Mobile Computing News

Photo: Tom Raftery / Flickr

Hewlett Packard reportedly had a meeting packed with HP and Palm staff yesterday to decide what the future of the HP webOS software division was. By the time the staff meeting ended, the company was no clearer on what to do with its mobile OS platform than prior to the meeting. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: hp, webOS

Photo: Adobe

Adobe has reaffirmed its commitment to meet its fourth quarter full year 2011 revenue target, but in doing that the company plans to lay off 750 Adobe staff members. Other big changes happening at the company are an increased focus on Digital Media and Digital Marketing initiatives, as well as a reduction in how much the company invests in its enterprise initiatives. (Read more…)

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Photo: Strobe

Facebook has acquired Strobe, a company that offered an ‘app delivery network’ for HTML5-based web applications. This is the first significant acquisition in Facebook’s much rumoured plan to deploy a web-based app platform to potentially rival Apple’s App Store on iOS devices, initially, and then Android and Windows Phone 7 on their own devices. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Facebook, HTML5

Photo: gillyberlin / Flickr

In an interview with the New York Times, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop outlined his company’s plan to make a comeback in the mobile devices market where it has fallen behind rivals like Apple and handset manufacturers making devices for the Android platform. He says the key to recovery is to capitalise on users making the transition from feature phones to smartphones, leveraging its relationship with Microsoft, and to leverage unique Nokia software like its location and mapping technology. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Nokia, smartphones, microsoft

Photo: Microsoft Sweden / Flickr

Gavin Kim, who was Samsung’s VP of consumer and enterprise services, has left the company to become general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Phone team. The move comes at a time when fortunes in the smartphone industry are very different for the two companies. Samsung is winning and Microsoft is not (well, not directly, at least), and Kim’s experience in helping Samsung become a smartphone juggernaut in a short 18 months could be of great use to Microsoft. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: samsung, smartphones, microsoft

Photo: Brett Jordan / Flickr

When the iPhone 4S debuted it promptly broke global records for fastest-selling smartphone in the world. The handset sold a remarkable 4 million units in just three days, demolishing the previous internal record the iPhone 4 set for the company. Now, a Deutsche Bank report says that the company’s handset continues to sell at breakneck speeds, and advises investors ‘buy’ stock in the company, setting its share price a $530 target. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple, smartphones

Photo: west.m / Flickr

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called Google+ a ‘little version of Facebook’. The somewhat disparaging comment has only served to fuel the Google Facebook rivalry, while also revealing how Zuckerberg felt about other tech titans like Amazon and Apple. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Facebook, social network

Photo: mbiebusch / Flickr

Hewlett-Packard is reportedly considering a sale of its HP webOS software. After months of uncertainty about what the company would do with the operating system after shuttering the hardware division that was built around the software, it seems the firm may cut its losses with a sale. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: hp, palm, webOS

Photo: Joel Washing / Flickr

There was recent speculation that the ongoing floods in Thailand would result in a shortage that would then result in the price of hard drives to increase dramatic, and this has since proven true. Taking a simple snapshot of 1TB drives, it was found that the price of those units almost tripled in a month, while larger capacity drives saw a sharp price increase, too. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: hard drive, hdd

Photo: edans / Flickr

Research In Motion’s woes are well documented, with the company’s sales fast declining, too. The sales decline is primarily off of a weakened position in North America, but RIM’s sales are flourishing in other regions. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: BBM, Blackberry smartphones, rim, smartphone sales, smartphones

Photo: Apple

Faith in the Apple executive team has once again made news, with the company reportedly issuing out share options valued at over $60 million to its senior executive team to keep them on board at the company for some time still. This follows a few months after the company issued a similar share bonus to Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: apple

Photo: PopCultureGeek.com / Flickr

The biggest entertainment release in the world is fast approaching, with many stores across the world – the UK included – gearing up for a midnight launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The third release in the ridiculously successful Modern Warfare arc of Activision FPS franchise is expected to break video games sales records, even in the face of renewed strengthening competition from EA’s Battlefield franchise. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Activision, Call of Duty, Electronic Arts, FPS games, Infinity Ward, PC Gaming, videogames

Photo: vasta / Flickr

Amazon customers who have both an Amazon Kindle and are Amazon Prime members now have access to ‘The Kindle Owners Lending Library. It is, as its name suggests, a library-like system for loaning ebooks on your Kindle e-reader. As fantastic as it is, it is not without its problems, facing stiff opposition by industry gatekeepers. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: amazon, Amazon Kindle, eBooks

Photo: RIM

RIM investor confidence is at an all-time low, with the company’s market valuation as per share price dipping below its book value. Analysts are calling the company a ‘wounded puppy’ and this is, arguably, the most significant sign that faith in RIM’s ability to mount a comeback is diminishing fast. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: rim

Photo: Tumnaselda / Flickr

Leading industry voices have dismissed Ubisoft’s deal with Sony Pictures over an Assassin’s Creed film. The dissenting voices say the deal is ridiculous, dismissing it as a ‘waste of time, ink and paper’ due to the insane level of control Ubisoft wants in the creation of the film. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: pc games, sony, Sony Pictures, videogames

Photo: luca.sartoni / Flickr

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop revealed that his company has big plans to make a renewed go of the US mobile phones market in 2012. He revealed that not only did his company plan to launch with multiple carriers, they’re also open to making a Nokia Windows 8 tablet if the opportunity makes sense. (Read more…)

Tags for this article: Nokia, smartphones, tablet pc