After getting regulatory approval in China, Google today wrapped up its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, signalling their entry into the hardware world. As a part of the deal closing, Motorola's CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down to make way for Google's Dennis Woodside.

If you've ever peeked your head into our sibling site, Android Central, you might know Motorola basically bet the farm on Android. Given, HTC was the launch partner for Android over three years ago, it wasn't soon thereafter that Motorola gave up Windows Mobile and ditched their dumbphone business to focus exclusively on Android, and arguably helped launch Android into the stratosphere with Verizon's Droid line. However, Motorola gradually lost its financial footing, split the company up into infrastructure and handset businesses, and then, last August, Google announced its intention to acquire Motorola Mobility. Since then, there have been a lot of legal hoops to jump through, but now the deal is done.

So what does this all mean for Apple? Well, Google, traditionally a software and web services company, is moving aggressively into the realm of hardware, where it will compete even more directly with the iPhone and iPad. If you need further proof of that, it's worth noting that Google has also recently picked up the industrial design company that designed the Nexus One, Mike and Maaike.

Before Android launched, rumors swirled about a Google-made "gPhone", but the closest to that Google has ever been are tight partnerships with outside manufacturers to create the Nexus lineup. Now Google have sworn that the bidding process will remain as open as ever. If it doesn't, Google stands to estrange top-tier partners like Samsung, push them right into the arms of Windows Phone, and further fragment Apple's competition into nice bite-sized chunks. That might be why Google has been making noise about having multiple Nexus partners next time around.

It's hard not to be skeptical about Google's success on the device front, however. Their attempts at selling Nexus devices through Google's own online retail storefront haven't done particularly well, and the Chromebook project was an unmitigated flop. Elsewhere, Microsoft's Zune has shown just how dicey it can be for a software specialist to get into the hardware biz. There's something to be said for offering a complete end-to-end solution -- that's Apple's strategy, after all. Then again, it's also RIM's.

If Motorola continues to sink, will Google be able to resist giving them a first-party Android boost? If competition heats up, if companies like Amazon and potentially Facebook field forked versions of Android, would Google never consider going head-to-head with them using more streamlined, unified, and competitive to the iOS hardware, with code linked to the device more tightly than ever? Or will Google be more interested in juggling their manufacturer relationships and keep Samsung, HTC, LG, and other partners happy by not playing favorites?

Source: Google, Motorola, via AndroidCentral

Blackberry maker RIM recently proposed a new nano-SIM card design to counter one proposal made by Apple to the the European Telecommunications Standards Instititute. One of the major points of contention surrounds the use of a SIM tray; Apple wanted to use one, which effectively would impose their SIM tray design on other manufacturers, but it would be interoperable with existing SIM formats since the pin footprint in Apple's layout is exactly the same as the old generation SIM cards. Meanwhile Motorola, RIM, and (until recently) Nokia were pushing a tray-less design with a fingernail catch, not unlike what we see on microSD memory cards. Apple's original nano-SIM design was as long as the old mini SIM was wide, which could easily confuse consumers, lead to jamming, and consequently more repairs and returns. RIM and Motorola's countered that adapters are unreliable and can't hold a card securely against the contacts, but still offered the compromise that you see above.

Despite the compromise offered here by RIM, nobody could agree after an informal vote, which isn't much of a surprise given Apple herded in sympathetic partners to the association. Ultimately, if these guys can't find common ground, it's entirely possible that we'll see two nano SIM standards floating around: one made by Apple, and one used by everybody else. You can imagine what a headache that could be for all parties involved, particularly carriers. It seems like most parties adopted micro SIM without too much of a fight, and that was also a charge led by Apple with the iPhone 4; could the same bullheadedness get other manufacturers to just go along with Apple again? Why is Apple so hell-bent on their particular design anyway? How would carriers side in all of this?

If you're interested in poking around the ETSI documentation, it's all somewhere in here; the particulars of RIM's latest proposal are available here.

Source: The Verge

Just in case we needed any more convincing that people love their iPhones, the American Customer Satisfaction Index has found through recent surveys that Apple's smartphones are leaving customers the happiest. The iPhone scored 83 on their system, compared to to Nokia, LG and HTC who are all tied at 75, Motorola at 73, Samsung at 71, and RIM at a sad 69. The ACSI also looked at U.S. service providers. Topping the list were regional carriers like U.S. Cellular with 76, then Sprint with 71, followed by Verizon with 70, and AT&T and T-Mobile tied at 69.

Lots of other studies have consistently backed up customer satisfaction for the iPhone, but it's always interesting to see just how much of a lead Apple has on the competition. The fact that the competition is nearly ten points suggests it will take a whole lot of work to bring Android and the other platforms up to snuff with iOS.

Do these rankings stack up with the sentiment you see among friends? Is Sprint really ahead of the other three major U.S. carriers?

Source: ACSI via Wired

Apple now has 13.5% of the U.S. mobile market (i.e. not just smartphones), according to recent survey data. Combined with Motorola's drop to 12.8% market share, that puts iPhone in third place behind LG (with 19.4%) and Samsung (25.6%). comScore's data was gathered from 30,000 American mobile customers in the three months leading up to February, and also examined smartphone operating system market share. Of course Android is ruling the roost with 50.1%, which climbed 3.2% since November, while iOS sits at 30.2%, which only grew 1.5% in the same time frame. Meanwhile, BlackBerry and Windows Phone saw drops of 3.2% and 1.3%, respectively.

Beating out Motorola, which has been fairly well-entrenched since the dumbphone days, is a big symbolic win for Apple. Motorola is basically the figurehead for Android OEMs since Google plans to acquire them. Although the mass of smartphone manufacturers can gang up on Apple to push down iOS market share, few (if any) have a shot at duking it out one-on-one with the iPhone. It's also a testament to the iPhone's popularity that, despite having only one form factor, and despite being beat on price (i.e. total cost of ownership) by feature phones, Apple's still able to climb the ranks. The only other manufacturer in the position of exclusively making smartphones in these rankings is HTC, and they aren't making a lot of progress.

Anyone taking bets on how long it'll take for Apple to take the number 2 spot from LG?

Source: comScore

Apple is butting heads with RIM, Motorola, and Nokia over the next evolution of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card sizes. SIM cards are used by GSM and LTE carriers to attach numbers and service plans to mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. After paving the way for the micro-SIM format, which has since been adopted by Nokia for their Lumia series, Apple is now putting pressure on the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to recognize a their new nano-SIM format as the next industry standard. What's the problem? Well, competitors worry that Apple would be in a position to claim patents on the nano-SIM format, and if it was set as the universal standard, they could all end up paying royalties. There's also a concern that other vendors would be stuck with Apple's design even if they think they've come up with something better.

On top of that, Apple might skew the voting process, having recently applied six of their subsidiaries for membership in the council. This would oust Nokia as the largest voting member.  Service providers are all for the nano-SIMs, in any case, and they're supporting Apple's proposal to ETSI. Voting at ETSI starts next week.

The nano-SIM would be 30% smaller and 15% thinner than the micro-SIMs currently found in iPhones and iPads, and that means more room in smartphones for other good stuff. iMore previously heard Apple was intent on moving away from the traditional 30-pin Dock port towards a "micro-Dock" connector due to similar space considerations.

Source: Financial Times

According to some EU court documents, Motorola and Apple had talked about hashing out a licensing deal in late 2011. Given their rough and ongoing patent battles over the last few months, it's no surprise to hear Apple claim in the documents that their "refusal to accede to this demand led Motorola Mobility to sue Apple in an attempt to exclude Apple’s products from the market.” Meanwhile, Motorola has claimed that they've been offering fair, reasonable, and non-descriminatory licensing to Apple since 2007. Google's pending purchase of Motorola looms large in this whole affair, through which they would acquire between 7000 and 8000 patents (500 - 1000 of which would be European). Google says that they're open to Motorola licensing their patents for up to 2.25% of the handset cost, which is $13.50 on a $600 phone. Overall, the EU court sounded positive on the idea of a cross-licensing deal between Motorola and Apple.

"From the information available to the Commission, this option envisaged a cross-licence possibly to the benefit of all Android OEMs but also with mutual carve-outs. This kind of cross-licence would be different in scope from that which might have been concluded by Motorola Mobility prior to the transaction."

I'm no lawyer, but there seem to be two sides to this. On one hand, I could certainly see the mutual benefit of Motorola and Apple to allow access to one another's fairly important patents. On the other hand, if Motorola agrees to license their patents under FRAND terms in order to become part of the standard, and Apple decides to keep their patents proprietary to gain competitive advantage, a blanket cross-license wouldn't be a fair deal to Apple.

Source: EU court documents here, Bloomberg

A U.S. judge in Chicago has just ruled that information about Google's acquisition of Motorola is a key part of Apple's claims against Motorola in their ongoing patent disputes and legal battles. The ruling means that Apple will get some key information about the development of Android, and potentially find other cases of infringement there. As you might expect, Motorola isn't thrilled about this, and claims “Google’s employees and documents are not within the ‘possession, custody, or control’ of Motorola, and Motorola cannot force Google to produce documents or witnesses over Google’s objections.”

It's a little funny that Google acquired Motorola as a patent safety net, and now it's actually proving to be more of a liability. There's been some contention as to whether or not Google should be involved in Motorola lawsuits at all, since the acquisition is still in-progress. Of course, if Motorola can stand its ground against Apple in this case, it could set a strong defensive precedent for Android as a whole against future lawsuits. Details are skimpy on exactly how much access Apple will have to Google and Motorola's files; what are the odds that seeing them will provide Apple with any significant competitive advantage outside the court?

[via Bloomberg]

A German appeals court has issued a temporary ruling that prevents Motorola (currently in the process of being acquired by Google) from enforcing a ban on Apple iPhones and iPads based on what may be FRAND-absuing terms. Bloomberg reports:

“At the current state of the proceedings, it is to be assumed that Motorola Mobility would violate its duties under antitrust rules if it continues to ask Apple to stop the sales,” the court said in a statement.

FRAND patents are considered essential to standards-based implementations of technology, and in exchange for a patent becoming part of a standard, they're expected to be licensed to anyone and everyone under Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

Apple, which is suing many other companies based on non-FRAND (i.e. proprietary) patents, has been counter sued by Motorola and Samsung based on FRAND patents, something the European Union is now investigating.

It's probably too soon to tell how big a blow this is for Motorola, though Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents thinks it could be a deal breaker, especially in terms of how much value it takes out of the Motorola acquisition for Google:

Motorola was hoping to gain near-term leverage against Apple and Microsoft through the aggressive pursuit of injunctive relief based on standard-essential patents. Google, which was totally in agreement with MMI's litigation strategy, was hoping to buy that leverage for $12.5 billion, and Germany was a key part of that plan because its legal system places a relatively high burden on implementers of standards invoking the FRAND defense. In fact, Google's public statement on the post-acquisition use of MMI's patents proposed the German approach to FRAND as the way forward for the whole world. With today's ruling, Googlorola's strategy has failed even before the companies have formally merged. This is such a major blow to Google's patent strategy that, from a mere shareholder value point of view, it should now give serious consideration to the possibility of coughing up the $2.5 billion break-up fee agreed upon with MMI's board of directors and walk out on this deal. After all, that $2.5 billion payment would be an affordable subsidy for the only totally Google-aligned company among the major handset makers. But in all likelihood, Google will nevertheless try to close the deal, if only to avoid a colossal embarrassment for its CEO and other decision-makers.

This doesn't affect Motorola's other cases against Apple, including the non-FRAND win on pager sync patents that forced Apple to stop providing push email for German iCloud and MobileMe users.

Source: Bloomberg, FOSS Patents

Unfortunate and possibly infuriating news for German iCloud and MobileMe users today, as Apple has apparently been forced to turn off push email as a result of a lawsuit by Motorola Mobility. Apple told Engadget:

This ruling only impacts customers in Germany who use a Push setting to get their MobileMe and iCloud email. These customers will still receive email to their devices. Apple believes [Motorola's] patent is invalid and is appealing the decision.

Motorola and Apple have been suing and counter suing each other for years, though generally court decisions along the way haven't had direct impact on either's customers. For their part, Apple believes Motorola (and Samsung) are misusing FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) patents pledged to standards pools in an effort to force Apple to cross-license non-FRAND patents in return. In other words, Motorola (and Samsung) are trying to gain access to Apple's proprietary multi-touch patents by unfairly and potentially illegally using standards-based 3G and other networking patents as leverage. The European Union is investigating the situation, and Microsoft has recently made similar complaints against Motorola. (Google simply bought Motorola to avoid similar lawsuits against Android, but seems content to let Motorola continue potential FRAND-abusing litigation against other companies for now.)

So, to sum up, it's yet another case of one giant company litigating another giant company which will inevitably result in one incredibly rich group of people swapping money and/or licenses with another incredibly rich group of people, harming only non-giant, non-rich customers along the way.

Apple for their part, has posted a support document for German users detailing how to switch MobileMe and iCloud email off of push and onto fetch mail protocols.

For iCloud Mail:

• From the Home screen, tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars
• Tap Fetch New Data
• Select a time interval for Fetch
• Push can remain turned on to continue push service for Contacts and Calendars.
• With these settings, your iCloud Mail account will fetch new messages at your set interval while you are inside Germany. Push email service will continue to be available outside of Germany.

For MobileMe Mail:

• From the Home screen, tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars
• Tap Fetch New Data
• Select a time interval for Fetch
• Tap Advanced
• Tap a MobileMe account in your account list
• Change Select Schedule to Fetch
• Tap Advanced to return to the prior screen
• Repeat steps 5-7 for each MobileMe account on your device.

IMPORTANT NOTES: Disabling Push for a MobileMe account will also apply to the Contacts and Calendars service associated with that account. To maintain push service for Contacts and Calendars, leave Select Schedule set to Push and continue to check email manually.

Once a MobileMe user has accessed their MobileMe Mail account from Germany, push email will be disabled indefinitely. Unlike iCloud Mail accounts, push will not be automatically re-enabled upon leaving the country. Users can move their MobileMe accounts to iCloud to re-enable push services outside of Germany.

Update: Turns out it's not a FRAND patent, but rather a patent related to pager syncing. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused, and good on Motorola for vigorously defending their pager tech.

Source: Engadget, Apple Support

Apple is increasingly playing defense against lawsuits from Samsung and Motorola that seek to take iPhones and iPads off the shelves and out of stores. Apple is trying to do the same to their competitors, of course, but there's a subtle difference -- Samsung and Motorola are suing Apple over FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory) patents and are apparently seeking licensing that's anything but fair and reasonable, and may in fact be discriminatory.

