Galaxy S4 cleared for government use, iPhone and iPad to gain approval ‘in the next few weeks’

By Christian Zibreg on May 3, 2013

As Samsung and Apple are bringing the smartphone wars to the Pentagon, the Galaxy maker has drawn first blood as its Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone gets cleared for government use ahead of the iPhone. A security approval from the US Department of Defense (DoD) is a major recognition for Samsung and its new Knox security software as the S4 becomes the first Android smartphone to win a DoD approval.

It wasn’t immediately clear what’s up with the holdup concerning Apple, but the iPhone and iPad devices should get cleared later this month… Read More

 

Apple claimed $3 out of each $4 top app stores made in Q1

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 9, 2013

In the latest sign of the importance apps play in smartphone adoption, more than thirteen billion downloads were recorded during the first three months of 2013, according to a Monday report.

The survey of the four leading app stores also found Apple, Google and others earned $2.2 billion from apps, an eleven percent increase over the final quarter of 2012.

Whereas Apple leads in terms of revenue – and by a large margin, too – Google’s Play Store, thanks to a large installed base of Android devices, has the upper hand in terms of download count. Specifically, the App Store collected 74 percent of the revenue of top app stores, while Google Play led registered 51 percent of apps obtained… Read More

 

Preview BlackBerry 10 on your iPhone now

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 2, 2013

It looks as if BlackBerry, formerly know as Research in Motion, has managed to generate some respectable buzz around its brand new mobile operating system called BlackBerry 10. The Canadian mobile manufacturer has sold one million of its all-new BlackBerry Z10 smartphones which run the latest software and reported a fourth quarter profit of $98 million, the first positive earnings in quite a while.

I wouldn’t write off BlackBerry yet and if you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about, the company has written a nice web app which lets you preview some of the key features of BlackBerry 10 right on your iPhone or Android device. Just fire up Safari on your iPhone and go to BlackBerry.com/glimpse for, well, a glimpse of BlackBerry 10… Read More

 

This year, smartphones should outship feature phones for the first time

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 4, 2013

It has already happened in the United States and now comes word 2013 will mark the date when smartphones outsell simpler so-called feature phones globally. More than 918 million smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone will ship this year, for the first time outnumbering feature phones.

According to research firm IDC, a nice 50.1 percent of mobile phones shipped this year will be smartphones, most destined for China. However, that small lead should widen greatly by 2017 as more emerging nations increase adoption of the powerful mobile devices… Read More

 

RIM rebrands, announces the first two BB10 devices

By Cody Lee on Jan 30, 2013

RIM’s long-awaited BlackBerry 10 event just finished up, and the company had quite a lot to talk about. On top of announcing that it’s rebranded itself to BlackBerry (no more Research in Motion), it unveiled its first two BB10 handsets.

I won’t get into the dramatics here. Everyone knows what’s on the line for the struggling smartphone-maker. And it has essentially bet its entire future on this new mobile OS and these new devices. So without further ado, let’s take a look… Read More

 

RIM confirms plans to license BlackBerry 10 OS to others

By Christian Zibreg on Aug 13, 2012

According to Bloomberg, Canada-based maker of BlackBerry handsets, Research In Motion, will be licensing its upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system to a smartphone manufacturer, Bloomberg reports. Apparently the company is evaluating options as we speak, considering how other companies may be able to use it in a range of products. This is the last nail in the coffin of RIM as we used to know it… Read More