Google

iPad 2 and Verizon iPhone Causing Android Devs to Jump Ship for iOS

Mobile app developers are moving to the iOS platform from Google's Android, according to a new study. Coming from the analytics firm, Flurry, stats point to an increase in development for iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad, while Android's app creation has fallen, as the chart above shows.

Flurry also speculates as to the reason behind the shift, with the release of both the iPad 2 and a Verizon compatible iPhone 4 as the catalyst for the change....

ITC Apple Vs HTC Ruling Could Prove Damning For Android In General

It's heating up in the court the battle between Apple and, well, everyone.

The Cupertino outfit drew first blood in a battle with Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC on Friday, with an ITC judge deeming that HTC had infringed upon two of Apple's patents. The two patents, however, may not be specific to HTC's handsets, and this opens the door to the possibility that other Android-powered smartphones may also fall foul, thanks to the ITC decision...

App Picks of the Week: Spotify, Piconhand, Star Trek PADD

Every week iDownloadblog brings a roundup of awesome apps for you to check out and enjoy. We try to vary our picks, but a lot of these apps usually come from the App Store. If an interesting web or jailbreak app catches our eye, we'll include that in our picks as well.

This week, we've got three new apps from the App Store for music lovers, Google+ users, and trekkies. Make it so!

Should Apple Fear Android’s Growth?

In the last quarter, Google activated more than 50 million new Android devices, with a growing rate of 57%. In comparison, Apple is expected to announce the sale of only 29 million iPhones during the same period, with a disappointing 2% growth rate. Without any intention of being unfair to Google, if the iPhone 5 had launched in June, Apple's growth would have been more impressive.

Sales figures speak for themselves. Each day, more than 500,000 new phones running the Android OS are activated. Google's strength lies in the fact that their OS is available on different devices and carriers, providing the consumer a wider selection to choose from...

Amazon Planning Tablet Computer to Battle the iPad

Amazon is preparing its own consumer tablet for an October release, according to The Wall Street Journal. Reportedly, the online mega-merchant is going to introduce a 9-inch, Android-based tablet to go head to head with Apple's iPad.

With different Android tablets hitting the shelves left and right, it's interesting to see a company like Amazon enter the mix. Will Amazon's tablet be the iPad killer?

Apple’s iPad and iPhone Quite the Advertising Force in Europe

A curious glance around any train station, bus stop, or airport will show you just how popular Apple's iPad and iPhone mobile devices are, and the sales figures back up the assumption that Apple just can't make enough of its magical devices.

What might not be so obvious, is that the iPad is one of the most advertised devices in Europe, with the smartphone being the 6th in a list of devices when it comes to ad impressions...

Can Nokia and Microsoft Overthrow Apple Together?

"How many of you use an iPhone or an Android device?"

When Stephen Elop asked this question, just a few raised their hands. "That upsets me -he continued- not because some of you are using iPhones, but because only a small number of people are using iPhones. I'd rather people have the intellectual curiosity to understand what we're up against."

Stephen Elop is a canadian executive who is now in charge of Nokia, the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones. They sell millions of phones per day, but the models they sell are low cost devices, sold for the most part in developing countries. In the past few years, Nokia's share of the smartphone market plummeted form 49% to 25% due to the overwhelming growth of both Android and the iPhone.

Now, at Nokia, they are facing the worst crisis they've ever dealt with. They lost 75% of their market value and will be forced to let a lot of their best engineers go...

Google+ iPhone App Submitted to the App Store, Awaiting Approval

Everyone's been Buzzing [pardon my pun] about Google's latest social product, Google+. Many people have been a fan of it - at least the ones who got invited, that is - but us iPhone users had to wait just a bit to get our hands on an official Google+ app. Google initially made the app Android only (naturally), with iPhone users having to use a mobile web client that worked rather well.

Today, however, Google employee Erica Joy posted on her Google+ page: "For my iPhone using friends: the Google+ iPhone app has been submitted to the App store (no not today, sometime prior to today) and is awaiting approval."

Apple Part of Consortium That Buys 6,000 Nortel Patents for $4.5 Billion

Nortel just sold a shed-load of its patents at auction for a whopping $4.5 billion. The winning bidder? A consortium of six tech companies that includes Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony.

There were 6,000 patents and patent applications sold in total, according to the press release, spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors, and more...

Google+ Gets a Web App While Waiting for a Native App

In case you've been under a rock for the last week, Google just formally announced its next major product. The king of search engines and pop email services is now hoping to conquer the social networking space.

Google+ launched on Tuesday to a small group of beta testers, and since then has been a popular tech topic. The service looks remarkably like its Facebook competitor with features like 'Streams' and the ability to 'Check In' to local businesses.

As an avid iDevice user, the first thing I wanted to know was what kind of access I'd have to the service from my iPhone and iPad...

The iPhone is Not the Underdog

In our second installment of the, "What are they putting in the water at PCMag?" series, we take a look at an article titled, "Is the iPhone Now the Underdog?" by PCMag's Editor-in-Chief, Lance Ulanoff.

Sebastien grilled Mr. Ulanoff over his last article on the proposition of Apple selling unlocked iPhones in the United States. This time, we're going to take a look at Mr. PCMag's idea that Apple needs to make "drastic improvements" to the iPhone to "maintain market share and mindshare."

weeTranslate: Google Translate Widget for iOS 5 Notification Center

Yet another jailbreak widget for iOS 5 has surfaced. This time, Google Translate functionality can now be added to the Notification Center. Developed by the same person that made QuickComposer, weeTranslate lets you translate a word or phrase through Google Translate - all from the Notification Center.

For those of us that interact with multiple languages on a daily basis, this widget could prove invaluable.