FRAND patents are typically typically pledged as part of a standard, which makes them essential to a technology, the organizations that govern those standards require them to be equitably licensed back to everyone. That's the whole point of having standards. If you want your invention to become a standard, you let it be used as a standard.

FRAND vs. non-FRAND

Apple doesn't play the FRAND game with the iPhone or iPad. They don't want their multitouch patents to be a standard. They don't want other companies using them. (Unlike Microsoft, they don't want to make their competitors' products more expensive, they want them to stop being Apple-like.)

Samsung and Motorola did play the FRAND game, however, and did want their wireless patents -- covering core 3G technologies, among other things -- to be standards. However, when Samsung and Motorola infringe on Apple's non-FRAND patents, they then demand outrageous terms from Apple to license their FRAND patents -- which Apple has to use for their products to work on existing networks -- hoping Apple will cave and cross-license their non-FRAND patents as part of the deal.

Put another way, it's like the owner of your local public pool refusing to let you swim there unless you let them swim in your private pool at home. Worse, it's like the manager of your local public pool demanding you pay him $1,000,000 dollars to swim in a pool you're supposed to have fair and equal access too, unless he gets to swim in your private pool at home. Worse still, it's like the manager of your local pool has made agreements that force anyone who wants to swim anywhere to get a license from his pool first, then demands you pay him a fortune for it, and give him access to your private, home pool. (In one case, in a swim-suit that looks surprisingly like yours. Only bigger.)

What can Apple do?

According to Florian Mueller over at FOSS Patents, this means Apple has to be careful, and iterative in their defense.

Apple won't get a deal that meets its needs unless Samsung and Motorola (or Google) are forced to recognize the fundamentally greater strategic and commercial value of Apple's non-standards-related patents, which are the fruit of independent innovation and independent commercialization as opposed to a company's ability to push its patented ideas into industry standards everyone is forced to implement after a collective of major industry players defines them.

Samsung and Motorola (or Google) would like all patents to be treated in more or less the same way. They give nothing more than lip service to their FRAND licensing obligations. They may hope that the law on this isn't sufficiently settled in major jurisdictions. They look for loopholes in the rules -- including certain opportunities in Germany, where the case law on this is more favorable to them than elsewhere. If they realize at some point that this strategy doesn't work out because of a combination of court rulings, regulatory intervention and Apple's determination to stand its ground, then -- and only then -- Apple will ultimately get the kind of deal it wants. Until then, Apple doesn't even have much to talk about with Samsung and Motorola (or Google).

Sure, you can say Apple is being selfish by not licensing multitouch to one and all, but they never agreed to in the first place. (Are you being a selfish by not letting everyone who wants to come swim in your private home pool?) Samsung and Motorola did agree to let everyone use their patents under FRAND terms so those patents would be become essential to the standard.

Enter the European Union

Now Samsung and Motorola are certainly free to do and to sue what and who they want... up to a point. The European Union has already announced they're investigating Samsung for FRAND abuse, and Motorola may not be far behind. With pressure from Apple on one side, and anti-trust action on the other, it puts them in a delicate position.

In the meantime, Apple can't give in to Samsung and Motorola's unfair, unreasonable, and discriminatory demands, and they can't risk injunctions like the one that was temporarily in effect in Germany last week, becoming permanent before the EU sorts everything out.

Whether or not there will ultimately be a settlement, like the one they achieved with Nokia over similar FRAND patents, only time will tell. All Apple can do for now is continue the careful, iterative defense.

Mueller's whole article, which delves into the patents and legal issues in great detail, is worth a read.

Source: FOSS Patents, x2

Apple has been forced to remove almost all 3G-enabled iPhones and iPads from its online store in Germany, including the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 WiFi + 3G, but NOT including iPhone 4S due to an injunction won by Motorola Mobility. Foss Patents reports:

The leading German news agency, dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), quotes an official Apple statement according to which the company has just removed, as a result of an injunction Motorola won in Mannheim over a FRAND-pledged patents declared essential to an industry standard, several 3G/UMTS-capable products from its German online store: the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4 (but not the iPhone 4S), and all 3G/UMTS-capable iPads.

This all stems from Motorola's December win around a FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) patent pertaining to 3G/UMTS standards. In addition, iCloud users in Germany will no longer have access to push mail over iCloud MobileMe, and will instead need to rely on manually pulling email messages from Apple's servers.

The iPhone 4S was not included because of the difference in the 3G chip configuration. Also, all of the affected units will still be sold through local retailers, including official Apple Stores.

The EU, however, is taking an interest in cases like this, where FRAND patents may or may not be being misused.

The enforcement of a FRAND-pledged standards-essential patent is a major issue. The European Commission is already investigating Samsung because it also "sought injunctive relief" (though unsuccessfully to date) based on such patents. Motorola could be investigated over the same issue, but since the EU is also reviewing Google's proposed acquisition of MMI, it presumably prefers to focus on the merger review, at least for the time being.

Like the injunctions Apple has won and lost against Samsung, this is far from over.

Source: FOSS Patents

[UPDATE]

SlashGear reports the injunction has been suspended, and all Apple 3G-enabled products, including iPhones and iPads, are once again available on Apple's online store.

”All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple’s online store in Germany shortly” the company told us in a statement. “Apple appealed this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago.”

iCloud is still unavailable in Germany, however, as the suspended injunction in question only pertains to the 3G/UMTS patents involved.

Source: SlashGear

It is 46mm square and powered by Android. It features a GPS system, heart rate monitor and wait for it.... Bluetooth so you can use it with wireless headphones; of course it is an MP3 player too. It can also pair with your phone and you can then read text messages and other alerts as well as answer calls using the 1.6-inch touchscreen.

So, a lot of what TiPb has been asking for in an iPod nano watch, only delivered by Moto for Android. And yes, it stings.

The MOTOACTV will be available in early November and comes in two flavors, an 8GB version for $249 and a 16GB version at $299. Apple could do so much more with that iPod nano, what a shame!

Source: Android Central

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Why would Google pay $12.5 billion for Motorola? It cost them 18 months of their profits. It's 3 times what Apple, Microsoft, and a consortium of others paid for Nortel's patents. It's 10 times what HP paid for Palm. Hell, Google is guaranteeing twice as much in break-up penalty alone as HP paid for Palm. Why would a smart company like Google, one that's already sunk untold resources into an OS they essentially give away for free, spend so much of their capital on a single Android licensee for whom profitability is a somewhat distant memory?

Patents is the throw away line, the canard Larry Page foisted at the end of his blog post and the sound bite rival Android ODMs repeated, Stepford-like when welcoming Motorola's new overlord to the Open Handset Alliance table. Were Motorola's patents worth 3 times Nortel's? Were they worth 10 times Palm's? (Especially considering Apple and Microsoft are already suing Motorola and Palm's patents are such that there hasn't even been a whisper of patent-suit in their general direction?)

Likewise set top boxes. Apple calls Apple TV a hobby. Google TV could, perhaps, charitably fall into that category as well. Granted, getting Android software onto the actual cable box is more compelling than an iOS box in addition to a cable box, but the key word in all these equations is "cable". Both traditional land-based cable companies (most of which are monopolies) and satellite companies, (which are duopolies or oligopolies), have vested interests in control and content and they're the ultimate arbiter in which boxes they offer and to whom. (TiVo and Windows Media Centers with cable cards haven't fought their way out of that paper bag yet either.) Is that business worth $12.5 billion?

Let's get Oliver Stone about this for a minute and look at a) where Google makes their money, and b) the historical reason for Androids existence and continued development.

Google makes their money from advertising -- monetize eyeballs and attention -- traditionally off desktop web based search using their AdSense and AdWords engines. The world is moving to mobile, however, and Google being the brilliant company they are, and a one-trick pony being the danger that it is, they've expanded into email based advertising (Gmail), bought into video based advertising (YouTube), finally made a credible beachhead into social networks which could be advertised to (Google+), and have previously bought a leading mobile advertising company (AdMob) to help diversify and position themselves for the future. It's still one pony, but it's learning more tricks.

Android was created by Andy Rubin and team -- the folks who originally brought you the Sidekick -- and bought by Google in a move somewhat at odds with Google's previously web philosophies (which likely accounts for the parallel existence of ChromeOS). While Android doesn't directly allow Google to make money in their traditional way, it provides a platform where Google can do just that. Historically that's important because pre-2007, mobile was owned by RIM's BlackBerry, Palm's (and PalmOS') Treo, and by Google's rival, Microsoft and their licensed Windows Mobile platform. Those, mostly front-facing QWERTY devices with incredibly bad browsers (Blazer, Pocket IE, etc.), defined the industry so much that early Android devices looked exactly like them. And intentionally so. Someone familiar with a Treo or BlackBerry or Windows Mobile Standard device could put one down, pick up an Android, and push aside (no NOC or ActiveSync), get a familiar mobile experience.

That was important to Google because, while they owned advertising, they had no control over the screen needed to display those ads. Conceivably, at some point, Palm or RIM or Microsoft could pull a switch, wall a garden, and lock Google out of a mobile OS as quickly and completely as Facebook has locked them out of a growing portion of the web. (This was never as much of a concern on Windows, which owns most of the desktop market, as it's been subject to such regulatory scrutiny that Microsoft likely couldn't ever do wall up IE, much less Firefox, Opera, or other alternatives.)

Android gave Google a mobile insurance policy -- if any of those then-dominant companies cut them off, Google could pour ad-bucks into replacing them with Android.

Then the iPhone happened, and not only did it revolutionize the smartphone market, it put a useable browser in a smartphone for the first time. Google was so into this idea that then Google CEO and Apple board member, Eric Schmidt, briefly took the stage with Steve Jobs at the iPhone introduction to show Google properties would be right there with it.

Google also immediately stopped efforts at launching a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile Standard clone and began work on iPhone clones. (Much to their credit -- it took most competitors years to come to that realization.) They did that because, once again, regardless of how good a browsing (and advertising) experience iPhone (and subsequent devices like iPod touch and iPad) were, Google didn't own them, and that meant they were now one exclusive search deal with Yahoo! or Bing away from being marginalized from the biggest thing in mobile.

Then, even though Apple owned mobile browsing, Apple introduced the App Store which repackaged the web from browser-centric to app-centric, and into a place much more difficult for Google to present the traditional ads that made up most of their revenue. (Buying AdMob helped, though Apple's back-and-forth policies on what data could be collected and shared didn't.) It wasn't Facebook bad for Google, but it wasn't good.

So Android became even more important, though at equal and opposite cost. To drive adoption and win market share, Google gave Android away for free, under a very manufacturer- and carrier-friendly Apache license. Verizon licensed "Droid" from George Lucas, put together a great ad campaign with some well differentiated hardware from Motorola, while HTC and Google collaborated on the Nexus One, and suddenly Google was back in the mainstream and geek-centric mobile games. (Honeycomb, not so much as it is but as it will be after a few more iterations, was a very similar response to iPad and its share of mobile web traffic.)

But manufacturer- and carrier-friendly Apache licenses are bastards to deal with in the real world. Verizon put out a phone with Google stripped out and Bing stripped in, destroying the very reason for Android's existence in the first place. AT&T locked out sideloading. Manufacturers secured bootloaders. Carriers everywhere began pre-installing crapware. China forked Android. Could Verizon one day do the same? Could Amazon? vOS or AmazonOS with Bing everywhere, and Google forced to bid for placement on the very platform they'd spent their resources developing and promoting? (Hey, the JooJoo2 -- sorry, Grid 10 -- reduces Android to a kernel with Amazon appstore and Bing search sitting on top of the revenue layer.) Companies like Skyhook even tried to take Google out of the data collection loop, resulting in the first real, public example of Google retaliating with what Android power they still had left (and also resulting in a lawsuit from Skyhook questioning how Google wields that power.)

At the same time, Samsung started to grow their own OS with Bada, HTC was making Windows Phones, and Motorola bought a company that could, conceivably, give them their own version of webOS one day. (While HP made some noise about licensing webOS itself.)

Meanwhile Microsoft and Apple began suing Android ODMs, Microsoft in an effort to make Android more expensive and Apple in an effort to make it less usable. HTC agreed to pay Microsoft $5 a unit, making it a credible threat. Apple hasn't achieved much of anything other than temporary -- and overturned -- sales injunctions but that could change. While Google makes little off Android handsets today (conversely, Apple owns 66% of mobile profits), making nothing is much, much worse. The idea of losing "free" and losing the UI candy and UX touches that make iPhone so popular once again showed Google that even with Android it still wasn't in control of its own destiny.

Google still lacked a manufacturing arm that could, if everyone and everything else turned against them -- if Samsung forked Android or went all in on Bada, if HTC switched to Windows Phone, if LG inked an exclusive deal with webOS or rebuilt it themselves -- produce mobile products that still offered great value and great experience and did so with Google's software and services inextricably and irremovably backed in.

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Motorola.

Sure, there's some risk that, with the Motorola deal, Google will alienate licensees and, ironically, drive them exactly where Google was afraid of -- Bada and Windows Phone and webOS, etc. But Google has shown time and time again they'd rather be secure in and of themselves even if it costs them a partner (like Apple on iOS, Skyhook and mapping companies, etc.)

Motorola brings a second pony to Google's show, a gateway to potentially Apple-like hardware profits in both mobile and set top boxes that also happens to have some patents. But most importantly --

Like Android has been from the beginning, it remains today -- insurance for Google, and in that regard, Google just doubled down and upped their policy by $12.5 billion.

Apple Chief Financial Officer, Peter Oppenheimer, was asked what he thought about Android maker Google's intent to purchase handset maker Motorola Mobility during a Gleacher & Company conference call. Oppenhemier's response?

“$12.5 billion is a lot of money."

Indeed.

[Cult of Mac]

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[Android Central]

Holy heck! Waking up to the news of Google buying Motorola Mobility just shows you how fast our industry is moving and changing. But what does it mean for Apple, iPhone and iPad? Will Google really continue to run Motorola "as is" without much change, and Droids and Xooms will just come out again as they came out before? Or will Google start to copy the Apple model more and give Motorola exclusive Nexus handsets with much better, and even more competitive integration? Or will HTC, Samsung, and other Android OEMs feel screwed by this whole deal and start looking more seriously at Windows Phone or maybe even webOS, resulting in less choice for consumers on the Android side?

What do you think, TiPb Nation? Will Motorola for one welcome their new overlords and remain status quo, or is this the beginning of a new galactic order when it comes to iPhone and iPad competition? Vote in the poll above and give me your analysis in the comments below!

