mobile USA Inc. said it is launching 4G wireless service in the Chicago area this week, heightening competition among mobile operators to provide the fastest connectivity to laptop- and smart phone-toting consumers. The Bellevue, Wash.-based carrier said its upgraded network will cover the city and suburbs within a 20-mile radius.
T-Mobile first lit up 4G service in September 2009 and is in about 75 metropolitan areas. Chicago is part of T-Mobile’s expansion to six new cities, and the company is aiming to offer 4G in 100 markets covering 200 million people by year-end.
