mobile

Microsoft caused quite the stir when it unveiled its Surface tablet computer last year. It's rumored the move angered the firm's traditional hardware partners, including Hewlett-Packard (HP), Samsung, and Acer, who didn't like having to compete with ... Microsoft for customers. Now, it appears Microsoft may be preparing to ruffle feathers in another sector of the consumer technology industry. Windows Phone 8 to Suffer: Nokia Mobile phone maker Nokia, which produces handheld devices running Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system (OS), has reportedly filed a complaint with the ... (view more)

Mozilla plans on making a splash in the mobile market this summer with the release of its very own Firefox operating system (OS). It's the first time ever that Mozilla has ventured into this highly-competitive sector of the consumer technology ... market. Mozilla says the Firefox OS will be a smartphone operating system based entirely on HTML 5, which is widely considered the most advanced web browser programming language. HTML 5 Could Present Problems The advantage to using HTML 5 is that there are many developers willing to build HTML 5-based applications. The downside is that HTML 5-based ... (view more)

According to a prominent analyst, Steve Ballmer's job hinges on the success of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system (OS). Gartner's Carolina Milanesi says if the new operating system (OS) fails to pan out, Microsoft's chief executive officer ... could find himself among those looking for a new job. It has been more than a month since Microsoft formally released Windows 8 to the general market. As you probably know, the new OS features a completely new interface optimized for touchscreen devices like tablet computers and smartphones. Early reviews have been mixed, primarily because those ... (view more)

Owners of devices running Windows 8 will be disappointed to learn that Google will not be investing any more resources into building apps for that operating system or for Windows Phone 8 -- at least not for the time being. In a recent interview with ... the British technology-based publication V3, Google Apps product management director Clay Bavor made it clear his company has no plans to build any more apps for Windows. Bavor says Google is "very careful about what (they) invest and will continue to go where the users are." According to Bavor, Google's users "are not on Windows Phone or Windows ... (view more)

A federal court has ruled that major cellphone carriers must let their smaller rivals use their data networks. This could mean more competitive deals and better coverage for smartphone and tablet owners, as well as those accessing mobile broadband ... on a laptop. The United States Court of Appeals has rejected a challenge by Verizon, thereby upholding an earlier ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The original ruling primarily covered data roaming, the technique by which customers of one cellphone carrier access the data services of another carrier. The FCC had said that ... (view more)

Microsoft is reportedly working on bringing its Office software to the Android and Apple mobile platforms. The reported plan would involve offering a free viewing app for users, and light editing tools for subscribers. At the moment, Office ... functionality on mobile devices varies widely. Handsets running Windows Phone have a limited range of viewing and editing tools, while Microsoft's Surface tablet comes with Office pre-installed. Now, a combination of leaked screenshots and a press release from Microsoft's subsidiary in the Czech Republic make it clear that Office is coming to devices ... (view more)

Microsoft is in the process of pursuing a new patent that would stop mobile phone rings with a simple "whack". The new technology could save users from embarrassing searches through pockets and purses in order to find and press the 'decline' or 'end ... call' button. The Microsoft patent application is filed under the name "Controlling Audio of a Device." According to the patent description, it covers "a method comprising, in a mobile communications device, receiving information indicative of acceleration of the mobile communications device, determining correlation between the information ... (view more)

Two weeks ago, social networking site Facebook made headline news by taking its stock public . Immediately afterwards, analysts began debating whether the stock was a winner or a loser. Now, one analyst says people should stay away from Facebook ... stock; in fact, he has gone so far as to suggest that the entire Facebook enterprise could disappear by the year 2020. According to Ironfire Capital founder Eric Jackson, Facebook's difficulties in making the transition into the mobile market will prove to be its undoing. In Facebook's place will arise entirely new companies that will succeed by more ... (view more)

Microsoft has finally unveiled the first publicly available edition of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system (OS). While this version of the new OS is far from complete, it does give users a solid idea of what Microsoft has done to update its ... flagship product for use with mobile devices, like tablets and smartphones. "It's an even better Windows than Windows 7," Microsoft Windows director Steven Sinofsky said at a recent demonstration of the new OS, which took place at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. "It's incredibly fast and fluid to just navigate this UI (user interface ... (view more)

Google's Android platform continues to be a powerhouse in the highly competitive smartphone market, despite a recent study that reported malware attacks are up nearly 500 per cent . Industry analysts Nielson recently released its third quarter ... statistics for smartphone usage among United States-based mobile subscribers. Researchers found that Android once against ranked as the most popular mobile operating system (OS), with devices using this platform accounting for approximately 42.8 per cent of the total smartphone market. More specifically, Android phones made by HTC accounted for 15 per ... (view more)