Google has just announced that they're buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in an attempt to supercharge the Android platform. While the move will bring Google into the handset manufacturing business for the first time, potentially setting them up to deliver the same type of unified, integrated experience Apple is famous for, Google maintains they'll be running Motorola as a separate business. Which raises some important questions:

1. How will the play out for other Android licensees like HTC and Samsung? (Microsoft making the Zune killed the PlaysForSure alliance.)
2. Will all future Nexus-type devices come from Motorola going forward?
3. Will all future Motorola phones run stock Android going forward? (no more Blur.)
4. Is Motorola's patent portfolio strong enough to provide cover against Microsoft and Apple lawsuits?

Quotes from Larry Page and Sanjay Jha after the break.

[Google PR, Google Blog, Android Central coverage]

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

Just to remind us that Google will still be Google -- unabashedly hypocritical to the last -- Page added the following by way of the Official Google Blog:

We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

Are "anti-competitive patent attacks" worse than "anti-competitive patent violations"? Google's a big boy company now, facing regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits over their own practices, including their treatment of rival SkyHook, so how about we can the rhetoric and just make us some great new Googlerola phones, would you please?

UDPATE 1: Google's ODM partners have responded to the news... in a way that makes us suspect Google snuck into their houses late last night and replaced them all with Android-powered Replicants. [Android Central]

Peter Chou, CEO, HTC:

“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”

Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson:

“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”

Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D, President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company:

“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”

J.K. Shin, President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division:

"We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem."

Yeah, like Georgia said, "we welcome our new Motogoog overlords..."

Update 2: GigaOm is reporting that Microsoft wanted to buy Motorola first, to use their patents to further sink Android, which is what brought Google to the table. [GigaOm

Our good friend Phil over at AndroidCentral managed to capture a video showing off the Motorola Xoom tablet at CES. The Motorola Xoom could bring some real competition to not only the iPad but the iPad 2 as well. Packing a dual core 1Ghz processor, 10.1-inch (1280 x 800 and 16:10 aspect ratio) display, 2-mega-pixel front facing camera, 5-mega-pixel rear facing camera, microSD slot, HDMI out and a whopping 1024Mb of RAM.

The Xoom will run Android Honeycomb and supports Adobe Flash. Availability is said to be first quarter of this year and exclusive to Verizon. No details on pricing yet.

Strangely, LTE won't come immediately and will require a hardware update later. SD card support will require a software update.

The video is after the break,  make sure you visit AndroidCentral for more details and hands on pictures, then pop back and  let us know what you think of this one in the comments!

[AndroidCentral]

It looks as if Motorola is trying to build some hype around their upcoming tablet which will be announced at CES 2011. This ad also pretty much confirms the fact that it will be running Honeycomb as well. The current teaser ad is quite humorous as it compares famous tablets through the centuries such as the Rosetta Stone, the Egyptian Hieroglyphic tablet, the Mayan calendar tablet, and you guessed it - the iPad. The video basically spans hundreds of years and weighs out the pros and cons of each tablet.

When the video reaches the iPad, it's only described as -

"It's like a giant iPhone, but... it's like a giant iPhone."

It then proceeds to pan out and look at the Galaxy Tab, which they list running a mobile OS as a con. The whole campaign is quite intriguing. Do you guys think the iPad is like a giant iPhone or do you think that's just the best Motorola could come up with? I still think a better comparison (read: fair) will be able to be made when the iPad 2 is announced.

Hit the jump to watch the ad for yourself!

[Android Central]

Come next week Verizon users still waiting for a mythical iPhone 4 all their own will get Motorola's latest, greatest new Android offering -- the Droid X -- to hold them over. And Verizon users with no interest in anything Apple will have the new king of Google's ever growing hill to play with.

The original Motorola Droid on Verizon was arguably the first smartphone to really give the iPhone 3GS a run for it's money. However, it came out months after the iPhone 3GS when hype had abated somewhat, and it's Droid Does list included things like multitasking, which iOS 4 now Does Too. That means while Droid X is a better, badder phone, it has a tougher challenge ahead of it as well.

If size matters, the Droid X is bigger... 4.3" of screen but with less pixels, at a lower density, and without iPhone 4's IPS Retina Display panel.

It's got a bigger 8 megapixel camera on the back to iPhone 4's 5 megapixels. But iPhone 4 has a back-illuminated sensor that isn't as chopped up, which should mean better low-light pictures, and iOS 4 camera software while less feature-filled still seems to produce better images with just a touch of the tap-to-focus-and-balance. iPhone 4 also has a front-facing camera (and FaceTime), Droid X don't.

3 external mics on the Droid X, including one for video camera work trump iPhone 4's two mics. iPhone 4 does have a gyroscope, though. And yeah, Droid X has got dual antenna. Ouch. Otherwise they're both monsters on the spec sheet.

In terms of apps Apple's App Store still wins on sheer number, though Google's Android Market retains bragging rights on being more open.

Droid X is only running Android 2.1 Eclair right now, though a turbo-boosting 2.2 Froyo update is on the horizon. So, a lot may come down to whether you like Droid X's "don't call it MotoBlur" UI, which seems quicker and cleaner than the CLIQ if not as spartan as the original Droid. iOS 4 on the other hand is iOS 4, there's only one iPhone and one interface on the market at any time.

Strangely, that may mean the Motorola Droid X will face stiffer competition from something other than Apple's iPhone 4. Verizon already has the HTC Droid Incredible, Sprint the HTC Evo 4G, and every carrier and their subsidiary seems poised to get a Samsung Galaxy S class-device, including Verizon with the Facinate. As we've mentioned before, in a world where Apple releases one major iPhone a year, and Android can drop 8 news phones in a weekend, it gives any one new Android as much competition from within as without. And that's great for Android lovers.

So is the Droid X currently iPhone 4's big nemesis? If you live in the US and don't want AT&T, it's definitely a phone to look at if you're in the market today. If not, wait a week or more. AT&T might drop a tower in your backyard and Google might just drop 5 more Android's on another carrier.

Great time to be a consumer!

Motorola's full page New York Times ad takes a swift jab into the tenderest regions of iPhone 4 antenna issues.

most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls. You have a voice. And you deserve to be heard.

In our minds (and tweets) it played out like the original Karate Kid, with Droid X getting it's iPhone 4-bloodied nose seen to by the Moto Kai sensei who mercilessly whispers "sweep the leg" "go for the antenna".

Whether or not iPhone-san can pull out an iOS 4.0.1 crane-kick of a software fix and get its victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat Hollywood ending remains to be seen...

"Send in a bumper case, yeaaaaaaah!"

[@sarahintampa via Android Central]

No starker contrast could be drawn between Apple's iPhone 4 strategy and Google's Android than this past week where iPhone 4 made its traditional once-a-year debut -- just as Motorola showed off a new Verizon Droid X, T-Mobile Charm, AT&T Flipout, and Samsung announced the Galaxy S-class Sprint Epric 4G, Verizon Facinate, T-Mobile Vibrant, AT&T Captivate, and an as yet unbranded US cellular Galaxy S as well.

Only some of these have been officially announced, but even that number dwarfs Apple's once-a-year iPhone release schedule. That they're coming out around iPhone 4 launch, and iPhone 4 is a strong contender in the market right now (1.7 million in 3 days strong) is interesting. That Google and their manufacturing partners could keep up this pace in 3 months, 6 months, and when iPhone 4 is starting to show its age in 8 months is... something else.

Personally I -- and most importantly my early-adapter-pained wallet -- enjoy Apple's annual cycle. I don't know how Phil Nickinson from our sibling site Android Central survives some weeks. To always have a new phone to look forward to is exciting -- and terrifying. Ask me again in January though, and I might be itching for that iPhone 5...

Do you feel you benefit as an iPhone user from Apple staying focused on that one, integrated, end-to-end handset you own for the better part of a year? Or do you think Google's approach of hardware partners launching new devices, on different network, all the time will lead to greater innovation in the end? Focus can lead to stagnation, fragmentation to loss of direction. Maybe having both approaches in the market, pushing each other, is the best thing for all users?

Even as iPhone 4 goes out for delivery, and reservists start lining up at Apple Stores, Motorola, Google, Adobe, and Verizon announced the Droid X, the latest, best Android on the planet.

Our good friend Phil from Android Central was there to live-blog all the news live as it happened, and even now is going hands-on with the Droid X, but we managed to tear the spec-sheet away from him long enough to update our joint fact sheet on all things iPhone 4 vs. Android.

For easy reference, here are the Droid X stats gone solo:

• Huge 4.3", 16:9, 854x480 screen (that's 400,000 pixels)
• HDMI out and DLNA support
• 1GHz TI OMAP processor
• Full Flash 10.1 (not available at launch, waiting on Froyo 2.2)
• 8 gigs on board and a 16gig card included, but compatible with 32gig SD cards for a total potential memory of 40 gigs
• 512mb RAM
• 8 megapixel camera that captures 720p HD video
• Three microphones (outward-facing for video, noise-canceling, and regular)
• a 1570mAh battery, which should be 'comparable to the Droid 1' on battery life
• GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, naturally
• Wi-Fi Hotspot with support for tethering up to 5 devices will also be available for an additional $20 per month with a 2 gig cap.

Good on Android for getting around previous app storage constraints, and for keeping the push on for Wi-Fi Hot Spot. It won't be released until July 15 but announcing now lets them get b-roll on iPhone 4 coverage so, smart. (Though some are playing this off as more competition to the Evo 4G than the iPhone 4).

Anyway you slice it, this is a big Droid. But is it big enough to go one-on-one with iPhone 4 and iOS 4?

Phil and I got a demo of the Motorola XH1 Bluetooth headset [$109.95 (30% off!) - iMore Store Link] at CES 2010 and I've been road testing it ever since. The real in-ear, bone-conducting technology was intriguing, and since I really liked the Moto H17, I was curious to see how this one would stack up. So, let's take a look after the break!

Technology

The Motorola XH1 fights the war against noise with three levels of technology. It will normally cancel any background noise it finds. If that's not enough, it's CrystalTalk dual-mic system will kick in to actively cancel things like wind. I left the windows open during my daily highway commute (yes, in freezing Montreal winters -- what I won't do for our readers!) and most of the people I spoke to couldn't hear a sound.

And then there's the nu-cu-lar option, Stealth Mode, which actually turns off the mics entirely and instead reads the sound vibrations in your ear and converts that digitally into sound. It's not quite human, of course, but from the show floor at CES to the loudest places I could find in Montreal -- where I thought it would be useless -- it remained understandable.

Wearability

In order to do the Stealth Mode bone conduction, the XH1 has to burrow rather deeply into your ear. To me it felt a little deeper than even your standard in-ear headset. I'll admit, I found it rather intrusive at first but I'm hypersensitive about that kind of thing and even I got used to it after a couple days. It is the price you pay for bone conduction.

Other than that, the ear loop and fit were great for me, and I've said repeatedly my grappling mashed ears aren't very tolerant of poor fit. Like all of Moto's recent headsets it comes with a few different earpieces so you have a good chance of finding a great match.

Functionality

Unlike the H17 which has the boom flip-to-turn-on feature, the HX1 has an actual on-off switch, but it works well enough. Pushing the button activates the iPhone 3GS' Voice Control feature so you can speak to dial the phone, play or shuffle music, etc. Holding down the button will repeat the last call. There are also volume controls and the welcome standard of a micro-USB charging port with no finicky "door" cover to get in your way and ultimately break off.

Conclusion

Overall, the HX1's noise cancelation is among the best in the business and its looks are obviously intended to be more "executive" as well. I still prefer the boom on the H17 as on/off is just so easy with that design, but the XH1 is top of the line for a reason.

If you want a high-end headset that legitimately boasts "Star Trek" style technology, the XH1 definitely deserves a look... er, listen! (And hey, it's currently 30% off at the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store to boot!)

Disclaimer: the Motorola XH1 Bluetooth headset was provided for review by TiPb’s iPhone accessory store.

The Motorola Endeavor HX1 is the latest salvo in the Bluetooth noise-reduction arms race, and it takes it to another level -- reading the bone vibrations in your inner ear and digitally converting those vibrations into recognizable speech. That's right, when regular microphones fail, when even noise-reduction won't work, Motorola is actually turning off the microphone entirely and reproducing what you say based on sound waves in your skull. It won't sound as good as a mic, however, but in a crowded place like the floor of CES 2010, rather than a dull, indistinguishable crowd roar, you can actually be heard.

Video after the break!

[UPDATE: And the iMore Store folks told me they just got the Motorola Endeavor HX1 in stock, and it's on sale 31% off, if the video entices...]

[YouTube video link]

The very first time I used the capacitive touchscreen of an iPhone it was clear that there was no other mobile device on the market that could match it's performance. Now, a few years later, that still holds true for most of us and if you'd like proof labs.moto.com has performed a touchscreen stress test.

The iPhone’s touch sensor showed the most linear tracking with the least amount of stair-stepping. The Droid Eris and Nexus One tied for second with only faint wiggling – but actually performed best at the edge of the screen. Last in the line-up was the Motorola Droid, which demonstrated significant wavy artifacts or “stair-stepping.”

Something to keep in mind, the MOTO Development Group used more sophisticated tools to test touchscreen accuracy but the above video simply demonstrates a technique any of you can use to evaluate the accuracy of your own device.

At the end of the day it all comes down to touchscreen hardware and the integration of that hardware with software and user interaction development. Was there really any doubt of which device would come out on top?

Video after the break...

[labs.moto.com via Techcrunch]

The following Top 5 iPhone Bluetooth Headsets guide is sponsored by the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store

The holidays are fast approaching and what a better last minute gift to give than a fancy new Bluetooth headset! With so many choices out there we figured many of you could use some help choosing the right headset. Today we'd like to give you our top five headsets available within TiPb's iPhone Accessory store! Our picks are as follows:

• BlueAnt Q1
• Plantronics Discovery 975
• Jawbone Prime
• Motorola H17
• Motorola MOTOROKR S305

For the full rundown follow us after the break!

BlueAnt Q1

We are going to start off with my current personal favorite headset, the BluAnt Q1 voice controlled stereo Bluetooth headset. [$99.95 - iMore Store Link]

Out of all of the headsets I've tested, the Q1 is by far the only one I could leave on a full work day and not even realize I'd be wearing it. It is also one of the very few headsets that gets updates via firmware with the latest update enabling stereo Bluetooth along with some other small features. And top it off with top of the line audio quality and you have yourself an excellent choice of stereo Bluetooth headset.

Be sure to check out our full review of the Q1.

Plantronics Discovery 975

I will admit that I am currently testing this headset and will be posting a full review in the coming weeks and without giving you my full impressions I will say the Plantronics Discovery 975 [$119.95 - iMore Store Link] is indeed a quality headset.

Not only do you get the simplicity of one-touch controls, dual-mic AudioIQ² and WindSmart technologies to keep your conversations crisp and clear you also get a portable carrying case that doubles as a wireless charger on the go which is really a nice touch. Again, a full review is coming but definitely a headset worth picking up!

Jawbone Prime

Next up we have a headset that Rene put in such high regard with his full review a few months back, the Jawbone Prime. [$109.95 - iMore Store Link]

The main selling point of the Jawbone is it's top of the line noise cancellation, aka "NoiseAssasin". No other headset on the market gives you better noise cancellation. And to top it off you get a plethora of colors to choose from - black, platinum, green, brown, yellow, purple, and red. To top it off they are all in stock in our store. Double bonus.

Motorola H17

The Moto H17 [$89.95 - iMore Store Link] is Dieter's choice of Bluetooth headset and for a few good unique reasons.

There are those times where you need to run out of the house along with your headset but you forgot to plug it into the charger the night before, good thing the H17 has a rapid charge feature. 15 minutes of charging gets you a bit over 2 hours of talk time. Now throw in Moto's "Crystal Talk" technology for incoming sound quality and you have one heck of good headset. This is a headset you can not go wrong with.

Motorola MOTOROKR S305

Now the Motorola MOTOROKR S305 [$49.95 - iMore Store Link] is not your typical Bluetooth headset, for the money they are the best wireless stereo headphones currently available for purchase.

Sporting great sound they are extremely lightweight and fit comfortably with the out of ear 1.2-inch ear pods. The S305 is perfect for those looking for a wireless headphone solution to bring to the gym or even if you want to enjoy your music lounging around your home. Get an incoming call while listening to your music, not a problem

For more information be sure to check out our full review.

If we happened to miss your favorite Bluetooth headset and you feel it deserves a nod, feel free to share it in the comments for others!

Actor Luke Wilson and AT&T are at it once again and this time they want you to know all about AT&T's rollover minutes. Yes, it is true that AT&T lets you use your unused monthly minutes but keep in mind, they eventually do expire after a year if you do not use them. We do not mean to keep beating the same drum but come on AT&T, quit spending money, time, and effort on these mediocre commercials and spend time on making your network better for everyone.

As AT&T keeps pumping out the commercials Verizon/Motorola are not sitting quietly on the sidelines. They've gone and released another Droid commercial that takes aim at, you guessed it, Apple's iPhone. This latest commercial caters to the male consumers and pretty much paints the iPhone as being nothing more than "pretty". Smart move as Motorola continues to beat Apple in brand loyalty with males 18 years old and up.

[Thanks to matrix2004 for the tip!]

View the new Droid commercial after the break!

According to a study, Motorola recently surpassed Apple in brand loyalty among men 18 years old and up since the release of the Droid on the Verizon network. The study by YouGov's BrandIndex scale ranges from -100 to 100 and is based on weekday interviews with 2,000 interviews per day from a panel of 250,000 people.

This past week Apple has dropped from a November peak high of 48.1 to 22 and Motorola is staying strong with 29.3 with an error margin of +/- 2 percent. The real loser in all of this? Research and Motion and their BlackBerry smartphones as they have dropped to a lonely 9 in the study.

All of this may have started from the much talked about Verizon map and Droid commercials. It would seem that the first round of the Verizon vs AT&T battle has gone in favor of Big Red and Motorola. It should be interesting to see if the latest iPhone commercials will be able to swing things back into Apple's favor.

[Via AppleInsider]

Update: Boy Genius has an advanced preview up for the Droid rocking Android 2.0. His take away:

The Droid isn’t an iPhone competitor because nothing at this point in time is an iPhone competitor besides the new iPhone. And things don’t have to be right now. Everyone can eat. So will the Motorola Droid be successful? Absolutely, we think. It will eat in to BlackBerry sales, Windows Mobile sales, and positively murder any lingering Palm Pre sales. It’s that good. Did you notice how Verizon still hasn’t announced the BlackBerry Storm2?

Original: This time it wasn't the blogshinobi who leaked more details on Verizon's upcoming Motorola Droid "iPhone Killer", but good old Moto itself, according to Android Central:

Motorola just went live with the official Droid webpage and it went into beautifully excruciating detail about this most anticipated device. The early publishing of the website is no longer available but Motorola's mistake is our gain, now we don't have to wait til October 28th to get the nitty gritty specs.

And those specs are a fairly impressive:

• Android 2.0 'Eclair'
• 3.7-inch WVGA (480x854), 16:9 touchscreen
• 550 MHz processor
• 6 oz (169g)
• 2.4 x 4.6 x.5 inches (60x115.80x13.70mm)
• 3.5mm headphone jack (yes, HTC has now made this a feature for Android)
• Broswer will support Flash 10 in 2010
• Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, microUSB (comes with 16gb microSDHC card)
• 1400 mAh battery (rated at nearly 6 and a half hours of usage time)
• 5 megapixel camera with image stabilization, 4x zoom, dual-led Flash, and auto-focus
• the color is listed as: 'Licorice w/ brown sugar accents'

So Android is now taking a page from Windows Mobile and really pushing the hardware. Is this finally enough to force Apple into raising its own spec game? (TiPb did ask for an iPhone HD last year already). And if so, will next June be soon enough to keep the new generation of competitors at bay?

Or were Tim Cook and Fake Steve (twice) right, that usability and unified platform are the killer iPhone advantages, and on those terms, Apple is still way ahead of the competition?

If the latter, should Windows Mobile (which uses the same split software model and hardware partners), and BlackBerry (which used to have Verizon's spotlight) be worried?

20 years before there was Verizon's iPhone iDoesn't... and Droid does campaign, there was Sega Does and Nintendon't.

Be interesting to see if it works out better for Droid than it did for Sega...

[via Daring Fireball]

Just a few days ago Verizon started their iDoesn't campaign specifically targeting Apple's iPhone. Well late last night images started to emerge all over the blogs, including our very own Android Central, giving us a sneak peek to what may be some legitimate iPhone competition. After a hands on, BGR came away mighty impressed. Here are just a few of the highlights spotlighted by BGR:

• It’s thin. Just slightly thicker than an iPhone 3GS and the thinnest QWERTY-slider we’ve ever seen.
• It is the fastest Android device we’ve ever used. (It’s running a TI OMAP3430 processor)
• Awesome capacitive display. Plus it’s huge. Easily the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android handset, and an amazing screen overall.

The specs seem impressive but I'm not sold on the look of the device yet. What are your thoughts on this new Motorola Android device? Do you think Apple is shaking in their boots? Let us know in the comments!

[Via Android Central via BGR]

First up, the highly anticipated HTC Hero is in Android Central's house, and Casey gives us a look at the decidedly non-Google Android phone and SenseUI, something closer akin to HTC's previous Windows Mobile powered TouchFLO3D. And we think he likes it:

We believe that you’ll be stunned at how easy it is to use and how polished it all works. If you’re looking from the myTouch 3G or T-Mobile G1, you can’t help but be jealous of the Hero. The UI offers a great experience while still maintaining the same lovely Android and even adds a better browser! We have no hesitation in saying that the HTC Hero is the best Android phone available and after using HTC Sense, will be for quite some time.

Next up, I don't think we've ever mentioned "Motorola" and "competition" to the iPhone in the same paragraph before, but with the introduction of the CLIQ, their first device running Google's Android OS, do we have to stop chuckling at the mere concept?

Maybe. We often say (okay, Chad often says) that Apple designed the iPhone for RAZR users -- the first dead-simple, consumer-friendly smartphone. Well Moto built the RAZR, and now they've built MOTOBLUR, a new, hyper-social network focused new layer on top of Android designed to hook the heart of the Twitter/FaceBook generation (yes, Icebike, I campout firmly in the former). And they've put it on a G1/Dream-style horizontal slider.

Have they succeeded? Engadget says:

Let's be very clear: though it fares pretty competitively against the aging crop of Google-powered devices on the market today, the CLIQ isn't the Android phone to end all Android phones. Then again, it's not supposed to be -- at least, we hope it isn't -- because a smallish HVGA display and an overworked, outmatched MSM7201A core aren't going to win any believers that haven't already been won over by HTC's stable. What the CLIQ does do, though, is lay the groundwork for something better -- a Motorola that doesn't cause eyes to roll, a Motorola that makes aspirational phones that people can want to own again.

One thing's clear, however. The competition is focusing on the social networks, something Apple's never been historically good at, and something they may still not quite understand. Is it an achilles heel for the iPhone? Not yet, especially not with the App Store. But there's no MOTOBLUR or widgets or Synergy in the App Store yet, and likely there won't be given SDK restrictions. So, Apple, howsabout 4.0?

The Motorola MOTOROKR S305 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones [$49.95 - iMore Store link] for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G are great for enjoying your music on the go. Whether you're on your daily jog or spending some time in the gym, these headphones are the perfect fit that will not hurt your wallet.

Read more after the break!

I'll be honest and say I have never been a fan of Bluetooth stereo headphones but Motorola's S305 has recently made me a fan. All of you active people out there can put these headphones to good use. Heck, with what these headphones actually bring to the table, you can take full advantage of them while lounging around your home.

In the box you get the S305 wireless stereo headphones, microUSB travel charger, and getting started guide. Syncing to your iPhone is a breeze and once you are all set up you can enjoy your music and phone calls with high performance and remarkable wireless sound up to 33 feet - priceless.

For those of you who are not a fan of in-ear earbuds, you are in luck with the S305's very comfy setup. These headphones are extremely lightweight and fit comfortably with the out of ear 1.2-inch pods. On the outside of one of the pod's housing you get some controls - audio track navigation, volume, and call controls. Along with the comfortable fit you also get a excellent battery life. Expect a talk time of up 6.5 hours, music time of 6 hours, and standby time of up to 4 days.

The Motorola MOTOROKR S305 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones are not too shabby. With their very low price point of $49.95, you can't go wrong.

Learn More and Purchase via TiPb's iPhone Store >>

In the Box

The Motorola H15 box contains with the headset, two additional ear cushions for comfort, cradle and charge cable (it is not a USB cable, but it plugs into the headset and cradle only, not the computer).

Design

The Motorola H15 is one sweet looking headset! It is not only lightweight, but has a transparent earloop and a couple or selectable ear pieces with a flip microphone. The best way to describe the H15 is that is an evolution of the 700. There is also and accompanying charge cradle which makes for an excellent accessory addition. The noise cancellation feature is one of the main selling points of this device and Motorola states that it is best noise-cancellation headset currently available.

Daily Use

I found the noise-cancellation to work really well. I could not find any supportive documentation in Motorola's claims that it is the best (the Jawbone headsets are spectacular) however, I can honestly say that none of my call recipients ever complained of any poor call quality due to background noise from driving, shopping, etc. The flip microphone is one of my favorite features. It seems simple enough, but not all headsets implement it; the microphone flips to open and doubles as an on/off switch for the headset. The transparent earloop is quite handy and is somewhat invisible. It keeps the headset in place in conjunction with the ear piece.

Speaking of the ear piece, I swear I have malformed ear canals. Every headset I have used with an ear piece never seems to fit properly. However, this is the closest I have come across (yes, even better than the Jawbone). There are three included ear piece sizes to choose from, however, only one seems to work best for me with extended use; but one is all you need, right?

One of the really nice benefits to this headset is the cradle. I don't know about you, but I loathe having to plug my headsets into random wall sockets only to have my headset fall on the floor because it is not stationary. So the cradle Motorola provides is a great help to me; I have it sitting next to my iPhone on my desk and it's safe and stationary. There is also a light on the front indicating charge status, so you know when you are good to go.

The other convenient feature about this headset is that it is tested with over 200 existing phones. This is great because sometimes you might want to use the headset with an additional phone, or let your significant other or friend borrow your headset, and it may not work. This device is thoroughly tested to work with a wide variety of models.

Conclusion

It seems that lately I am on a stellar track of reviewing awesome accessories for the iPhone and the Motorola H15 does not disappoint. I love the look and feel, the call quality, comfort and cradle. All of these variables combine into a great, well-rounded Bluetooth headset. If you are looking for a headset in this price range, you cannot go wrong with the H15!

Pros:

• One of the hottest looking headsets (IMO)
• Very lightweight
• Love the collapsible flip boom for power on/off
• Comfortable transparent earloop to help keep the headset in place

Cons:

• No glaring negative issues!
• More ear cushion sizes would be nice
• True USB cable to plug directly into your computer for charging

TiPb’s Rating:

Motorola's RAZR stood atop cellular handsets in the US, in terms of sales, for the past 3 years. Well as of today, it stands no longer. According to the market research firm NPD, enter in our new #1: iPhone 3G.

Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD said:

"The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality, four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features."

It seems U.S. consumers are looking for a few good but common features. 43 percent of consumers stated they needed a camera, while another 36 percent needed the ability to send SMS messages. Phones with a physical QWERTY keyboard showed the greatest year-over-year rise in sales. 30 percent of devices sold happened to have QWERTY keyboards, which was up 11 percent from the previous year.

All of this news coming days after it was announced that Apple has taken the number 2 smartphone spot away from RIM. And that is worldwide, not just in the US. Life must be grand for Steve Jobs...

It has taken Apple a very short time to reach this position, would it be wise to assume that it is only a matter of time for it to become #1 worldwide?

[Via Appleinsider]

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Zilch again. Nadda. We're too busy getting ready to cover the no doubt universe denting news Apple will unleash at "Let's Rock" on Tuesday. And, frankly, so is the competition. Face it, they've been quiet as little blue-OLED mice lately.

Blackberryboss Lazeridis is all dressed up like Leo Laporte and is already lining up in San Francisco to find out what Apple's releasing this year... so he can release it next. Palm-Top Colligan's not releasing anything new until Nova ships sometime in 2012, and Larry and Sergey have shifted the focus off Android and onto their new Chrome browser, which we just know they've been running on gLinux in-house for years but is somehow only released (in what will not doubt be perpetual Beta) for Windows.

And speaking of Windows, Steve Ballmer's off preparing an extra-special CES-sized Monkey Boy dance (YouTube it) for his first adult Keynote since Bill Gates retired to make $10,000,000 mockumentaries with Jerry Seinfeld (Wikipedia him).

No doubt they'll return to their usually scheduled schedules next week, and so will we!

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Boldly browsing (or not), AppClones, HTC's dreaming, and Treo requiem.

The Bold and the Buggered

We can't even make fun of this. Seriously. It harshens even our mellow. Crackberry Kevin spent days and days simply trying to get a freaking javascript enabled website to load up on his state-of-the-RIM Blackberry Bold, and basically every other Bold he could get his addicted fingers on, and word is he's still waiting for the progress bar to hit 2%.

Yeesh, who does RIM think it is, shipping a buggy, clearly pre-release firmware on one of the most hotly anticipated handsets of the year? Apple?

Official List of Blackberry OS 4.6 Features and Enhancements

First!

Okay. Fine. Crackberry.com deserves some bragging rights over predicting the new RIM iClone... er... Touchscreen Blackberry would be called both the Thunder and the Storm. However, as any long term reader of this column (hi mom!) knows, WE were the first ones to bust out ThunderStorm and it's inherent brando-confuso. NOT them. Us. So on behalf the the TWiSS nation:

Nailed it!

(And when Microsoft finally unveils WinVistaZuneMob for Windows Live! (Technology Preview), we'll be right back to claim credit for that to!)

That Ain't a Browser

While they may handle Javascript better than the Bold (and likely Flash better than the iPhone!), Crackberry claiming Nokia leads in "Mobile Bowsers" just because they've jammed a WAP rendering engine on 8 kazillion frighteningly insecure feature phones is like claiming Microsoft Paint is the premiere graphics package in the world just because it ships on every Windows PC since 3.1 (Take that, Photoshop!).

When it comes to the really realz browser champion of the world, if Crackberry even dreams of calling it any other way, they better wake up and apologize to the iPhone...

Putting the Carts Before the Stores

First came the iPhone, then came the iClones. Next came the App Store, so now we're getting the Aped Stores. Kinda. Google is doing one for Android called Market (because it's not a store, get it?), which has no production units yet, and it looks like Microsoft is doing one for Windows Mobile Se7en called SkyMarket, which has no modern SDK.

We suppose it stands to reason that, what with the App Store making developers money handset over fist, all the commodity OS makers would try to duplicate it. Would that they would spend half the time or effort, however, duplicating the innovative spirit and business prescience that drove App Store.

(And seriously, SkyMarket?! To fit in so perfectly with Xbox Marketplace and Zune Marketplace? What, we're supposed to believe Windows Mobile Marketplace was taken? Does it tie in to SkyDrive, and leverage Mesh? Could Microsoft's branding be anymore broken? We can't even make fun of it anymore, because every week they come out with something funnier than we ever could... yeesh!)

Does Android Dream of Engadget Peeps?

We've got to give full faith and credit to HTC, they actually made manifest a handset that so totally embodies the palette and yet completely misses the spirit of the Google home page. Bravo-oh.

Given the 87 fold out slider keyboards this gPhone sports, however, why couldn't they squeeze in a hardware button for "I'm feeling lucky"?

Xperia'ncing Delays

HTC must be super busy pumping out phones for Google, Palm, and... themselves, what with Sony being pushed back to 2009 (which can feel like decades in gadget time). We could joke that they're waiting on WinVistaMob for Windows Live! Se7en (Technology Preview) to hit, but that's more likely to be 2012 on the outside... What's especially confusion is that Dieter actually used the Xperia waaaaaaay back in April and it seemed to be working fine. His thoughts on the delay?

Good luck to ya, SE, given how long you've been working on this since we saw it, we suspect you're going to need it.

You Only Look Twice, Mr. Bohn

Speaking of Dieter, his mega-super-ultra-everything-plus-the-kitchen-sync-and-pipes Treo Pro review is now online, finishing the "beauty and beast" double feature that began with the 800w a month back. As we're unlikely to see any more Treo's out of Palm this year, and certainly nothing rocking NovaOS 2.0 (What comes after Garnet and Cobalt anyway... Kryptonite?) it's be best to savor these. The truly masochistic among us might even want to join Malatesta for second look...

Bluetooth headsets are becoming increasingly popular, on a common day you’d run into plenty of people using these hands-free devices. Some make you look like a bionic man, others simply look bland, but there are a rare few that makes your head turn. The Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset ($89.95) falls in that head-turner, borderline sexy category.

Sculpted to be no larger than a quarter, the Motorola H9 is sleek, lightweight, and unmistakably TINY. How can they fit a capable Bluetooth Headset in such a small package? Does it sacrifice performance for the sake of good looks? Is it even useful?

Read on for the rest of the review!

Design

Obviously, with such a strong emphasis on the size of the Motorola H9, it better be jaw droppingly small and impressive. And to that fact, it is, the headset is amazingly small yet it still manages to remain sturdy and look sleek.

A blue indicator light illuminates the shiny silver on the front face of the Bluetooth headset. Though eye-catching to most, some may find it annoying so pressing all of the control buttons can turn it off. But there is no denying that the Motorola H9 is one of the better looking Bluetooth headsets available, its combination of good looks and superb build quality makes it without a doubt, a high end set.

However, with such a strong emphasis on the size and design, Motorola keeps the functions of the H9 to a minimum. The key control is simple—a main multi button and standard volume buttons. The H9 is designed as an in-ear headset, so those that dislike the in-ear design should obviously stay away. Also, though the headset is tiny in size, it is a bit thicker than expected.

Usability

Because of the H9’s in-ear design the headset will take some getting used to. Though the lightweight of the H9 helps this issue, the in-ear design may not be for everyone. Also, It doesn’t come with an ear loop so though it is secure for daily use—running or even light jogging will probably dislodge the headset.

The fit is decent, after you get used to the in-ear design it slowly grows on you. It isn’t immediately comfortable like those from the Plantronics Line but it’s not uncomfortable either. The fit will probably boil down to how forgiving you are of in-ear designs.

Since there isn’t room for a charging port on the headset itself, the H9 is accompanied by a charging cradle. To charge, you insert the mini-USB port to the cradle and place the headset on the cradle. The charging cradle doubles as a portable charging unit, which is necessary since the H9 itself only holds 1.5 hour of talk time. With the charging cradle, you can add an extra 6 hours albeit at a 1.5 hour a time pace.

Overall, the Bluetooth headset performs solidly—earning rave reviews in more quiet areas but having problems in slightly noisier environments. It’s amazing that such a small piece of technology can perform as well as bigger-sized products. Though callers complained of background noise such as other voices and wind, when I used the H9 in the car, it performed quite well. The in-ear ear buds worked to keep the incoming audio quality clear because it manages to block out exterior noise.

Final Thoughts

Let’s be honest, with such a tiny design the Motorola H9 will obviously have some limitations. Pointedly, the battery life is a concern for constant travelers not everyone may prefer the fit. Luckily, Motorola packaged a charging cradle that offers a boost to the headset’s battery life and the in-ear design blocks out background noise and isn’t all that uncomfortable.

The most important aspect of the Motorola H9 is that it attempts to be unique in the bland world of Bluetooth Headsets and to that extent, it succeeds. The audio quality is near flawless in a quiet setting and it keeps pace with comparable (but bigger) headsets in noisy environments. If you’re looking for a long-lasting Bluetooth headset and your commute is noisy, the Motorola H9 is not for you. But if you want a stylish design that doesn’t skimp on quality, look no further.

PROS

• Incredibly Small Design
• Great Audio Quality in Quiet Environments
• In-Ear Ear Buds Makes For Outstanding Incoming Audo
• Stylish Look

CONS

• Short Battery Life
• Average Performer in Noisy Environments
• In Ear Design May Put Off Some

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: A day late but sadly no jokes short, Boldly browsing, unboxings galore, big love from HTC, who does Rubenstein really work for, and ZOMG! a new Android beta!

b.engadget.com...

...the Blackberry specific, RIM-browser optimized version of one of the most popular tech blogs on the planet... doesn't exist. Neither does t.engadget.com for those of you who've actually figured out how to load a semi-functional browser on a Treo.

Nope. Turns out one of out-going Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block's final acts at Engadget was to set up the iPhone, and the iPhone alone, with the keys to its own special gate. We wonder why...

(Hint: Palm Treo 755p: 0.1% share. Blackberry Anything: didn't even make the list...)

And special well wishes to Mr. Block, with thanks for all the hard work he put in at Engadget, and best wishes for whatever he chooses next. Health, happiness, and much success!

Speaking of Blackberry Browsers

Lots of brouhaha this week over some dodgy iPhone vs. Blackberry Bold browser battles. Crackberrians cried foul, saying the Bold was hamstrung by a pre-release ROM and faulty WiFi connection. The initial test was against the original, iPhone 2G, however, and subsequent tests run on the iPhone 3G still smoked the poor little Bold. Admittedly, the Bold was again a pre-release ROM, however anyone who's ever used an iPhone 3G running 2.x knows that's pretty much a pre-release ROM as well, every bit as buggy. So until Crackberry.com runs some of their own tests, no doubt against a specially prepared iPhone, we're calling it fair fight, and iPhone by complete domination.

Attention Blackberry Developers

Remember RIM's answer to Apple's iFund? You know, the VC pool established to fund Google-class iPhone App development? Yeah, us neither. But Crackberry.com has confirmed what we'd already forgotten: Even though "Blackberry" is in the name, RIM has nothing to do with it (just like Apple really has nothing to do with the iFund, we swear), and -- get this -- neither does the Blackberry.

Just tell the money-bin that one day you might possibly (wink) consider thinking about maybe porting (wink wink) a future beta of your hawt new iPhone App to the Blackberry, and you're golden. Literally.

The Hunt for Bold All Over

Congrats to Crackberry Kevin on actually finding a Blackberry Bold in stock somewhere in the harshest hinterlands of Canada. With RIM reportedly only shipping 1 or 2 units per metric googlometer, his threats of SMASH no doubt precipitated Lazaridis to pull up in front of Crackberry HQ, fresh new Bold offered atop a red velvet cushion.

Palm-Treo Games

Likewise, congrats to Dieter on getting his already over-phone'd hands on a Treo Pro. Though his story wasn't as blog'd out as Kevin's, it was probably every bit as Tom Clancy-worthy in its own right. And if you're into fringe smartphone Pr0n, check out WMExperts Treo Pro vs. Everything video. They even sacrifice it to an iPhone 3G, poor little [redacted].

Speaking of [Redacteds]

Last time we asked why the Treo Pro bore little-to-no resemblance to it's 700 series forefathers. Turns out the 700 series might not have been any of its fathers. Mamma Palm, it seems, went and dallied with HTC. Given how the 800w turned out, however, can you really blame the old girl?

The HTC Xperia'nce

Sparing us all some overly obscure Foxworthy-esque joke about the HTC Palm Treo Pro and HTC Sony Xperia getting divorced but remaining cousins (whoops, so much for sparing), we'll just point out that the next in a long line of nouveau-chic Windows Mobile handsets that were announced ages ago but have yet to actually ship, has now been announced to still eventually actually ship. One day. In Europe.

For those who don't remember that far back -- and who can honestly blame you? -- yes, this was the banana slider Sony abandoned Sybian and cozied up to Microsoft for.

What's the UI Equivalent of a Paper Bag Over the Face?

Seems to be a third party shell or launcher. And if you've been afraid to take your Windows Mobile out in public looking like its been beaten with the Redmond stick, Brian heartily recommends this... er.. iPhone "inspired" full facial replacement.

Looks good to us. Now how do you fix the OS?

All Rubinstein, All the Time

Rubinstein helped Steve Jobs and Apple launch the iPod to the stratosphere, and while Jobs' second mobile act, the iPhone, has pretty much revolutionized the industry, Rubenstein's has... er... had somewhat less of an impact.

The man who left Apple when he wasn't allowed to jam a tic-tactile keyboard on the elegant, full screen iPhone, is now overrunning Palm (or, at least, serving as plenipotentiary most excellent to Lord Bono), canceling "several" Treo's, and tweaking many others (though sadly not the cosmetics on the 800w...).

Why? Not to make an iPhone killah. Oh, no. That might harshen Poppa Jobs' mellow and lead to the resurgence of Palm. No, Rubinstein simply wants to kill Treo make a killer Treo. Even if that honor currently belongs to HTC...

(Anyone bother to check and see if Rubinstein is really off Apple's payroll?)

Another Beta

No, not the 4th release of Apple's iPhone 2.1 Beta in almost as many weeks, but the first new beta build of the Android "platform" in Google knows how long. (And no, we're not counting those secret builds given to select privileged elite developers while the common mundanes were left to wonder what "open as in beer" really meant to the folks in Mountain View).

Dubbed 0.9, this new beta, which seems prepped to give Gmail's beta period a run for its money, may eventually set the possible stage for the OS that finally ships one day with HTC's Dream handset (2nd cousin once removed to both the Treo Pro and Xperia for those charting smartphone genealogies at home).

And no, we're not poking a little fun at Andorid here. Android is poking a lot of fun at all the developers and users who really, truly want something to keep Apple competitive. Let's hope they get serious sometime that is soonish.

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: All Bold all the time, spy pics, HTC gets red, and happy five-oh!

Rogers Hoses Hopeful Bold Hosers

When notoriously gouging Rogers Mobility in Canada gave its 11th hour reprieve on data rates to save its July 11th iPhone 3G investment, we all kind sorta knew it would someday, somehow, come back and bite us in our wallets. Well, it didn't. It bit Crackberry Kevin in his instead. Rogers official price for an iPhone 3G 16GB on 3(!) year contract? $299. Rogers semi-official price for a Blackberry Bold 0GB on a 3(!) year contract? Priceless. Or dang near. $399.

No doubt news reports of a giant green Crackberry yelling "Kevin Smash!" and laying waste to Rogers HQ will follow shortly.

And good on that.

All Bold All The Time

Or at least it seems that way. Canadian pricing fiasco aside, the Bold little buggers are really taking the cake these days. Popping up everywhere. Maybe Crackberry's right? They're going to be huge.

Just not at HSBC...

Kickstarting the Pearl

Of course, the iPhone 3G isn't the only handset Rogers is likely subsidizing out their vice-clenched assets. The new Pearl flipberry (nee KickStart) is going for a relatively tiny $49. They're likely targeting the same new users that the Palm Centro has been so successful at attracting lately.

Given RIM's brand power and compelling messaging on... er... messaging, seems like a can't miss, doesn't it? Especially with the ever increasing femal demo. Extraspecially if Virgin Canada keeps helping out...

Uber-Hawt New Spy Pics Leaked!

The intertubes FTW! Fresh new spy pics of still undisclosed, unreleased, unauthorized smartphone hawtness. And what do we get? Sleek, elegantly curved black form-factor, flush screen(!), brand-defining centralized button navigator with oh-so-easy to hit task buttons radiating outwards, above a killer tic-tactile keyboard combined with enterprise-class "push" technology!

Luddites to Gentoo-men, we present the:

Treo Pro! er... Blackberry Javelin... er... Treoberry Javepro???!!!

Seriously, this is a "bold" new step for Palm away from the locked-to-Treo-600 design-dearth of yore. Given Rubenstein and all the other Apple droppings they've picked up lately, it makes perfect sense the Pro should resemble a... Blackberry. We mean, hey, while everyone else and their OEM is lately -- and lamentably -- iCloning themselves to innovation-less stupors, here comes Palm stepping up the WinMob side of their Harvey Dent-esque product strategy with something at least on par with the latest/greatest from sales leader RIM.

It's about time.

HTC Dazed and Con-Fuze'd?

Seems like AT&T might be all set to launch the artist formerly known at the HTC Touch Pro, now re-dubbed the HTC Fuze. Yeah, we had to look it up too. Turns out it's an iClone slider...

Word to HTC marketing: While you may have had Fusion on the brain (something Palm nailed years ago with the Treo brand, and again just recently with Centro), never leave ambiguity enough in your product name to conFuze perspective buyers or they'll just reFuze to take you seriously. No way to deFuze it now though. Thankfully, at least, Moto must have had FUZR pre-marked (or was that BeastWars?)

Diamond Already in the Red?

So WMExperts would have us believe. If he didn't have his wee mits all over the Treo Pro, we'd suspect Bono was [Product]-izing just in time for the holidays...

Still, red being the color of Blood, and this Touch being branded as the Diamond, perhaps another word needs be taken with the marketing geniuses over at HTC...

Blackjack II vs. Q9h

Is sort of like the battle for 53rd place in the Olympics, isn't it? At least "Atila" has a shot at making it a three-way race...

Palm Set to Unleash the Hounds

No, not of the long, long, did we say loooooong?, promised Palm OS 2.0 (?!) Nova-based handsets. Just tons of new WinMob devices. Yay?

When those of us who loved the Palm OS first saw Bill Gates hoist a 700w up on stage at CES, even with all the talk of more options and better business plays, should we have recognized it as Colligan really just opening the seventh seal of stop-gapocalyps?

Signs point to yes.

Happy Anniversary

The TreoCentral Treocast got all golden on us this week, celebrating its 50th episode. May the next 50 be just as grand, and we look forward to hearing you on episode 100...

...probably covering the possible impending future potential pre-launch of Nova (beta).

And to Mike and Dieter -- the premiere duo in smartphone coverage -- Congratulations mobile accomplishers!

Can't find a Bluetooth Headset that fits your ear? Struggling enough with the headset that it defeats the purpose of being 'hands free'? Well, the Motorola MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone ($99.95) is ideal for you. It is essentially a Bluetooth speakerphone, keeping your hands free and your ears clear while driving your car. Unlike a Bluetooth headset, the Motorokr T505 is meant to be used strictly in a car setting. How does it perform?

Read on for the rest of the review!

Design

The Motorokr T505 looks about the size of your average garage door opener, in fact, Motorola suggests that you clip it to the sun visor in your car. The build quality of the Motorokr T505 is superb. It has great texture to it, feeling soft yet sturdy. The buttons are defined and easy-to-reach, the overall look of the Motorokr T505 is subtly stylish, a gadget that looks more wonderous and mysterious than utilitarian and boxy. It will more often than not blend into your car instead of sticking out like an eye-sore.

Usability

The Motorokr T505 sets out to do a few things which are: keep your hands free while driving, provide a clearer and louder speakerphone than your iPhone’s, and transmit calls (and music) to your car’s stereo system via FM. It certainly can be considered a narrow scope to focus on, if you don’t drive a car you won’t need the Motorokr T505. But if you do drive a car, let me tell you this, I can’t imagine using anything other than the Motorokr T505 again.

Syncing your iPhone with the Motorokr T505 is easy as any other Bluetooth device. And I was able to use the speakerphone in seconds upon powering up. Also, charging is made available through mini-USB. What’s great about the Motorokr T505 is that there is no fumbling for the iPhone or having an earpiece attached to you the entire time you’re driving, it is truly a hands free device.

The speakerphone is clear, loud, and extremely audible. Callers were pronounced and unmistakably clear, this was as good as it gets for a Bluetooth speakerphone. Callers also agreed that I sounded great and hardly noticed that I was talking via speakerphone, they assumed I was on my iPhone the entire time.

When the FM transmitter in the Motorokr T505 transmits the call to your FM, it scans the best available station to broadcast to. Specifically, it searches for an empty signal and broadcasts your call to that transmission. Doing this, it gives your phone call a surround sound-esque platform. Though your mileage may vary with the FM transmitter, I live in Los Angeles, home of a multitude of FM stations and the Motorokr T505 still managed to find a signal that was empty and transmitted the conversation clearly to my car’s stereo.

However, because the Motorokr T505 is a speakerphone meant for in the car use, it can only fill a specific niche. For example, if you are always on the go but without a car, there is little need for a car speakerphone. But if you are a commuter who travels mainly by car, there are few better options. The only downside to the Motorokr T505 is when you are carrying passengers, your conversation is not exactly private since the whole car can hear and participate. For those worried about those situations, a Bluetooth headset might better fit that need.

Final Thoughts

I never imagined a car speakerphone to perform so well. I initially imagined the Motorokr T505 to be nothing more than a glorified speakerphone for the iPhone, but I was completely off base. It is a speakerphone that offers great compatibility, clarity, and flexibility. As a speakerphone it succeeds, but when transmitting to your FM stereo it surpasses all expectations.

This Motorokr T505 is a great solution for anyone who is looking for a hands-free device while driving in the car. I highly recommend it to all people who are in need of talking on their cell phone while driving.

PROS

• Great Sounding Speakerphone
• Transmits to FM stations well
• Stylish Design
• Easy-To-Use

CONS

• For Use in Car Only
• Conversations aren't exactly private

Final Rating: 4.8/5

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Pearl gets kicked, ZuneNokia cometh, Android isn't late (again!) and... a Centro clone?!

Blackberry Developers Conference...

...Now taking registration. For anyone who still wants to code for Java Micro Edition. Seriously. All 2 of you.

And for the record, no, this isn't a panicked attempt to re-court developers who may be considering jumping ship to the modern, Objective C, desktop class iPhone SDK, what with all the money to be made there (and the FreeRiders still waiting -- and waiting -- on the various LinMo initiatives).

Of course, serious Blackberry developers (aka the ones who work for RIM and thus have access to the actual APIs) are waiting on the next gen OS anyway, currently scheduled for some time after the square of the date Palm's Nova hits divided by the root of the tangent of Android's first handset's delivery...

KickStarting the Pearl

When we joked that Blackberry had more code names for their KickSeaStart-tacWolfRAZR flip phone than Microsoft had Vista SKU's, little did we know yet another -- and at the same time much, much older -- was about to be grafted on for release.

Yup, say hello to the... Pearl.

WTF is right. With the flip putting the actual pearl on the inside, shouldn't this be more properly branded the "oyster shell" ?

Blackberry Curve Price Cut

Just in time for consumers to cut it from their shopping list.

Reason? Not iClony enough, what with the ThunderStorm now firmly on the horizon... er... Verizon.

Still, given that Amazon was paying people to take Blackberry's off their hands just a short time ago, isn't this still $199 to much?

Crackberry.com Says Show Your Blackberry How Much You Loves It

By yanking out the battery. We concur.

Crazily enough, however, they actually suggest you put it back in right quick thereafter...

It's Not the First Sip That's Going to Kill You...

Delicious Monster's Wil Shipley takes on what he considers to be the poor science and worse concept behind Microsoft's "Mojave Experiment".

The bottom line? Try a little sip, then go watch Super Size Me.

What does this have to do with smartphones? See Diamond, HTC Touch...

ZunePhone's Coming, and... Nokia is Coming With It?!

Probably not so much, what with Nokia being all SymbiLinMo But then again, Nokia is ditching Blackberry for Exchange as part of the Grand Plan to actually get people off of one buggy, proprietary, outage prone service (no, not MobileMe... grumblegrumble...) and into another even buggier, proprietary, distributed outage prone service. But why do all the hard core punditry ourselves when, in grand bloggy tradition, we can just quote/link to it!

Nokia is already trying to establish its own Ovi portal as a mobile music store. It needs Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace as much as it needs another Symbian virus. Not only is the Zune Marketplace a sleepy, deserted mall with no customers and scant merchandise, but it has absolutely zero traction (or attraction) in Europe or other markets where Nokia sells its phones. The Zune is only sold in the US, where Nokia has minimal uptake. Adding the Zune Marketplace to its phones would do nothing for Nokia apart from making its own store look sidelined and associating the company with another megafailure brand. Nokia already has NGage for that.

Android Isn't Late!...

...At least when it's compared to WinVistaMob Se7en.

Okay, so the spin is Android is still on schedule but as anyone who's ever tried to run a simple school function by committee knows you can't settle on themes and decorations, much less deploy a brand new OS across multiple OEMs using different form factors and semi-secret SDK revisions on the backs of already beleaguered developers without a schedule more flexible than the whichever girl wins a heap of gymnastic medals this week. It's simple chaos theory.

And, sure, WinVistaMob Se7en isn't technically behind schedule either, unless you consider releasing an OS in 2009(ish) that's meant to be almost (squint and tilt head) competitive with what Apple released out-of-the-gate in 2007, as not being behind something...

Alert Custer

Motorola has just totally ripped off his strategy.

From the once mighty empire that ruled the world with the first RAZR, comes pinning their final, futile hopes on WinMob 6.6.6. And to think, Moto, people have accused you of running the company into the ground...

How To: 2 Tips to Make Windows Media Player on WM Suck Slightly Less

Yank out the battery. Oh, sorry, we covered that already under Crackberry... wait... here it is... Dieter claims there might just be a way.

Attack of the CentroClones... Er... CloneTros... Er... ?

No, we don't mean the Blackberry Javalin (that's more a Treo 680 clone, n'est ce pas?), we mean this poor confused little OQO G900.

Hey, we appreciate them giving the iPhone iCloning a rest, don't get us wrong, and when Palm sold 2 million of these lowest-end smartphones, it pretty much guaranteed some uber-cheaper knock off would be spun up. But, irony of ironies... what if it's actually more profitable than the real thing?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Bold, Bull. Bull, Bold. WinMob Can't Count to 20, and Colligan Loves the iPhone

It's Cosmo Cramer, Cracky!

We had to suffer Krakow's silly iPhone spewings, so it's only fair our sister site, Crackberry.com gets the the man who pushes market o-spin-ion almost as well as RIM does email.

So, yeah, bullish on Bold. Just sell before he does.

We Who Are About to Dial Salute You!

It is BlackBerrious TicTactilous Maximus, Leader in smartphone sales, email pusher extraordinaire, loyal enabler of the one true unpaid overtime, mate to workaholic partners, child to absentee parents, and in this generation or the next it will totally pwn you.

Fair enough, then, that Crackberry.com tortured the tyrannical little handset to death in retaliation.

Well done.

Flipping the Berry, Part Deux

KickSeaStart-tacWolfRAZR exclusive video reviews continue. Watch them fast before RIM NOC's them off!

WinMob to Sell 20M Licenses... Eventually

Sorry... we're... reporting... near... Redmond... and... have... to... keep... ducking... to... avoid... flying... furniture...

Whew! Ballmer finally blue-screened. Anyway, seems when Microsoft said they'd infect 20M units this year, seems what they really meant was that they wouldn't infect 20M units this year, because, well, they didn't. Still, 20M is a HUGE number. 20x what the iPhone sold in one weekend. Though the iPhone only has one model still on the market, by one manufacturer, running on one technology (GSM), in 22 countries, mostly on exclusive carriers. And, well, while we're admittedly mathlexic, we seem to remember there are more than 20 weekends in a year?

Maybe that's why:

iClones Becoming iCliches

Stop it. We mean it. The first dozen or so iPhone wannabes were at least mockable. Now they're just a mockery. We'd tell you to fire your industrial designers -- if we thought for even a moment you actually employed any. Bad enough Palm's been rereleasing the Treo 600 for what seems like 10 years now. How long do we have to put up with the iClones? Lazaridis? Colligan? Ballmer? Little help?

Bad Branding: Microsoft Advanced Studies Program

Does the tech industry have their own special version of the Razzies? They must, given how badly Microsoft keeps gunning for one. Last week we jokingly suggested Redmond would rebrand their struggling handset business as WinVistaXZuneMob Se7en Cairo Edition Phones for Windows -- LIVE! And little did we know that was actually BETTER than the stuff Microsoft could spittle out on their own, at least if the new names WMExperts.com says they're kicking around (quite literally) for Live Search!

Look upon their words ye mighty and despise:

• Bing
• Hook
• Kumo

Too. Many. Jokes. Crashing. Server.

Statler & Waldorf Dept.

Fear not, dear listeners of our sister podcast, WMExperts has not been secretly taken over by pod-people far more concerned with film, books, weather, shower habits, or basically anything even remotely NOT having to do with Windows Mobile, it's still firmly in control of Dieter and Malatesta -- who just happen to be far more concerned with film, books, weather, shower habits, or basically anything even remotely NOT having to do with Windows Mobile.

But seriously, given the previous news items, can you blame them? We can't.

Colligan Gets His Tech Checked!

TreoCentral.com informs us that Palm CEO Ed Colligan sat down for chat, and sure, typically we'd tear apart whatever non-sensical, factually challenged, anti-iPhone rhetoric bullet points he was fed by Ruby, Bono, et al. but turns out that -- wait for it -- he likes it! Okay, so he can't figure out how to email with it (hint: try the envelope icon), but overall he has some love for the design and innovation.

Unfortunately for Palm, the market pretty much agrees with him.

Could Palm Have an Earnings Surprise in FY Q1?

No.

Treo 800w: Selling a lot or Not enough to sell?

That's why.

Maybe they should drop the price below cost? It's working for the Centro...

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: ThuderStorms, iClone Double Feature, Dead Treo's, and Open Marriages!

Crackberry Dubs the New Blackberry: ThunderStorm...

...Only 3 days after we did. Congrats, sister siters. This week we're all about the KickSeaStart-tacWolfRAZR. We look forward to seeing it Monday!

(WinVistaXZuneMob Se7en Cairo Edition Phones for Windows -- LIVE! is already dibbed by WMExperts. Sorry.)

Introducing the iClone Nano!

Dear reader Kevin sends in these spy shots from "the wilds". Is it the long-rumored iPhone Nano? Nope, just an iClone Nano, courtesy of the usual suspects at Research in Motion. Seems like gloss black and silver trim is this years gloss black and silver trim...

If only Waterloo could iClone the interface and iTunes experience, eh?

Introducing BlackBerry Media Sync

D'oh! Well, we guess it's technically not iClone iTunes if RIM just stoleded it outright, right?

Your Music on Your BlackBerry Smartphone. It's That Simple. Easy to Update

Because it's connecting to iTunes, of course. Imagine if Apple hadn't tried to roll their own MobileMe service and just hacked their way into RIM's NOC (Network Operations Center). Who'd have functional push then, huh? Who?

(Sorry, not having had email for two weeks makes us a little prickly...)

Speaking of Little Prickles...

Yes, we do listen. We appreciate the feedback. And we'll redouble our efforts. Much love.

Attack of the iClones: WinMob Supplement

WMExperts is masochistic kind enough to show us a real life, side-by-side comparison between the iPhone 3G and the iClonic Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch Diamond, and what can we say? Good job with the screen quality there. 1 degree viewing angle must be an industry record of some kind, right?

(Actual photo at top of post. Thanks for sparing us any photoshopping this week, OEMtards!)

Enter... the ZunePhone!

May want to hold on to them tats a smidge longer there, Zune-dude. WMExperts reports (and we spin) that Microsoft is all shook up, and along with throwing chairs, Ballmer may just throw a ZunePhone our way as well...

Good luck with that. We hope it's like totally as successful as the Zune proper. Sincerely.

TreoCentral Asks:

Will the BlackBerry KickStart be a Centro Killer?

Yes.

(Unless you hate flippies. Then no. But yes.)

The More Treo's Change

The Treo 755p is dead. Long live the... er... ah...

When's Nova exploding again?

And in No Other News

Analysts, which is increasingly another word for those who lost employment within an industry and now make even more money spouting even worse nonsense from without, are saying the troubled "Open" Source Android platform may be merging with the soon to be troubled "Open" Source Symbian platform.

And if you believe that, we've still got that second bridge left over from WWDC to sell you...

Once RAZR-sharp, now Icahnicly troubled Motorola has filed suit in Illinois court against Apple. More specifically, Michael Fenger, who stepped down from managing Moto handsets in EMEA (Europe, Middle-East, and Africa) to become VP of Global iPhone Sales at Apple. Problem? Seems Moto had a do-not-compete clause, and they see Apple as... er... competitive:

Moto claims Fenger "was privy to the pricing, margins, customer initiatives, allocation of resources, product development, multiyear product, business and talent planning and strategies being used by Motorola"

While I'm sure some people have ditched their RAZRs for the iPhone, I'm going to take a wild guess that it wasn't because of ill-obtained competitive knowledge, but because Moto mismanaged themselves out of innovation, and Apple produced a killer handset. But that's just me...

Read Via

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

This week: Blackberry device outages, Android SDK, Palm launches Treo 700 v3

Bold Behind, ThunderStorm Downgraded

Congrats to sister-site Crackberry.com for breaking the first images of the Blackberry ThunderStorm's soft, virtual keyboard (you know, the one RIM's CEO can't use and would never make). Might just be a sticker, though, as NERDFIGHT or no reports continue to say the latest iClone just don't work yet. (But dig the UI work! Jonathan Ive must be quaking in his elegant yet understated ash black #7 boots...)

No problem, right? Because the Bold is launching any day now? Er... no so much either... Looks like it doesn't work so well either yet. Radio code, they say. That or RIM's desperate scramble to try and launch their iClone double punch as fast -- and loose it seems -- as possible.

Chill guys. Take your time. Get it right. And here's a thought -- why not innovate something of your own while you're at it?

Asked... And Answered!

Crackberry.com asks:

How come every new big BB app is running into such teething problems!?!

And Crackberry.com responds:

RIM just updated their site with BlackBerry JDE 4.5

Ahem.

When you have scads of devices scattered across multiple outdated OS versions all based on Java Micro Edition, you have a development nightmare that makes Windows Mobile look, well... not completely horrible by comparison.

Memo to Waterloo: In addition to innovative handsets, let's add a real OS to the list. You know, something that couldn't run a RAZR. We hear LinMo is the rage with all the cool kids these days...

Crackbettey Brings Less Hawtness to the Blog...

And dang right, ours is better than yours.

But we could teach you to use an iPhone, L-Loh, now that Fake Steve is no longer in charge...

AT&T Crackspiracy Redux

We covered this story early in the week (and of course Crackberry.com iCloned it with a rapidity that would make RIM proud).

Way to go, tic-tactile-tards. Next time just be honest. Tell them you ran out of iPhones and you'll order them some when Apple can find your out-of-nowhere parking-lot kiosk. Better to be embarrassed than humiliated.

Does Android Dream of Exclusive Sheep?

Huge surprise. Mega. Potential Android developers (yup, some people are still waiting for their iPhone App Store acceptance and have to keep busy somehow) are growing impatient with the lack of SDK updates coming out of Mountain View.

Only not so much. Turns out there hasn't been a lack of updates at all -- they've just been reserved for specialer, more privileged partners.

Non-disclosure agreements and selective access to development tools are hardly emblematic of an open ecosystem. Google has intentionally disadvantaged many developers and kept the broader Android community in the dark about the progress of the platform. Google's failure to fulfill its commitment to openness has eroded one of the principle differentiating factors that made Android a relevant alternative to Apple's iPhone operating system. If Google cannot change course, the lack of transparency in the development process will likely push disenfranchised developers towards other mobile platforms.

Way to embrace the spirit of "open" there, eh, Google? Not evil phase all past us now then?

Making an OS is hard, even when you have a CEO on the Apple board and the iPhone to use as a blueprint. Making an OS by committee is even harder. Making an OS by committee and expecting it to work on multiple, different handsets from OEM partners is something that probably still gives Bill Gates night sweats.

Hate to say we told you so... not.

Live Mess

At least we figure the "Mesh" thing must be a WMExperts typo, given the state-of-the-art-of-1990 GUI...

Opera... Oprah. Oprah... Opera

The browser you've all been waiting... and waiting... for to replace the massively outdated Pocket Internet Explitivor is finally here. If one of the many known issues isn't a deal breaker. And if it's available for your device. And if you don't mind resource hogs.

Maybe they should pull a Krakow and just license LinMo and WebKit?

Palm Releases a Treo!

Stop the presses... er... posters! Palm has released a new Treo! No, we're not joking, TreoCentral.com even has a review!

It's the 700w v3 800w, which sees the antenna become an intenna, and the Treo finally getting some WiFi. (Yeah, we fainted too). Screen's still recessed, form factor's still jurassic, the OS ain't Palm or Nova, but hey -- it's a NEW TREO!

And in No Other News

Pop quiz: You're Motorola and you've recently been all but Icah'ned apart. Through lack of vision and hubris-filled mismanagement, you've lost more ground than even the RAZR bump ever gave you, and now, facing the iPhone, what do you do? Beg back the designers and engineers that once made you great? Take a RSK on making something new and wonderful? Or just sue one of the poor souls who jumped ship before it broke itself open on the RKS?

The latter of course. You're Moto, right?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: What? Surprised we're here? Thought we'd be taking this edition off so we could play Super Monkey Ball or Bomberman Touch, or otherwise just hide in our tasteful Cupertino estates drooling over our totally awesome new, glossy plastic backed iPhone 3Gs? We did that last time. We totally had the device before Mossberg and like 99% of the people at Apple. Totally.

We're having a bit of weekend, is all. Maybe you heard about it? MASSIVE failures. Epic. Keep reading on to find out why its all Microsoft and RIM's fault!

Thanks Bill! Now Who's Running the Asylum?

Confession: Apple had to use Windows on iPhone 3G launch day. Embarrassing, of course, but due to monopolistic abuses, Microsoft has just totally wormed their way into the carriers. Do you know how distressing it is to have UK Apple Stores running VMWare Fusion because O2 can't connect to anything but Internet Explorer? Putting ActiveSync on the iPhone is one thing -- Sun Tzu told El Jobso he'd have to make some deals with the devil if he wants to break into enterprise -- but IE on iMacs? It'll take weeks of iTunes meditative podcasts to restore their sense of wonder.

And hey, Rogers up in Canada, what's the sound of a million Canadian IE6 browsers cr@pping out? Sales Central Down?! What's running the back end, a 386 on Windows for Workgroups? How about next time we pay our ISP bill on time, b'okay?

Of course, iPhone firmware 2.0 dropped at the same time, and since like some huge percentage of iPhone users are Windows users, so all those quirky we-had-to-make-them PC iTunes fired up trying to grab it all at once... At Infinite Loop, the OS X Leopard Data Center -- which is shaped into a perfect Yin/Yang of mechanical alignment in matching aluminum and black glass trim -- running the iTunes authentications services was just totally flooded in raw Microsoftian harshness. Ever seen kernal panic? Imagine that gone nuclear. Total loss of mellow. Total. Apple IT will reportedly be in intensive yoga all week.

Funny how this all happened the minute Bill Gates left the building, though, isn't it? If he and Ballmer weren't waiting in line over night at the Apple Store in Seattle, it would be uber-suspicious. Sure, they could have used body doubles or something, but Ballmer completely lost it waiting for his shiny new iPhone 3G to get unbricked. Chairs and sweatstains flying like that are rather unmistakable...

RIM Stealing iPhone's Thunder?

Why not, they've stolen everything else, right? What better way for RIM to hypejack some press coverage on iPhone 3G launch day than to carefully plant the seeds of a NERD FIGHT! Tell Crackberry.com that the iClonic new touchscreen Blackberry Thunder may actually work, then tell the Boy Genius Report the much more believable story that the Thunder is totally hosed, step back, and laugh your apps off. After all, this is the company whose CEO just recently said touchscreens were unusable. Why not prove it with an unusable touchscreen device? Especially when Apple's new MobileMe service is bringing the heat!

(Though, in all fairness, Apple did start the latest round with some retaliation of their own, what with copying RIM's NOC failures, first with random .Mac outages, and then with the complete clusterfail of the MobileMe transition...)

Palm: We Want to Lose 30% More This Quarter!

After recent financial losses widely attributed to the spectacularly poor business strategy of selling the Centro entry-level, candy-bar cool smartphone for LESS than it costs Palm to make it, it seems the pressure of the iPhone 3G has sent Colligan and Co. even further over the edge. Witness TreoCentral announcing that as of now, you can get a green-keyed Centro for only $70.

Why not -$70. Pay people to take them, that's what Amazon did with Blackberry's after all. Should we expect this, what, next quarter at the latest?

And in No Other News

Unbelievable as it may sound, Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola, along with Google, announced the unprecedented--

Cannot connect to the iSatire Server. An known error has occured...

D'oh! Not again!

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: Nothing. Sorry. No time. We're already lining up for the iPhone 3G. Dieter got here early, but the rest of us are way back, forced to climb over ever-growing mounds of junked Crackberries and WinMobs and about a million Centros -- ouch! Heckuva tailgate going on, though. Ballmer keeps breaking out the Monkey Boy while Colligan and Lazaridis take turns timing their virtual keyboarding.

So yeah, sorry. Zip this week. Zilch. But it's totally not our fault. We don't even think the sister sites have been updated. (We'd ask Kevin and Jennifer but they're off playing hacky-sack with Sergey and Larry.)

UPDATED: Okay, fine. The Commenterati have spoken. We'll scour the interwebs. We'll find something. You'll get your fix. Anything to stop from harshening our pre-launch mellow!

Blackberry Kickstart Special TV Offer -- While Supplies Last!

Attention Crackberrians! You're not gonna pay $249 for the new RIM Kickstart Flipberry, are you? No! And you're not gonna pay $149 either, are you? Nope! You're not gonna pay $99 or $79 either. All you're gonna pay is one easy payment of $49! But wait, there's more! Act now and we'll throw in near-weekly service outages, and the classic StarTac form factor, for FREE! Tell them Crazy Mike sent you, and we'll even throw in a free Flowbee!

(Yeesh, when did entry level become throw away? We know Amazon was even paying people to take Blackberry's off their hands for a while, but crack open Palm's books sometime, Mr. Canadian CEO of the Year, and see what selling stuff for less than it costs to make it does for the old bottom line, b'okay?)

Blackberry Done Copying iPhone, Starts Copying Windows 95

Yeah, so the Thunder will still iClone the iPhone, at least as much as the old-but-not-Palm-old Java "OS" is capable of, but RIM isn't intent on just copying Apple, oh no. Their next target -- Windows 95! Seems just like good old Win95 (which knowing MS was probably release in 1997, right?), one day in the distant future a Blackberry OS may -- wait for it -- try to avoid "nuked" or "bricked" units by allowing users to -- wait for it again -- boot into safe mode!

(We need to pause here to explain to iPhone users that those poor unfortunates with "smartphones" rather than mobile computers don't have OS's for realzies like OS X, just weird little management systems that are far less stable and are just as likely to turn on as they are to spontaneously cease functioning. Think Xbox 360).

Rather than a function key, the tic-tactile escape key will do the trick. Press it and you're in safe mode. Kind of makes you wonder just how unsafe regular mode is if you have to escape it...?

In faker news, head BBOS developer Marty McFly tells us we can look back to a DOS-style CTRL-ALT-DELETE "feature" by 2020...

Windows Mobile Gets... Facebook!?

Confession: We're not sure what the story is here. Windows Mobile finally gets an application even the Palm Centro's already had? Or is it that Pocket IE is such a non-browser that WinMob requires an entire application (GUI created in MS Paint, really?) simply to load Facebook? Or is it that people with WinMob have just now discovered this neato new site called Facebook where -- just maybe! -- all the cool kids used to hang out?

Now it's WMExperts Giving With the Paper Cuts and Lemon Juice

Not enough that last week Crackberry.com made fun of the disgusting money grab that passes for Rogers' Canadian iPhone price plans, this week the diabolical editor of WMExperts just has to point out that the HTC Diamond Touch, is getting all-it-can-eat unlimited data from Bell for $30.

Well done, Rogers, you've succeeded where neither HTC nor Windows Mobile have before -- you've actually made people consider getting a Diamond Pro. Enjoy whatever layer of Hell greedy telco's get condemned to (we forget the exact number, same as the latest WinMob release number, right?)

Palm Hires Interface Designer!

How about that? We can't believe we typed it either, but this is big news from Treocentral. Huge. Palm actually hiring someone to consciously improve their user experience is like... hmm... if Windows Mobile actually hired someone to consciously improve their user experience (taking notes there, "J"?)

Turns out they got someone ultra-hip, ultra conceptual too. Same guy who did Helio, which according to Google Image Search has an interface consisting solely of a white flame brand over blue field. We're not kidding. That's all there seems to be. Makes the Google homepage looks busy. But who knows how the kids smartphone these days.

What'll he bring to Palm? Probably something just as innovative. We're guessing no screen at all. Joke all you want, but it would be light years ahead of Palm's vintage-yet-still-sadly-current anti-anti-aliased 8-bit circa 1990s groove.

And in No Other News

That's it. We have to go. The Motorola boys are playing the "iPhone 3G is the only reason we have left to live" card, trying to cry their way up in line. Brian and Casey aren't buying it, but Chad might let them in. Meanwhile, the Nokia and Samsung iClone teams have gotten bounced for trying to get early peaks inside. We feel for them, really. Rules are rules and all, but c'mon. If they don't find out what Apple is releasing this year, what'll they have to copy for next year?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: Boldly late... and on strike, WinMob vs. Android, more Windows raves, and Real Ed vs. Fake Steve!

Blackberry Bold-ly Not Going Where the iPhone Will Have Already Gone Before

The 11th reason the Blackberry still doesn't compare to the iPhone 3G? The iPhone 3G will be out on time.

Unlike Apple, who typically doesn't pre-announce but sends CEO Steve "El" Jobso out on stage to BOOM! their tech when its good to pretty much G.O., in its panicked desperation to pip the iPhone 3G to the publicity post, RIM rushed to pre-announce their Bold before it was finished and, it seems, before they had a real idea of when it would be finished.

So, also unlike Apple's Jobs who gave us an emphatic July 11th to circle in red on our calendars (and bank accounts!), RIM's Lazaridis gave a nebulous date which, according to Crackberry.com, has just gotten "pushed" back:

August. Maybe 2008.

Rumor has it battery issues and overheating are to blame. Yikes. Either way, that's a full month after serious futurists have already gotten themselves an iPhone. I guess diehard Crackberrians should just expect it when they ship it.

Take Your Push and Shove It, We Ain't Emailing Here No More!

Yup, seems like members of the Writers Guild, among others, believe that both unfair and unequal treatment for their work on the internet and in DVD sales is matched only by having to use Blackberry's as reasons to go on strike.

Crackberry.com says ABC (the American one, not the Australian one, we're properly ethnocentric on this) backed down quickly in face of the Blackberry-out, and no scripts or fall season release schedules were harmed under the repetitive stress.

Crackberry Gives Papercut, Pours Lemon Juice On it

Yes. Thank you, Crackberry.com. Potential iPhone 3G customers in Canada are going to get Rogered by the local GSM monopoly -- almost as badly as the RIMtards. The difference? Whereas the Blackberry is pretty much a business appliance typically subsidized by companies, the iPhone is a mobile computer platform typically paid dearly for by consumers themselves.

Way to drag us down with you, hosers.

WinMob vs. Android: Complexity Showdown!

WMExperts gives us a peak beneath the Android Kimono, and what a peak it is! Seems Google's little mobile monster is poised to give Windows Mobile a run for its so-many-versions-developers-will-tear-their-neck-beards-out money. Way to go. May the least of the worst win the bottom of the most!

More Raves for Windows!

Typical Windows user feedback?

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues. [...] So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated. [...] Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night — why should I reboot at that time? [...] Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up. [...] What an absolute mess. [...] The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind.

Nope. THE Windows user feedback to rule them all, courtesy of Kaiser Bill Gates himself. Now, sure, this is technically about the desktop version of Windows 5.5 (aka XP), and not the similar-in-name-and-ill-conceived-GUI-only handset version, currently on 6.6.6 (or something), but the probative value far exceeds any potential prejudice (or the humor outweighs the difference, whatever).

Sadly, though much like typical user feedback, it had absolutely no effect on future development.

Keeping Palm Real Fake

Real Ed:

We are more confident than ever in our transformational effort. We've added extraordinary new talent, the Centro is a smash success, we have an incredibly competitive product pipeline, and are developing a world class software platform. I expect together, these efforts will deliver positive results in the coming years.

Fake Steve:

You turn your $500 Treo into a $100 Centro, sell each unit at a massive loss, and make it up on volume. How totally brilliant! Why didn't we think of that? I mean here at Apple we're still stuck in that old-economy mindset where you sell stuff for more than what it costs you to make it. Meanwhile Palm is getting inquiries from Chris Anderson of Wired who wants to do a big cover story on how "selling for less than cost" is the new future of business.

Real Ed:

I have never felt more enthusiastic about our product pipeline and our ability to get back on the right track.

Fake Steve:

If you really want to scare the crap out of yourselves, check out your company's official earnings statement and scroll down to the balance sheet. Little item called "Total stockholders' equity." Look at where it is today versus a year ago. Teeny tiny drop from $1 billion last year to $100 million now.

Real Ed:

We are extremely confident that the enhanced functionality of this new platform and its accessibility to the developer community, combined with the game changing hardware we have designed for it will usher in a new era for Palm. This platform development effort is proceeding very well and we look forward to bringing these products to market.

Fake Steve:

Well, nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Ahem. Anyway, much love to all of you. We miss you. Not really. And if you're thinking about maybe you'll crawl back here when Palm goes under, um, don't bother. Peace.

And in No Other News

Motorolo is pinning all their hopes for the future on the Alexander. That's not a joke. The sentence, I mean. Motorola definitely is.

Nokia dominates the planet when it comes not only to cellphones, but also to Smartphones. But the upcoming iPhone Risk-style onslaught (not to mention the pending release of Android, though delayed) looks to have them a little worried. So they're finally getting their Symbian ducks in a row: enough of trying to work together with other companies like Sony and Motorola, they've purchased the entire OS shootin' match and are unifying the platform. Simple explanation: Symbian is the base OS, then there are different interfaces on top of that: S60 and UIQ. We're not fond of either, but between the two of them S60 seems to be the one with more legs (and more support, it's Nokia's interface of choice).

Update: we've got more to say here, so make the jump for the analysis.

UIQ is getting folded in to the platform now, basically, and the Symbian foundation is shoring up its base with input from the major players (but Symbian Limited is to be owned by Nokia). What's more, the platform will be offered for free instead of for a small fee and will even eventually be made 'open source' so people can much around with the nasty bits of the code. So basically Nokia is buying it so they can give it away. Confused yet? It's alright -- the bottom line is that in coming years Symbian development will continue apace and now has a decent chance of catching up with the iPhone's UI elegance. Well, a chance anyway. Interesting that Nokia is betting on a combination of Android-style openness and Apple-style unified look-and-feel.

In case you're thinking this is a yawner, it's not. See, the Symbian folks are pumped:

The list of partners who have already committed to the Symbian Foundation is pretty earth-shattering, as well, including AT&T, NTT Docomo, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone in terms of carriers. Handset manufacturers who’ve signed up include LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. Tech leaders such as Broadcom, Fujitsu, Texas Instruments, and WiPro are also on board. This is an army, more or less.
This is a massive step for the mobile and open source communities, and a big deafening blow to mobile Linux and more importantly - Android. Essentially, the Symbian Foundation is what Google intended Android to be, only it’s already millions of devices strong. The ecosystem is already built, and thriving.

We agree, the target here is Android (and a little Windows Mobile on the side), but that doesn't mean that the iPhone won't take some collateral damage. See, the whole point of the is-it-isn't-it-really iPhone price drop was for them to pick up massive market share so their developer ecosystem could gain a foothold worldwide. If Nokia can get Symbian unified and moving foward quickly, that gambit isn't going to work so well (outside the US, anyway). Heck, even if Nokia can't, they're still by far the dominant player in the industry. Apple really has its work cut out if they want to become synonymous with "smartphone" across the world. Synonymous with smartphone right now: Nokia.

Will Apple sell a ton of iPhones? Yes. However they're facing as big a beast here in smartphones now as they do on the desktop. Although we don't think the iPhone will sit around 10% marketshare like the Mac does, we're not going to hold our breath for more than 30% worldwide marketshare. I'm not, anyway.

The loser here? Could be Motorola. It's not enough that they've lost all their RAZR lovers to the iPhone, but rumor has it the forlorn company is set to make a "last stand" smartphone that was originally supposed to feature, wait-for-it, the soon-to-be-defunct UIQ. Looks like they'll be reworking that there plan, eh?

Read Via

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: Blackberry iClone's visual voice mail -- but don't make them angry! Windows Mobile 6.0 ready to crash already frozen Treo 800wx's, and can Centro has future?

Apple Reinvents the Phone. RIM Regurgitates the iPhone.

RIM loves them the iPhone. They love it's glossy black facade. They love its silvered bezel. They love its rounded rectangular slab-like form factor. They love its iTunes connectivity. And despite we-think-they-doth-protest-to-much comments to the contrary, boy do they love its touchscreen. They love it so much, they've done nothing but spend the last year iCloning it. They're latest, according to Crackberry.com?

Visual Voice Mail.

Yup.

Way to go, Lazaridis. A year and a half later, and you're finally copying something Steve Jobs showed off six months prior to the iPhone launch...

Good news for Crackberrians, though! At this rate, you'll get a MobileSafari class browser by 2011!

You Won't Like Crackberry Kevin When He's Angry!

Okay, we totally take back that last story. It wasn't us, and it certainly wasn't RIM. In fact, it was probably those troublemakers over at AndroidCentral saying the iPhone was copying the Bold again. Totally. Just don't get Crackberry Kevin angry. We don't like him when he's angry. We mean, did you see what he did to Rogers' data rates when he got angry? We don't have the healing factor to take that kind of pain!

We'll just stick to making fun of WindowsMobile for the rest of this edition, okay?

Please?

Obsolete Hardware, Meet Outdated OS!

Speaking of making fun of Windows Mobile, looks like the Treo 800wx will finally be getting an upgrade to version 6.0. No, that's not a typo. They're actually taking the oldest WinMob Treo (actually, the "fixed" rev of the oldest WinMob Treo, but why split petrified hairs?), and cramming the previous (not current) version of Windows Mobile on it.

And they're not even doing that yet, so some poor battered-consumer syndrome hax0rs have stepped in and actually made the monstrous little FrankenTreos themselves. Think getting XP up on your 486. Sorta.

WMExperts.com has the gory details. Or it could just be another spy shot of the 800w. Either way...

Centro: Can Has Future?

TreoCentral.com bravely asks: "Can Palm's Centro Still Roll With The Big Dogs at AT&T?"

In a sentence: About well as Motorola has post-RAZR.

In a word: No.

But if they play the chihuahua card low and long enough, they might sneak by until their next handset can go... er... Nova.

And in No Other News...

Samsung announced, and Sprint spat up $100,000,000 to advertise, the Instinct to compete with the old iPhone about 5 minutes before Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone 3G, officially making the Instinct a year too late and a (next) generation too short (not to mention quite a bit too expensive when faced with a $199 price tag for the Real Thing). So, the big bosses at Samsung and Sprint bit the bullet and dropped their prices... But not enough to impress Uncle Walt, much less our own big boss, who summed up the whole thing thusly:

Honestly - is anybody out there seriously considering an Instinct over an iPhone? We’ll grant that there are some people who prefer to pick their carrier first, phone second — but still, is it possible to even pick up the clean end of a piece of …Instinct?

Not evil twin to theiPhoneBlog.com Week in Review, not an invasion by Fake Steve, This Week in Smart Phone Schadenfreude brings you all the feel-better news you need about the smartphone world outside Apple’s current media dominator. (Who knew there was such a world? We were just as surprised! Inelegant, interface challenged, keyboardy, crashy, single-touchy place — best not to linger…). Join us as we mock review the big news from last week at our sister sites. Everybody loves sibling rivalry!

In this week's edition: RIM Flips, Windows Mobile is why Ballmer should quit, and Palm's Centro is a... hit?!

Kirk to Enterpise, the [Redacted] NOC is [Redacted] Down Again!

Crackberry.com continues their awesome trend of RIMsclusives, this week bringing us the pre-release (and bathroom-floor?) pics of the upcoming BlackBerry Flip... er... KickStart. Kudos to RIM marketing, the idea of kicking your new form factor to start it is both glee-worthy and certainly cathartic. The first live YouTubes of a boardroom full of business suits round-housing the flipugly little things through the plate glass and down to 100 story doom will earn our inaugural "favorite" badge.

RIM design should likewise be praised for boldly (oops, wrong model!) flippedly going where no one since 1960s sci-fi has gone before. Maybe the Aurora will sport it some phaser chic?

Blackberry Can Has Windows Live Candy?

Yes, that's apparently NOT a typo. This really does pass for screencandy on the Blackberry.

If an iPhone app ever came out looking that 2001, it would only be because Ashton Kutcher had developed it and was filming the reaction from backstage...

The OS Update Heard Around the World!

As we're all probably sick of hearing about now, a little OS update was announced this week. Flaunting a host of new features, the update will soon let everyone, everywhere, experience the next great revolution in smartphone... er... experience. Unfortunately, the announced OS update won't be released right away. Nope, we're all going to have to dig deep and wait just a little bit longer. But the relentless media coverage, the rumors, the anticipation, the fanboy frenzy... it will all be worth it soon.

Yup, in just a few short weeks, WMExperts.com says we'll be getting Windows 6.6.6 for the Moto Q9h! Booyah!

Windows Mobile -- Yup, THAT's a Firing!

Seems Jim Lynch over at ExtremeTech loves him some Windows Mobile almost as much as pundit Paul Thurrott. How much is that? Enough to make it his #4 reason Microsoft CEO Steve "Internet Monkey-Boy Dance Phenom" Ballmer should be fired:

Windows Mobile has been a dismal failure for Microsoft that has only become more apparent with the launch and success of the iPhone. Microsoft blew a lot of money and time with Windows Mobile and never managed to come up with a good mobile operating system. Apple, on the other hand, managed to hit a home run the first time out by using Mac OS X in the iPhone. I remember owning a Compaq iPaq years ago and, at first, I loved it. But as time went on I stopped using it and finally just got rid of it. Looking back at it now, from the perspective of an iPhone owner, I see that the iPaq was a good product but it suffered from a poorly thought out and awfully implemented operating system. Microsoft never got it right and still hasn't. As usual Microsoft is playing catch-up to Apple and we'll no doubt see Microsoft blatantly copying Apple's iPhone interface and features in a future release of Windows Mobile. For letting Windows Mobile continue to be a failed also-ran, Steve Ballmer should be fired.

No Dev in the Palm is Worth 2 Million Centros?

TreoCentral.com informs us that the "breakthrough hit" that is the Palm Centro is on track to sell 2 million units this year... of an OS Palm introduced only 6 years ago! And now they'll be selling on shiny happy Verizon as well! Everyone is thrilled. Seriously. Stock is up 9%. Colligan and Rubenstein are high-fiving in the halls.

Sure, instead of 2 million with a 6 year old OS, Apple sold 6 million with an OS introduced barely a year ago, but think about how much work that must of been, all that innovation and stuff. Why break a sweat when you get sit on your apps for 6 years and still bump the stock, right?

And since by the sounds of it, the next generation Nova OS will basically be a web browser, it looks like Palm has finally found it's winning strategy and is going for it! All engines in reverse, and straight ahead 'til yesterday!

And in No Other News...

Pop quiz, hotshot: You're a once relevant mobile phone manufacturer who once struck gold with the then-innovative RAZR and has since done everything corporately possible to never again recapture the lightning in that bottle. Your boogeyman of the last few years has just switched his attention to the MicroHoo! debacle, and Apple has shown you can still shake up the space with a breakthrough device fresh out the gate.

What do you do, hotshot? What do you do?

If you're Moto, you fire half your design team. That's what!